FC Barcelona´s inspitational forward Ronaldinho has been included in the squad list for "El Clasico" against Real Madrid on Saturday, despite muscular problems in his left leg. The Brazilian superstar will still be a doubt right up until the last minute.


Juliano Belletti, Deco and Thuram have been included after they had been left out against Sevilla.


Giuly are Zambrotta are suspended while Gio and Motta have been left out by Barca coach Frank Rijkaard.


The complete Barca squad list against the Merengues:

Valdés, Jorquera, Puyol, Xavi, Belletti, Saviola, Oleguer, Iniesta, Ronaldinho, Messi, Gudjohnsen, Márquez, Edmílson, Sylvinho, Ezquerro, Eto'o, Thuram and Deco.

FC Barcelona has got a great squad. Most of the important Barca player´s are on long term contracts or like Barça defender Rafael Marquez keen to commit to FC Barcelona and wanting to extend their contract with the Club.
It is not a secret that Barça is still after top players to re-inforce the defence (one central defender, one left wing back and one right bwing back) and to get a striker with goal scoring abilities who will substite Henrik Larsson. Larsson, the 34 year old Swedish international will end his career at IF Helsingborg.

Barcelona, as any big Club in the world, is always connected to players and rumours are flying around every day but FC Barcelona is concentrating on several players on their short list so far:


At the top of the list to fill the position as central defender is AS Roma´s Cristian Chivu, in which FC Barcelona already showed interest some time ago. Frank Rijkaard knows the player very well and is a big fan of Chivu since a long time ago. AS Roma will not let his star player go easily but Chivu's agent is Gica Popescu, Ex-Barça player who has an exceptional relationship with FC Barcelona. El Mundo Deportivo assures in today´s edition that Popescu would be very keen on Chivu joining FC Barcelona and that the player is ready to join. Obviously, AS Roma doesn't want to release Chivu out of his current contract, but the financial situation of the Italian Club is disastrous and therefore Barça has good cards to "play" in future negotiations. As alternative to Chivu, there is William Gallas from Chelsea FC. The technical staff around Barça coach Frank Rijkaard and also Txiki Beguiristain prefer Cristian Chivu but see France international Gallas as an alternative. His contract expires in 2007 and in this case, should Chelsea ask for to much money to release him out of his current contract, Barca would wait until summer 2007 to take the player on a Bosman free transfer.


The striker number 1 target and top of the list is without doubt Arsenals Thierry Henry and there are only 2 options possible: FC Barcelona or Arsenal. The player has to make up his mind and decide if he will stay at Arsenal or join FC Barcelona. Both sides have made their offers and, as the player says himself, money is not the issue.
But as FC Barcelona Blog already published some months ago, there is a further striker option: Diego Forlán of Villareal, Europe´s best goal scorer of last year (joint top scorer with Henry, Arsenal).


Villareal's top striker Diego Forlán is the kind of player that Barca´s Technical Secretary Txiki Beguiristain prefers and Txiki believes he would be the perfect replacement for Swede Henrik Larsson. Frank Rijkaard is also fond of Forlán. So, may be the semi final of the Champions League will be a good occassion to show who will be the best striker to join Barça but also nobody can dismiss the possibility to see both players, Diego Forlán and Thierry Henry, playing at Camp Nou next season.


On the wing back positions Barca has not taken any decision yet. Barça is currently selecting the European and South American market. Several names have been put forward but no decision taken. Damiá, who is currently doing an excellent job at Racing Santander will return from his loan spell and could be an alternative. Also Daniel Alves (FC Sevilla) as well as Hatem Trabelski (Ajax Amsterdam) are the favourite names in connection with a summer transfer.


So, who are the players to leave?

Except Larsson, who is heading home to Sweden, Gabri is at the top of the list. Followed by Giuly, despite playing well and scoring important goals will find it very difficult to make the sqad as a regular. A player of his class can not be satisfied with this situationa and might want to leave. Gio and Belletti could face a similar problem when Barça will be active on the transfer market. Bayern Munich is interested in Mark Van Bommel (replacement for Michael Ballack). Barça does not want to sell Van Bommel at this stage but may be an offer in the region of 15-20 Mill. would give the Barca board a reason to rethink as well as bringing substantial money in to re-inforce on other positions. Van Bommel came last year on a Bosman free transfer.

FC Barcelona will go with a big handicap into the UEFA Champions League quarter final second league at Camp Nou on Wednesday (20:45 local time).
Severe defence problems and a missing Lionel Messi give a bit of a headache.

This is the list of Barca player´s not available for selection at present:


Edmilson
Rafael Marquez

Thiago Motta
Sylvinho

Leo Messi
Xavi



We will keep you informed as soon we have some positive news!