An august visitor receives warm welcome from home fans.



Ex-FC Barcelona youth player, Cesc Fabregas was present at Camp Nou to witness Barca trounce Glasgow Rangers 2-0 in the grudge match of the champions League played on 7th November. After helping Arsenal to secure a ticket to the next stage of the championship, Fabregas flew into town to witness his home-city club, FC Barcelona triumph over noisy Rangers of Scotland. Speaking on the presence of Cesc Fabregas in Barcelona, Barca's coach Frank Rijkaard said:

Fabregas is one of the better players in the world. For his age, as well as playing in a club like Arsenal, he is a key figure in the team.

Fabregas, who was nutured by the Catalan giants, is currently commanding a very influential position at top English Premiership club, Arsenal FC of England where he hopes to the English Premiership title this season as well as the PFA player of the year award.

The scuffle begins ahead of the main event.


Three Rangers fans were injured in Barcelona today after the visiting Scottish team fans became very troublesome as they were in high spirits ahead of the Champions League cracker against Barca at camp Nou. The incident became more serious when a segment of the Gers supporters stormed the area, leading to some bars and all-night newspaper kiosks in the famed 'Las Ramblas' area closing their doors in response to the atmosphere of danger. Up to 700 Rangers fans were reportedly involved. The Guardia Urbana Barcelona and the Mossos d'Esquadra, the national and local police forces, have seemingly yet to make any arrests.
Meanwhile, FC Barcelona have closed their ticket offices to Rangers fans, apparently on police advice, to ensure that there is strict segregation of supporters in the Nou Camp.


Rangers fans have had a history of violence. As far back as 1972, the club was unable to defend it's Cup Winners' Cup title which it won in Barcelona against Dynamo Moscow, due to violent clashes between supporters and the Guardia Civil after the game. Some Rangers fans came under fire for their conduct in Villarreal last year, earning their side a 19,000 Euro fine in the process.

Rangers coach quite sure of remaining in the Uefa Champions League.





Glasgow Rangers Coach, Walter Smith is hopeful of a good result tonight but fixed more on getting a ticket to the Champions League next stage rather than focusing on winning at Camp Nou against leaders FC Barcelona. Smith is happy that Rangers have done their homework well, and will not need too much to effort to stay in the competition, no matter what the result against Barca is. Smith says:

It's a big game for us and one that the players themselves are looking forward to. It's a great achievement by the players to get the number of points that we've got. If Stuttgart don't win in Lyon it means we have European football guaranteed for us after Christmas, regardless of whether it's Champions League or Uefa Cup. We know that we have a game to go to in Stuttgart, where if we can win that and Lyon lose in Barcelona we have an opportunity of qualifying before the last game, which would be terrific for us.

Ahead of the Champions League match, Frank Rijkaard exudes respect for Rangers and confidence of a victory for FC Barcelona.


FC Barcelona's henchman, Frank Rijkaard has shown he's well aware of the immense talents possessed by Scottish side Glasgow Rangers, who shall square up with Barca in the Champions League match day 4 cracker at Camp Nou today. Rijkaard has already learnt a lot form the first leg played at Ibrox, in which the Rangers team held their visiting La Liga giants for a full 90 minutes without the Blaugrana able to break down the tough Rangers defence. In praise of his opponents, the Dutchman says:

Rangers deserve respect because they have shown themselves to be a decent side. It might seem that it will be easy to win but we will have to fight hard. Rangers don’t only play it tight at the back, they don’t just defend well, they are also good in attack. They have forward talent and know all about playing on the counter attack. They are especially motivated and work harder to make their fans happier. That’s why they are so difficult to beat.

Speaking about FC Barcelona, Rijkaard says:

The team always has the right mentality but you can never forget that there are two teams on the field, You may have all the right motivation and concentration, but that doesn’t always mean you will win. Sometimes things don’t work out as you would like and you have to suffer and keep working. If we play well and do things like they should be done, we’ll win.

Who deserves praise and who deserves a smackdown in the Champions League this week?


It was another interesting week in the UEFA Champions League as the championship entered its third day, producing the usual fireworks that come with it. Many ups and downs were experienced, with results both expected and some rather astonishing being reported from various European cities. We have compiled an award list for some categories and selected winners in each of them:


The biggest winners: Arsenal's 7-0 humiliation of Slava Prague stands out. The English premiership side wins this award for the Champions League match day 3.


The biggest losers: Fellow English side, Liverpool, who are firmly rooted at the bottom of their group with only one point after suffering yet another defeat at the hands of Turkey's Besiktas.


The luckiest team: Real Madrid, having gone 2 goals down at their home ground against Greek club Olympiakos, who they were expected to crush without resolve, but almost ended up being crushed before Brazilian superstar Robinho stepped up his game to score two great goals and set up a third one to add to the first goal earlier scored Madrid.


The unluckiest team: FC Barcelona, having had 70% of possession and 17 shots at goal against only 4 by Glasgow Rangers as well as hitting the post with Ronaldinho's spectacular free-kick, among numerous chances and yet not finding the net for once in a 0-0 draw at Ibrox.


The biggest Comeback: AC Milan have suffered a lot this season, playing dreadfully and losing to visiting Empoli at the feared San Siro over the weekend. However, the defending champions roared to life and spanked second placed Shakhtar with 4 goals. The Ukrainians could only responded with one goal. Lyon also deserve mention here for winning away to Stuttgart after losing both at home and away to Rangers and FC Barcelona respectively.


The most relieved coach: Bernd Schuster of Real Madrid will be thanking his stars, and of course Robinho for probably saving his job after the Los Merengues were almost humiliated at the Bernebeu. Avram Grant of Chelsea FC will also sleep well till the next Champions League match day, after the embattled coach secured his second victory in the championship, a victory that was made sweeter by a goal from the prodigal son, Didier Drogba who has also offered his apologies to Chelsea for his mischievous comments last week. Good times seem to be here for Avram.


The Best football: Arsenal wins this with their clean performance against Slava Prague, closely followed by FC Barcelona who held the hosts hostage at their backyard and peppered the much touted Glasgow Rangers to near submission. Manchester United also deserve a mention here, as the Old Trafford lords played well against Dynamo Kiev , but had a clear penalty against them denied which would have tilted the game if the referee had rightly awarded it to Kiev before the English side came up with more goals against a discouraged opponent.


The worst football: We shall leave this to Lionel Messi to make his pick for the worst footballing team of the Champions League Match Day 3.


Players deserving mention: Ronaldinho ( FC Barcelona ), Fabregas ( Arsenal ), Seedorf ( AC milan ), Kaka (AC Milan )Theo Walcott ( Arsenal ), Figo ( Inter Milan ), Ronaldo ( Manchester United ), Robinho ( Real Madrid ), Gilardino ( AC Milan ), Arikan ( Besiktas )