“He’s the best coach, he has proved it, right? It’s obvious with the progress Barca is making, that Pep is doing a great job. In light of the results, Pep has done excellent and deserves everything.”

Former Barcelona manager and current Galatasaray coach Frank Rijkaard hails his successor Pep Guardiola as the best coach in the current era.

The progression of FC Barcelona starlet, Thiago Alcantara do Nascimento (18), is not going unnoticed by those in charge of the national teams of Spain and Brazil. Thiago who is the elder son of Mazinho, a former world champion with Brazil in the 1994 World Cup; has both Spanish and Brazilian citizenship and is assessing which nation to choose when he will eventuallly need to make a decision. Thiago also has Italian citizenship as he was born in Bari, Italy, but it is highly unlikely as of now that he will play for Italy.

The player knows that once he features with a national team, the gates for the other nation will be closed, so the decision will be of great significance to the youngsters sporting career.

Thiago, who was born on April 11th, and will turn 19 in two months, has already made his debut with the first team of FC Barcelona on the 17th of May 2009, against Mallorca when he replaced Eidur Gudjohnson in the 73th minute. This season he has also had an opportunity in the Copa against Sevilla on 5th of January 2010, which suggests that the player is very much in the future plans of Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola, who not only admires him for his exquisite art and genius, but also for his courage and boldness on the pitch.

Thiago has already played with the youth teams of Spain and also won the European U-17 Championship and sporting director, Fernando Hierro, believes that Thiago could in the near future be called up for the La Seleccion senior team, which will ensure that the player will remain with Spain. A similar case happened with Bojan Krkic, who made his debut with the senior Spain squad under Vicente del Bosque (his first and only time so far), which ensured that Serbia could not count on him in the future. Years ago an identical situation occured with Hispanic-Danish striker Thomas Christiansen, who was called up by then coach Javier Clemente when he was still playing in the reserves and had not yet debuted with the first team of FC Barcelona.

In any event, it will be an important decision in Thiago’s career, and although his father won the world cup with Brazil, the youngster wants to keep both the doors open. The first team that calls him up might turn out to be the lucky one.

Diagonal operation. THERE WILL BE MORE SIGNINGS APART FROM CESC

A right back and a left winger are the other targets.

Txiki sounds out the market and works with several names for each position.

Three signings that could be four. The list would increase if Touré decided to leave the Camp Nou; then, a midfielder would be signed in.

Names: Azpilicueta (Osasuna), O’Shea (Manchester), Fàbregas (Arsenal), Ribéry (Bayern), Mata (Valencia), Di Maria (Benfica).

Laporta will have to act as a guarantor until 2003

Basket: Barça, to win the Copa del Rey.

[Non Barça Related]

Madrid: Europe is too big for them

Oporto 2 – 1 Arsenal. A funny goal made Wenger’s men to lose.

Bayern 2 – 1 Fiorentina. Van Gaal hold his breath until the last minute of the match.

Interview with Iniesta. “SILVA WOULD FIT IN BARÇA”

“I like so much David. He could play here perfectly.”

“I want to win the Champions as a birthday present”

“I don’t think Madrid is better now than the last year”.

Baket: Barça, the favourite to win the Copa del Rey.

[Non Barça Related]

Madrid: “Canguelo”* (fear) in Madrid. A possible KO in the round of 16 for the 6th time and the misses for yellow cards accumulation make the alert rise.

Cesc and Ribéry will have to make an effort to qualify.

*Canguelo: (Fear) It was used by Madrid press last year, saying that Barça was afraid of Madrid because it was getting to close on Liga’s classification (from a 12 points difference, Madrid was getting closer).

Catalan sports paper ‘Sport’ report that Barcelona have shortlisted Manchester United defender John O’Shea (28) and Osasuna right full back Cesar Azpilicueta (20) as their summer transfer targets.

The European champions are reportedly searching for two types of additions to their squad. They are keen to add another creative dimension and in addition to the ubiquitous mention of Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas, Franck Ribery and David Silva are highlighted as likely targets.
‘Sport’ also claims that the Catalans are looking to bring in another right-sided defender, especially with Brazilian Dani Alves currently their only real option in that position. In addition to Osasuna’s 20 year-old Cesar Azpilicueta, Manchester United ’s John O’Shea is said to be a target to fill the gap.

