“It doesn’t necessarily have to be Chelsea or Barcelona. Preferably a team who are a bit easier to play our own game against. In that sense I’d happily take a bit of luck in the draw. And it would be nice if we had the first leg away as well.”

-Bayern Munich winger and German International Bastian Schweinsteiger (25) in an interview with Bundesliga.de

DI MARÍA (IS AN) ALTERNATIVE.

Benfica’s left forward is cheaper than Ribéry and Barça likes him.

The young (22) Argentinean’s way of playing is quite alike his close friend’s, Messi.

Txiki watched Özil (W.Bremen) playing in Valencia and the player had a profund impact on him.

[Non Barça Related]

Espanyol: Three months after, “Poche” lines Tamudo up again.

Madrid: Valdano blames the players for the Champions’ K.O.

CESC AND VILLA+ “CANTERA”

Definitive: this will be Barça’s signings for 2011.

The catalan is tied so now there’s only left an agreement with Arsenal (to sign the player).

The Valencia player has no doubts: “This won’t be like last year”.

Weekend’s interview: Hristo Stoichkov. “Now is time for me to impose my discipline”.

[Non Barça Related]

To sign Mourinho would cost to Florentino 22 million euros. Adding up Pellegrini’s sacking’s costs and the Portuguese’s clause.

Catalan sports paper ‘Sport’ today claim that FC Barcelona have already decided their plans for the future, so as to work in the coming months to strengthen the squad for the season 2010-11. The technical secretary of the Blaugrana club, Txiki Begiristain, after assessing the needs of the team with coach Josep Guardiola, has set his priority objectives in the market for next summer with Arsenal midfielder and Spanish international Cesc Fabregas (22) and Valencia striker and Spanish international David Villa (28) being on top of the priority list. Their additions would serve to strengthen the depth in the midfield and the forward line due to their versatility and quality.

Cesc’s case is one that is likely to be resolved first, although it will not be easy. The midfielder is widely expected to return to the Camp Nou after his successful journey in the Premier League has come to an end. Still, the player will try to keep a cautious approach and show his respect for Arsène Wenger and Arsenal as he still wants to focus on the fight for the gunners ’sporting’ objectives; the Champions League and Premier League.

Another aspect being Wenger and Arsenal, with whom Barca know they will have to negotiate long and hard to convince them into accepting the departure of their captain, a player with a great weight in the club. The Blaugrana management have set a price range between €35-40 million; with a maximum limit of €45 million.

For the technical staff, Fabregas is the ideal reinforcement as he is a youth product, made in La Masia and would fit immediately into the dynamics of the squad and the philosophy of the club. His compatibility with Xavi and Iniesta is more than demonstrated with the Spanish selection. Cesc would also provide a number of other virtues (his goal scoring ability being one) that would complement with those of his new teammates and with Xavi, Iniesta and Sergio Busquets he would form a midfield completely made with the philosophy of La Masia, with Seydou Keita and Yaya Toure providing the physical edge to the midfield.

The idea of the management is not to interfere with the work of Wenger and have decided to wait till the end of the major competitions, but it could become a priority issue, whether the recruitment can be closed in time or not, as one of the ambitions of current president Joan Laporta is to be able to present the new president of Barca with the signing of Cesc, hence the transfer should be completed before 30th June.

The second objective is aimed at restoring the Blaugrana scoring touch with a player who has a proven efficacy and who has already previously been on the clubs agenda. It is none other than Valencia’s David Villa, who they believe can be a good reinforcement to not only complement the axis of the attack but also a great replacement for the left wing to compensate for the eventual departure of Thierry Henry (32).

With both Valencia and Spain, Villa has previously played as a left forward whenever he has had to hand over the centre forward role to Nicola Zigic (27) and Fernando Torres (26) respectively. Pep Guardiola appreciates this versatility and also his undoubted eye for goal, that keeps him season after season, in the race for the Pichichi.

His adaptation to the Barca game should not be a problem as he has played many times with Blaugrana players during their time together with the Spanish national team, with whom he has a good relationship. His characteristics of being a highly mobile forward, and his scoring instinct, closely resemble those of Inter Milan forward and Cameroon international Samuel Eto (29) who had fit in perfectly with the Barca system and produced great performance for several seasons before his eventual departure to Inter Milan last summer. Moreover, the Santpedor coach also takes full account of Jeffren, a canterano with great projection who is expected to be consolidated in the first team squad and is also a good resource for the future to strengthen the wings.

Another aspect being the complexity of the operation, as it was already seen last season, when the economic situation of Valencia was even more precarious than at present, their President Manuel Llorente did not give the green light for the operation to occur.

Now the Mestalla club is awaiting an operation to be closed before June 30 to meet the demands of the Bank of Bancaja, their largest creditor. The solution could be found in a real estate transaction which is pending or by a transfer.

