“I can’t believe the president of Barça has come here. We are very happy. It means a lot to us”.

Arsene Hanyrwa, aged 16, a refugee at the Kiziba camp, Rawanda.

Zaragoza native, Carlos Clos Gomez, will dish out justice on the pitch for Saturday’s encounter between Almeria and FC Barcelona.

Gomez, 37, an “administrator” by day, began his Primera refereeing career four seasons ago after many years overseeing indoor football matches, as well as encounters in lower divisions. This season, Gomez has been in charge of 12 Primera matches, so far dolling out 55 yellow and 7 red cards.

Gomez will likely inspire bittersweet memories for close followers of FC Barcelona. He presided over our epic second leg away victory over Sevilla [0-1] in this season’s Copa del Rey. Gomez was also in charge of our away victory at Villareal [1-2] in December 2008, a match in which he ejected defender Gerard Pique for two yellow-card offenses.

Gomez’s international career got off to a rocky start last year after he was awarded his FIFA badge in June. During a Europa League qualifying match between Motherwell and Steaua Bucharest in August, he had to send both Motherwell manager Jim Gannon and his assistant to the stands because of protests about decisions he had made during the match. Later, Gannon accused Gomez of losing control of the match: “He wasn’t in control for long periods of the game. I don’t think he could wait to get us off the touchline.”

VILLA RAISES

MD’s Poll: “Who would you like to see dressed as a blaugrana next season?”

Valencia’s crack is the favourite to reinforce 2010-2011 Barça

The Internet users have given more that a third of their votes to the Asturian.

Villa: 34%

Cesc: 29%

Silva: 17%

Ribéry: 15%

Henry, not in his best moment at all. Guardiola wants him back but, at the same time, he trusts Pedro and Bojan.

Pep and Lillo, united by aesthetics.

[Non Barça Related]

Madrid. Florentino promises a 250.000€ bonus to each player if they qualify for the Champions’s next round.

DRESSING VILLA AS A BLAUGRANA IS WORTH 40 MILLION

The blaugrana club already knows what will Valencia ask for selling Villa this summer.

A 77% of the fans prefer signing him rather than Ribéry.

Laporta has 100 days left. Rosell, Soriano, Godall and Ferrer, the applicants.

On Saturday, FC Barcelona will face an Almería team led by Basque coach Juan Manuel Lillo, a man who has never hidden his admiration for Pep Guardiola, or the attacking style of play in the Catalan capital. Amazingly enough, Lillo actually recruited Guardiola to play with his team, Dorados al Sinaloa, in the Mexican first division in 2006.

Lillo (44) replaced former Real Madrid star Hugo Sanchez at the head of Almería in December of 2009 on a one-year deal that will see him through to the end of the current campaign. This marks a waypoint in a professional career that has been full of interesting twists and turns. He has been successful in pulling Almeria out of the relegation zone and into a more comfortable 13th position, just 1 point behind Osasuna. Lillo’s arrival has seen a resurgent Almeria win 16 of their total 29 points in January and February alone.

Unlike many top managers, Lillo never had a professional career as a player, opting instead to dive right into coaching at age 16 for Amaroz KE. After several years with a variety of second and third division teams, he finally led UD Salamanca to the Spanish first division, and, at age 29, became the youngest manager to coach a first division side. His career continued with coaching stints at Real Oviedo, CD Tenerife, and Real Zaragoza.

After leaving Zaragoza, Lillo was hired by Antena 3 where he provided match commentary for a national Spanish TV audience during the 2002 World Cup. He had a controversial stint at Dorados Sinaloa (2005-06), (his squad included player-coach Pep Guardiola) where he resigned in mid-season. Coaching duties in Mexico and Spain resumed soon afterwards, with Lillo ending up most recently at second division outfit Real Sociedad, where he made an unsuccessful attempt to guide the team back into the first division but they ended up in the 4th position.

In the nine games since Lillo assumed the helm, Almería have consistently lined up in a 4-2-3-1, a formation that packs the midfield and tries to monopolize ball possession. Sound familiar?  Lillo himself humorously commented on the tactical similarities between his team and the style of game played in Barcelona in a recent interview on the Almería official website: “Barcelona and Almería both want to control the ball; the problem is that there is only one of them on the field. We will try to take the ball away from them and keep it under our control for as much time as possible.”

Supporters of the French national team were unhappy with the performance of Thierry Henry, after the defeat against European champions Spain. The Barcelona striker seemed lost on the pitch, and was nowhere near the Henry from several years ago.

“Everyone knows that Thierry has performed better in the past,” stated coach Raymond Domenech on Thursday via various French papers.

“It is also clear that it is difficult for him to continue to perform at a high level, because he gets less playing time in Barcelona,” explained Domenech. “His game against Spain raised some questions, but we are not at the point where it is alarming.”

Henry plays far less in Barcelona due to the rise of Pedro, who has been starting more games than the French striker. Henry was the first who concurred the criticism of his coach:

“I had no speed at all. If you have to go after a ball and you have only played one game in a half month, then is very difficult.”

The contract of Henry in Camp Nou is until mid 2011. An early departure is an option, where rumors over the last couple of months has it, that Henry could move to the MLS.

FC Barcelona’s  young striker  Keirrison de Souza Carneiro (21) is ready to work hard in order to prevail on the European football stage.  Barcelona’s 14 million euros signing,  do not want to let the big money move to Europe influence his carrier.

“I do not think about how much they paid for me. The only thing I need are opportunities. I was the top scorer in the Brazilian Championship and now I want to work,” quoted Sport him as saying.

The forward gained a reputation as a prolific striker  in Brazil, when he netted 41 goals in a single season in 2008 still as a teenager. After a horrible loan-spell at Benfica, K9 now has the chance to prove a point in Fiorentina.

“I know what I want, but only time will tell, if I succeed. I want to be in the  Brazilian team and take part in the 2014 World Cup,” he concluded.