‘Sport’ speculates that O’Shea’s experience and versatility make him an attractive proposition for Barcelona. The 28 year-old has spent his entire career so far at Old Trafford. However, O’Shea has been injured ever since Ireland’s World Cup play-off defeat against France with a mystery leg injury. He is unlikely to play for Manchester United again this season.

Azpilicueta who is also an U-21 international with Spain is considered one of the upcoming talents of Spanish football and has attracted interest from the likes of Manchester City in the past.

While it might seem hard to believe, FC Barcelona and Spanish International players Xavi Hernández (30) and Andrés Iniesta  (25) have both contemplated leaving the club at various times in the past.  Right now, Xavi is living in a sweet moment, with titles and world recognition for his football.  But it was not always like that.  “I have experienced all sorts of situations during my career at Barça so far and many times I have even thought about leaving Barcelona.”

“In the early years, I knew that there was a persona in front of me like Pep Guardiola — and I thought about it [leaving],” noted the azulgrana football player on the program Informe Robinson on Canal Plus, which will be aired on February 22 on that station.

The Catalán player added that, “I was a newcomer to the first team at 17 or 18 years, and these comparisons [with Guardiola] made things go poorly for me.  After two or three years, well, it went poorly.  Things weren’t working.  It was the Rijkaard era, and I thought about leaving Barcelona.  I also didn’t know if the club intended to sell me,” explained Xavi Hernández.

Andrés Iniesta, the other protagonist of the report, talks about the interest from Madrid to obtain his services.  The player from La Mancha recognizes that “there has always been a bit of interest,” but added that “Barça has given my family and me  everything and nothing would make me happier than to finish here”.

The ‘8’ of Barça also mentions his goal in the semi-final match of the Champions League last year against Chelsea and how he fought to be in the final against Manchester United, despite his injury. “I wanted to play in the final in Rome as it was, and that was an unforgetable day,” he confessed.

Sergio Busquets admits that Real Madrid’s defeat to Olympique Lyon (1-0) should serve as a lesson to Barcelona before the upcoming Champions League clash against VfB Stuttgart. The German side got back to winning ways in the Bundesliga after coach Markus Babbel was replaced by Christian Gross in December 2009. His new tactical approach took immediate effect, as VfB won 5 of their last 6 league games, making them an even tougher opponent.

After elimination from the Copa del Rey by FC Seville the squad has extra time to prepare for the games. “When we have a whole week to prepare for matches, the exercises are more physical and harder, but in the tone that we normally do,” El Mundo Deportivo quoted Busquets as saying.

On Tuesday morning, FC Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola visited Calella, a beach town just north east of Barcelona, where he donated funds to the Catalan Foundation for ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), a foundation that helps people suffering with the serious degenerative neurological disease. The money was collected from FC Barcelona players and staff who have been fined due to acts of indiscpline and personal negligence, such as poor punctuality and breaking club rules.

“It is an honor and a pleasure to be here. I want to express my deep personal admiration for this project and for the people working on it so I can go step by step and advance this struggle, though it’s hard, I’m sure that sooner or later we’ll be out with our own. I recognise this really is a struggle and the rest is nonsense,” said Guardiola, as he handed over the cheque for the funds to the President of the foundation Enric Valls.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, is a form of motor neuron disease which affects the body’s central nervous system, causing muscle weakness and atrophy throughout the body. As the neurons degenerate, they cease to send messages to the muscles, causing paralysis and involuntary movements and twitches, possibly leading to the complete loss of control of voluntary movement. The most notable sufferer of ALS is British physicist Stephen Hawkings. For more information on the disease you can visit http://alsa.org

Barcelona are favorites to win this year’s edition of the Champions League with 32.35% of votes in a survey published on FIFA.com. Arch rivals Madrid received 28.17% of the votes while Chelsea seized third place with 17.18%.

Among Madrid based voters Real “surprisingly” finished first, but among international voters Barca comes out on top.