In any case, it is clear for the management that this is a difficult operation, for which they will have to compete with the likes of Chelsea and the two sides of Manchester, United and City, and the transfer fee could be about forty million. Also unlike last year, this season Villa has not ruled out a future adventure in the Premier League although he still prefers the option of remaining in the Spanish League.

The central defender prefers to stop the talk about referees and to concentrate on the final stretch of the season, in which they fight against a Real Madrid side who have only La Liga left to compete for.

Catalán news site Sport presented a report of  some of the comments made by FC Barcelona and Spanish International central defender Gerard Piqué (23)  after he spoke at a press conference.  According the them,  Piqué knows that Guardiola’s squad is not at their best at the moment.  But he does not want anyone to doubt the team.  The team will not be content with having achieved the hexacampeonato and are hungry for more titles.

The Catalán defender stated that the team continues “to want more” despite having “won it all” because the team “has character and has always demonstrated it”.

Ibrahimovic and Henry also want to show their worth.  Questioned by a sector of the Barcelona fans, Piqué leaves it clear that both can count on the unconditional support of the squad and are still fundamental pieces of the team.

    We have to have confidence in Ibra and Henry.  They are two very important players for us and they know that the team needs them.

Ibra will be out of the game against Valencia, as will Guardiola.  Although el Villarato has been the topic of the day, lately, Piqué wants to concentrate on pure football.

    In the last months, the referees have become the principal ‘actors‘ and we are losing the joy of football.  We need to forget this theme before football loses all of its grace.

Piqué has his five senses set on continuing the fight for La Liga and the Champions League. Any error in this fight for the season can hit them very hard,  just as it did with Real Madrid against Lyon, and the azulgrana defender does not want the same thing to happen to Barcelona.  The blancos were the favorites, but the efficiency of the French broke all predictions.

    The elimination of  Madrid so quickly surprised me.  It’s a wake up call for us.

The surprising elimination of Madrid will cause Pellegrini’s team to center all of their efforts on La Liga, the only title remaining for them this year, and Barça needs to perform at a high level in order to face the action-packed home stretch of the championship.  Piqué explained:

    It’s true that Madrid has made a great investment and will only concentrate on La Liga, but we are the favorites, and we will take them on because we are the champions.

Belgium-born referee César Muñiz Fernández will blow the whistle for Sunday’s Camp Nou clash between FC Barcelona and Valencia, the 26th round of the present La Liga campaign. Referees in the Spanish league have been under a microscope this season, with most of that attention focused around their performances in FC Barcelona and Real Madrid matches. Given the current climate, Fernández’ decisions in this key match will undoubtedly come under the closest scrutiny.

In Spain, Fernández has become somewhat notorious for his slicked back hair style, and although he may look like a mafia hitman, statistically he does not appear to be a villain on the field. That said, he has been criticized for big decisions in key matches, and has exhibited a tendency away from leniency in recent games. In the 11 contests that he has overseen so far this season, he has handed out 66 yellow cards, ejecting seven players. However, in his last three matches, he has brandished the yellow card 23 times.

Fernández was criticized vigorously by the Basque and Catalan press last season after his performance in a match pitting Athletic Bilbao against Real Madrid. In that game from March of 2009, Fernández showed 11 yellow cards, and ejected Bilbao striker Yeste with a straight red for a foul on Madrid keeper Iker Casillas. During the same season, Fernández presided over Barcelona’s 2-2 away draw with Valencia, and their 6-0 home mauling of Malaga.

The 40 year old Oviedo native has refereed in the Primera since 2000; he received his FIFA badge in 2007, clearing him to oversee international matches.

A total spend of over €80 million by the Catalans this summer...
Mar 13, 2010 6:59:00 AM

Barcelona have reportedly made Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas and Valencia forward David Villa their top transfer targets for the summer, according to Sport.

It is understood that sporting director Txiki Begiristain has identified the duo as the ideal additions to strengthen the team after assessing the needs of coach Pep Guardiola.

Barca's apparent interest in Fabregas is no secret but it is reported that the Blaugrana will not make any formal pursuit of the Gunners star until the end of the season as they do not wish to interfere with Arsenal's UEFA Champions League and Premier League dual title tilt.

While Barca's hierarchy are keen not to antagonise Gunners boss Arsene Wenger they will look to move swiftly when the season ends as outgoing president Joan Laporta is keen to secure the return of Fabregas to his Catalan homeland as a parting gift in his presidential legacy. A fee of between €35-45 million has been mentioned as the sort of figure that may entice the Gunners to make a deal.

In the case of Villa, Barcelona believe the Valencia hit-man can prove a perfect fit having demonstrated his versatility operating as a wide player alongside Nikola Zigic and also with Fernando Torres in the Spain national team.

The 28-year-old striker has so far managed 122 goals in 201 games for Los Che and with Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City all reportedly chasing the striker a figure of around €40 million is expected to prove the necessary fee.