Relief comes to Camp Nou as players breathe an air of less pressure from fans and the media.


FC Barcelona have secured three points from the weekend match against Athletic Bilbao in Camp Nou. This comes at the right time. After the Racing Santander episode, players like Gianluca Zambrotta said they were stunned by the reactions from fans and observers worldwide, as the performance of the Blaugrana was harshly criticised and outrightly rebuked. Now, things seem to be getting better after the 3-1 win against Athletic.
Speaking after the match, some of the Barcelona players expressed their views:


Thierry Henry:

It was important to show our other face after what happened in Santander. Most of all, we need to make sure the fans are happy.

Gianluca Zambrotta:

We played a good game with a winning mentality. I think we have to continue like that. Today we had the right mentality to win.
You can’t criticise us too much for the first game. Today we have shown just what kind of Barça we want. Last year was my first season and it was a bit difficult, which is normal. This year I hope to do well and help Barça to win.

Oleguer Presas:

We had a good first half. In the second half we slowed down a bit. We are still at the start of the season and we have a lot of things to improve but we are on the right track. The team has recovered its aggressiveness and played the ball around their area well. That is our strength and we need to take advantage of it”. I have a good feeling about this season. We have made some good new signings and they have improved the quality of the squad we had.

Víctor Valdés:

It was a nice game to watch, a great show. We suffered a bit towards the end, but we are generally pretty happy. Athletic fight for every ball. At 2-0 we lost some of out intensity and it was all so much more easy after we scored our third. We understand the criticism and treat it constructively. We went out onto the pitch intent on turning the page.

Giovani dos Santos:

I couldn’t have hoped for more on my debut. I imagined a debut like that. And it was strange be come on as substitute for Henry, who has always been one of my heroes. I am very happy. I couldn’t ask for more. It was my dream come true. I hope to stay here for many more years.

Star players in high demand by National Teams.



Barcelona's team stars will be on very important duties for their various national teams this coming weekend, as their countries have hinged lots of responsibilies on the skillful bunch of Camp Nou. As amny as thirteen players will be absent from the camp as they fly to different destinations to execute victory, with the majority playing in the Euro Qualifiers.


The full list of players shortlisted for international engagements are:


Xavi, Iniesta and Puyol( Spain), Deco(Portugal), Gio(Holland), Ronaldinho and Edmílson,(Brazil), Thuram(France), Zambrotta(Italy), Gudjohnsen(Iceland), Saviola and Messi(Argentina) and Eto’o(Cameroon).





The matches they will be involved in along with their dates include:


1st June

England v Brazil Friendly


2nd June
Belgium v Portugal Qualifying match EURO 2008

Latvia v Spain Qualifying match EURO 2008
South Korea v Holland Friendly

France v Ukraine Qualifying match EURO 2008
Faeroe Islands v Italy Qualifying match EURO 2008

Iceland v Liechtenstein Qualifying match EURO 2008
Switzerland v Argentina Friendly

Liberia v Cameroon Qualifying match CAF Africa Cup 2008


5th June
Turkey v Brazil Friendly

Kuwait v Portugal Friendly


6th June
Liechtenstein v Spain Qualifying match EURO 2008

France v Georgia Qualifying match EURO 2008
Lithuania v Italy Qualifying match EURO 2008

Sweden v Iceland Qualifying match EURO 2008


This shows that in all the matches, 9 are in the EURO 2008 Qualifiers and 1 for the CAF (African) qualifiers. The remaining are mostly friendlies but involving top flight action.

Dependable keeper inches closer toward goalkeeping records and high achieving honours.



Barcelona's safest hands, Victor Valdes looks certain to rightfully emerge the new winner of the Zamora Trophy, the highest hounour for good goalkeeping in the Spanish League for the 2006/7 season.


Valdes has conceeded the least number of goals, less than any other keeper this season in the La Liga.

In all but the last two remaining matches in the Primera, Valdés has let in only 30 goals in 36 matches, which sums up to an average of 0.83 goals per match. His closest rival is his opposite number in Getafe, goalkeeper Abbondanzieri who has an average of 0.85 as he has conceeded 30 goals in 35 matches.


Should Valdes win the Zamora trophy, this will be the second time the Barcelona goalpost manager has won the award,having secured same in the 2004/5 season, in which he let in goal just 25 times in 35 matches, resulting in an average of 0.71 per game. This is the second best statistic in the last six seasons of the league, apart from Cañizares record in 2003/4 who had an average of 0.68 goals per match.


Valdes is following in the footsteps of Barcelona greats like Andoni Zubizarreta who won the award in the 1986/7 season and Salvador Sadurní who won the title thrice in 1969, 1974 and 1975 and also Antoni Ramallets who won the trophy five times in 1952, 1956, 1957, 1959 and 1960 respectively.

Football's Golden Great believes Barcelona will Lift La Liga title.



Soccer oracle, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, more popularly known as Pele, has put his thumb print behind the Spanish League title remaining at Camp Nou at the end of this season.


The Brazilian all time great explains why his final decision lies with the Catalans:

The best team in the La Liga is no doubt, Barcelona. This is quite clear.They have shown much better organisation all through the season, more than clubs like Real Madrid and this consitency should pay off. It is quite hard to predict accurately on who wins the title in the end, but I am strongly backing Barcelona to win. They stand a higher chance to achieve victory.

On fellow Brazilian country man Ronaldinho's performance this season, Pele, one of football's greatest ever to walk the football pitch says:

Ronaldinho will always be a player with exceptional technique and in good form always. The reality is that great players are like great teams. They have their bad times, good times, and their best of times. Ronaldinho is a great player.

Barcelona will need to exceed Real Madrid on points to win the La Liga, as though they are tied on ame points with three matches left to go, the Madrid landlords have a better head-to-head record. Barcelona possess the ability to overcome opposition and wrest the title back from Real's grasp.

Despite the ups and downs of the present season, Barcelona's midfield wizard Gaucho Ronaldinho is still rated highly on and off the pitch.


Barcelona's Brazilian Super star Ronaldinho has been chosen to lead a host of other players in a promotional campaign being put together by videogame producers, Electronic Arts.
The campaign is to herald the release of the highly anticipated FIFA 08 Video game.


Speaking on their choice to pick the Barcelona pointman among others to showcase the virtues of his company's creativity and innovation, Electronic Arts International Director, Matt Bilbey said:

Ronaldinho and all the stars bring real-life passion to the sport. Our development team is inspired by their commitment, skills and pure football passion, traits that have enabled us create the most natural-looking and natural feeling football video game in the world.

Ronaldinho responds with emphatically expressing profound happiness at being associated with EA Sports and their dynamism toward excellence.


The Barcelona skillfull player also quipped in on another source of happiness for him, which is his stay in the Catalan clubside:

Right now, I can't imagine going elsewhere. I am very happy here and will ultimately strive to win the league with Barcelona this season. I want to win and bring more trophies here and become part of the club's history. It gives me joy to be associated with the club and to rceive nice comments from people like Berlusconi.

On the neck-to-neck La Liga title chase with Real Madrid, the Brazilian International says:

We are motivated to continue in our winning ways simliar to that against Atletico. We shall not focus on Real Madid but on securing victory for ourselves always.