Efforts by FC Barcelona President Joan Laporta for club compensation is finally bearing fruit.


Uefa president Michel Platini has announced that clubs will benefit from a package being put together, which will allow compensation to be paid out to clubs whose players honour internal matches. The clubs are often denied of the chance to use their star players, who such clubs paid handsome figures to acquire and who often come back injured and dumped on the club for treatment by their respective national associations. The total outlay of 174 million Euros will be disbursed over the next four years.


FIFA President, Sepp Blatter coming out to openly suggest that the timing of the African Nations Cup be changed from January-February to July-August, when most clubs worldwide especially in Europe will be on break and when other similar competitions like the European Championship and Copa America are played.

With latest comments from Drogba about pairing Eto'o, the press are once again, awash with Ronaldinho transfer news.



The Brazilian has been in the centre of press-inspired rumours about a transfer away from FC Barcelona and to Chelsea FC after an attempted fix-up with AC Milan did not materialize. Now with the Ivorien goal king at Chelsea, Didier Drogba declaring for a partnership with FC Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o, the rumour mills have churned out a possible swap deal between Chelsea and FC barcelona which will see Drogba head for FC Barcelona and Ronaldinho head for Chelsea FC. Neither Barca nor Chelsea have yet commented on this latest suggestion from the press, but it may look unlikely that the two clubs may hounour Drogba's wish. The Ivorien may need to be a litle more patient, as any move for him out of Stamford Bridge will have to occur during the summer.


Ronaldinho is still recovering from an injury while replanning his re-introductory strategy to the Barca squad, while Drogba is hoping to upstage Nigeria and Mali as well as host country Ghana and the likes of defending champions Egypt in the African Nations' Cup starting in four days time.

Chelsea FC striker Didier Drogba has made it open that he wants to leave the English Premeirship and play in Spain. Now the Ivorien has taken his desires another step further.


The Stamford Bridge hitman is away with his country Cote 'd Ivoire who are favourites to win the African Nations Cup taking place in Ghana. Drogba is interested in playing with Samuel Eto'o the player who he inherited the African Best Player Award from. The latest comments by Didier Drogba suggest that the Chelsea striker is madly in love with FC Barcelona, as the lion of Africa targets a date with the Blaugrana. Drogba hailed Eto'o and signified a dep desire to pair the Cameroonian striker in an unnamed clubside. Drogba said:

If any striker in the world were offered the chance to play next to Samuel, he’d tell you that would be inspirational. I love his style, he’s unbelievably quick and has a killer instinct in front of goal.

Eto'o had in the past, acknowledged that playing with Didier Drogba in the same team will be a great experience. With Drogba saying he wants to play in Spain, what's the next deal ?

Good news and bad news ahead of the match at the Mestalla: Eto'o, Edmílson and Belletti all return to the squad but Deco has been ruled out with muscular problems in his left leg. Ronaldinho, suspended, and Messi, injured, also miss out.


Frank Rijkaard has included all 17 available FC Barcelona players in his squad for this Sundays game against Valencia. Deco has lost his battle against the injury he picked up in Thursday's training and he wont travel.


Eto'o, Edmílson and Belletti all return to Rijkaards squad. The Cameroonian striker resumed training with his team mates on Thursday following his efforts in the African Nations Cup. In all he missed 5 games for Barca. Edmílson comes back from the suspension that ruled him out of the Atlético Madrid game.


More good news is the return of the Brazilian Juliano Belletti who has recovered from an Achilles injury that has forced him to sit out the last three Barça matches.


Messi and Ronaldinho


Midfielders Motta and Xavi join Deco on the injury list as well as Argentine striker Lionel Messi who overstretched a muscle in his right thigh in the game against Atlético and will be out for approximately ten days.

Finally, Ronaldinho will also miss the game after the Spanish Sport Disciplinary Committee (CEDD) rejected his appeal against suspension following the red card he picked up against Zaragoza.

RCD Mallorca - FC Barcelona
San Moix, Mallorca


The Champions have a 10-point lead in La Liga and I don't expect this margin to diminish. Mallorca has waited for a win at home since the 26th of October, so why should they win against the Champions? Sunday evening will show that Barca is back on track to defend the title. The team has shown tremendous character and I believe in all of the players. Valencia, Osasuna and of course, Real Madrid are hoping that Barça will lose some points, but feel I can safely calm Barca-Fans down: It will not happen!


We are without Super-Striker Eto´o, who is scoring his goals at the African Nations Cup (4 goals in 2 matches). Not to worry, as Deco is back from red card suspension and we still have Puyol and Giuly (both had been rested against Zaragoza), so the Palma-Outfit should not cause too much trouble.

Força Barca!


FC Barcelona (4-3-3): Valdés - Oleguer, Marquez, Puyol, Sylvinho (or Gio) - Van Bommel, Edmilson, Iniesta - Messi (or Giuly), Larsson, Ronaldinho