Barcelona in 3rd Place

		PL	W	D	L	+/-	Points
1	Real Madrid	36	26	3	7	45	81
2	Villarreal	36	22	5	9	19	71
3	Barcelona	36	18	10	8	32	64
4	Atletico de Madrid	36	18	7	11	20	61
5	Sevilla	36	18	4	14	21	58
6	Racing Santander	36	16	8	12	0	56
7	Mallorca	36	13	14	9	13	53
8	Deportivo de la Coruña	36	15	7	14	2	52
9	Athletic Club	36	13	10	13	0	49
10	U.D Almeria	36	13	10	13	-3	49
11	Espanyol	36	13	9	14	-6	48
12	Real Betis Balompié	36	12	10	14	-4	46
13	Getafe C.F	36	12	9	15	-4	45
14	Valencia	36	13	6	17	-20	45
15	Valladolid	36	11	10	15	-15	43
16	Zaragoza	36	10	11	15	-10	41
17	Osasuna	36	11	7	18	-7	40
18	Recreativo de Huelva	36	10	10	16	-22	40
19	Real Murcia	36	7	9	20	-26	30
20	Levante U.D	36	7	5	24	-35	26

If Barca are to get rid of Ronaldinho, i think they should make a bid for either Lulinha or Kerlon, the two youthful wonderful Brazilians. Recent history, over the 14 to 15 years, that barca tends to perform better with the inclusion of a skillful Brazilian on the team.

For instance the year after Rivaldo left, barca had Motta, Rochemback (the worst of them all), and Geovanni, on the team. None of these players being skillful enough to help Barca. The year afterward "we" aquired Ronaldo de Assis Moreira Gaucho aka Ronaldinho, who did wonders for bara.

This is why i personlally think barca can get rid of Ronaldinho but they need to bring back a brazilian wonder kid to the team, so as to assist, Bojan and Dos Santos, the future of Barcelona's football.

By Joseph Pierre
(posted by a reader)

Barcelona will face Manchester United in the semi-finals of the Champions League, after stuttering past Schalke 1-0 at the Camp Nou to complete a 2-0 aggregate victory.

Yaya Toure's first-half strike provided the solitary high note to a wholly unconvincing performance from Frank Rijkaard's side, who did little to defuse growing frustration among their supporters.

Armed with a 1-0 lead from the first-leg, Barca lined up with Thierry Henry and Bojan Krkic in support of Samuel Eto'o. It was a statement of attacking intent, but they found themselves forced to defend for almost the entirety of a one-sided first half.

Schalke started with real purpose. Eight minutes in, Halil Altintop came close to levelling the tie with a wicked shot which drew a smart save from Victor Valdes. As the ball span from his glove, the Barca goalkeeper reacted quickly to grab hold at the second attempt.

Barcelona will now face Manchester United.

Barcelona have put themselves in pole position for a Champions League semi-final spot after 17-year-old Bojan Krkic scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win over Schalke in Gelsenkirchen.

The Catalans were far from their best on the night but Schalke only started putting the visitors under pressure in the final half hour and couldn't find a deserved equaliser.

Barcelona took the lead after just 12 minutes when Rafinha was caught trying to play the offside trap and Thierry Henry was allowed to latch onto a lovely ball by Andres Iniesta.

Henry then cut inside and side footed a poor shot towards goal, however, Manuel Neuer, who was superb in the previous round against Porto, spilled the ball, allowing the off-balance Henry to poke it across the goal for Bojan to tap in from close range.

With the goal, Bojan, aged just 17 years and 217 days, becomes the second youngest goalscorer in Champions League history after former Olympiacos man Peter Ofori-Quaye.

Read the rest of the match review here

Still focussed on the title, Barca players are more determined than ever.

FC Barcelona players spoke in the post match press conference after sealing off a brilliant weekend at Camp Nou with victory in the last match. Bojan, Iniesta, Deco and Sylvinho had things to say:

Bojan:

I think the most important thing is to win and stay alive in the three competitions. We’re in a situation where the result is more important. We must be patient. We’ll soon start playing well. Madrid could have dropped some points today but the most important thing was for us to win. Villarreal are difficult on their own ground. We’ll try and get a good result in the first leg.

Iniesta:

Three more points. We tried to score a second goal but it wasn’t to be.mRacing deserve to be where they are in the table. They like to play the ball around and they’re difficult to break down. I want to play. Obviously, the further up field I play, the more comfortable I feel. But if I’m in the chosen eleven, I’m happy. We can’t be saying where Madrid will slip up. We’re in this situation because we dropped points. Now we have to win our matches and wait for them to lose. I hope that the experience of the league match we played in Villarreal will help us in the Cup.

Deco

The result was the best thing in the match. Racing played well on the counterattack and made it difficult for us to create because they defended very well. Madrid are doing well but we have to focus on winning our matches. It’s good that we’re gradually recovering our injured players.

Sylvinho :

We found it hard to break down the Racing defence but we finally got three important points. It was a good match for the coaches. It was a very tactical match. They set out to control the game tactically and it was hard for us to create chances. Henry needs time to recover fully but now you can see that he’s very strong and he’s contributing a lot. Messi is a player that makes a difference. The team feels it when he’s got the ball. He brings quality and makes the team play better. Villarreal are difficult opponents. It’ll be an evenly balanced tie but we have the slight advantage of playing the second leg at home. Pinto works very hard. He brings a lot to the team both as a professional and as a person. I wish him luck at Barça.