Andrei Arshavin has his heart set on a move to Barcelona this summer, saying that playing for the club he supported as a boy is a "dream".


Arshavin has only made two appearance at the tournament but his impact has alerted top European clubs and Zenit St Petersburg are braced for his departure.


Arsenal have also been linked the 27-year-old, with Gunners boss Arsene Wenger suggesting recently that he would fit the bill for the football in the Premier League.


However, Arshavin said:

"I have supported Barcelona all my life.

Barcelona are my dream. I never thought I would have a genuine chance to play for the club. Let's see how the situation unfolds.

For now I can't say anything for sure. At the moment I'm a player of team Russia and I'm only thinking about doing well in the semi-finals."

Arshavin will start for Russia against Spain in the Euro 2008 semi-final at Vienna's Ernst Happel Stadium on Thursday evening.


He missed the defeat to Spain at the start of the tournament through suspension and admits there could be an element of revenge to turn around that 4-1 reverse.



He said..

"Possibly because I didn't take part in the first match, For me the first game has no meaning any more. This is a semi-final and things can be decided by a single mistake."

Russia coach Guus Hiddink has Denis Kolodin and Dmitri Torbinski suspended for the semi-final.

Barcelona could be ready to offer Andrei Arshavin a dream move after Zenit St Petersburg confirmed the Spanish giants have made an approach.

Arshavin is one of the most-sought after players in Europe after catching the eye at the Euro 2008 finals with Russia.


The classy playmaker is expected to leave Zenit this summer and he has been strongly linked with a move to the Premier League with Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City all credited with an interest in his services.


Arshavin has admitted he would like to move to Spain with Barcelona being his dream destination and the Catalan titans have now made their first move to lure the 27-year-old to La Liga.


Zenit's sporting director Konstantin Sarsaniya says Barcelona have contacted them about a possible deal for Arshavin and that his future will be resolved once he returns from international duty.

"Barcelona has made a formal proposal to Zenit for the purchase of Arshavin," Sarsaniya told Sovietski Sport.

"We will only talk about this once Andrei returns to Zenit."

Sporting Life / Eurosport

FC Barcelona's safe hands, Victor Valdes is wary of Levante.


As the Catalan giants aim to close the gap on Real Madrid's five-point lead, the feeling among the fans is that of absolute victory especially after Barca produced the best champions league performance last week by beating Celtic at an away fixture. Valdes, though, is not counting his chickens yet, as he cautions on Levante's new found form:

Levante will be motivated at the Camp Nou. They’ve been getting results lately and have just had an important win against Osasuna.

Read the full interview below:


FC Barcelona's Valdes Warns On Levante.

Sensing the heat, Real Madrid's Gonzalo Higuain has opened fire on FC Barcelona.


Perhaps, a good way of catching your coach's attention if he has confined you to the substitute's bench is to vouch for your team even when uncertainty is growing. This is the method Real Madrid's striking sub, Gonzalo Higuain has adopted as the young Argentine player publicly dismissed FC Barcelona as serious contenders for the La Liga. Higuain believes the La Liga race is won and lost, but passes his verdict with a customary show of respect to the talents that lie in FC Barcelona. The Argentine said:

We are undoubtedly the best team. Barça has great individual talent, but Madrid have proved they are better. I'm not saying that Barca are not good, but the La Liga title belongs to us and this is final.Even though it looks like Barça are catching up, we have the grounds to stop them from rising to the top.

Real Madrid are five points ahead of FC Barcelona at the top of the La Liga, but the five point advantage was reduced from a wider margin of nine points some few weeks back, through some great display from the Catalan giants, who have won at both home and away, while Madrid lost miserably to Real Betis in their last League match, and failed to secure a victory in their champions league midweek tie against Roma, losing out 2-1.

Andres Iniesta is not over-the-top with Barca's victory over Celtic.




The Spanish star is rather looking ahead to closing the gap with Real Madrid at the top of the La Liga and has all his focus on the next Primera match. The Blaugrana thumped Celtic 3-2 away in Scotland a few days ago, and hope to thump Levante by a wider score margin this weekend. Iniesta, who was instrumental to Barca's victory, is urging his team mates not to remain in the ecstacy of their outstanding Champions League victory, but to let such a victory remain a boost for starting a winning streak that can see the Catalan gaints emerge winners in all remaining championships this season. Iniesta says:

We must not make the mistake of under rating Levante. The game on Sunday looks easy especially after the way we played in Glasgow. However we must forget about the Celtic game as it is over and from now on we must concentrate on the game against Levante. We have to work hard other wise we will suffer. The Celtic victory was good, but that is all in the past now. We must look ahead to matches ahead. The Glasgow win is like water under the bridge. There’s a long way to go in the league. The Cup is up next and we still have to ratify this result on 4th March when we play the return leg. I hope the victorious image continues and that we can play more games with the same good football.

The creative one however, does not resist the temptation to admire the performance of the super stars on a night they were at their best in Glasgow. Andres the dribbler says:

Yesterday’s match was one of the most complete games I can remember this season. Our comeback, our performance, the standard of football and the result were all so wonderful.

The Barca star ends with brushing aside the threat of Real Madrid who are the only team that can stop Barca from reclaiming their La Liga title won two seasons ago and lost last season. Iniesta says:

I don’t want to analyse the tendencies. We just want to carry on the same way because it’s non-stop with so many matches.

FC Barcelona are five points behind arch rivals Real Madrid and a win on Sunday's La Liga match will help close up the gap.