Barcelona players come out tops among the world's best.


With seven players nominated on the shortlist for the 2007 FIFA World Player of the Year with the winner being announced at a ceremony on December 17, FC Barcelona are the team with the most number of players nominated for the event. 7 out of the 30-man list to win the award as the most impressive player over the past 12 months are players from Barca. They are Thierry Henry, Lilian Thuram, Rafa Márquez, Deco, Samuel Eto'o, Lionel Messi and Ronaldinho are the seven names from Barça that have been chosen for the award by a FIFA committee. Now the coaches and captains of 208 national teams will vote for their top three favourites. Only six of the 30 players ply their trade in Serie A, while the Premiership and la Primera provide ten each, three come from the Bundesliga and only Juninho Pernambucano plays in France.


If Ronaldinho wins the award then he will equal Ronaldo's record of winning the trophy on three occasions. The former Barça star was voted as the world's best play in 1996, 1997 and 2002. Ronaldinho has won it in 2004 and 2005. The FIFA World Player of the Year award was inaugurated in 1991 and since then four Barça players have won the honour and they were all Brazilian. Romario was first in 1994, then came Ronaldo in 1996, Rivaldo followed in 1999 and Ronaldinho has scooped the award twice, in 2004 and 2005.

Ex-Barca and ex-Madrid star Luis Figo is keen on knowing the final outcome of the 2007/08 La Liga championship.


Having played for both FC Barcelona and Real Madrid before moving on to win the Serie A championship with Inter Milan in the 2006/07 season, Portuguese star, Luis Figo has given his ratings of the two arch-rivals who often run neck-to-neck to produce much drama in the Spanish Liga each year. Figo gave his ratings thus:

Currently, Barca have one of the best teams in the world, and have done very well to reinforce themselves over the summer. As for Real Madrid, the expectations are always high at the Bernabeu for a trophy and it will be no different this year. We will certainly witness a very interesting title race this season.

After two matches played so far in the Spanish League this season, Real Madrid have six points while FC Barcelona have four points.

Thierry Henry speaks on Inter Milan and looks ahead to the La Liga clash on Sunday.


After his shot hit the post against Racing Santander, Thierry Henry will be keenly watched against Inter Milan this evening in the Joan Gamper Trophy match. The French play maker is steadily getting back into great form and says he will be fully feet in not more than four weeks time. Speaking on what he sees of Serie A champions Inter Milan, Henry says:

I played Inter many times and it’s never an easy game. When you play an Italian team it’s always difficult. I believe we’ll see a good match and that it will be a good test for both of us.

Thierry has an eye on the Gamper match and another eye on the La Liga match of FC Barcelona against Athletic in Camp Nou on Sunday. The Barca star says:

There’s an important match on Sunday against Athletic Bilbao but though it’s important to know where the points come from it’s also very important to have a good game against Inter. Barca's focus is on Both Inter Milan and Athletic.

Giuly hailed as quality player above all others.


Fabio Capello has praised ex-Barca player Ludovic Giuly as the best signing for the season in Italian soccer. Capello also praised Roma for making a successful bid in acquiring the former Blaugrana playmaker, saying:

Roma have had a great summer in the transfer market, very intelligent and well thought out. Giuly and Juan are superb signings for any big club. It will be champions like them that can make the difference. Everyone will have to wait to see Pato come of age, but now the best signing of the summer has been Giuly because of the quality he has and for the price Roma paid.

Capello has been making expert comments of late as a pundit in Italy for the new season.

Even though quite unlikely to be true, AC Milan boss, Silvio Berlusconi says there is hope for landing FC Barcelona's Brazilian star, Ronaldinho.


The Rosseneri have been hot on the heels of Ronnie even before the season ended, and made the famous ambush when Ronaldinho was holidaying in the city of Milan. However, Barcelona have made it clear more than once, twice or thrice that Ronaldinho is a no go area and is not anywhere near the transfer market. This didn't prevent onward thrusts by the Milan lords for the Brazilian, who said taking NO for an answer was not possible. Now, as perhaps a way of signing out of the Ronaldinho fight in grand style with heads up high, Milan have claimed Barca president, Joan Laporta has assured them they can come for Ronnie next season, though they quickly add this was to continue talks, but at the same time, subtly passing the message across that they have netted Ronnie in advance. This is yet to confirmed, even though seeming quite unlikely, as such assurance will likely not be given by Laporta who is keen on keeping his midfield dynamo focused on peak performance in Camp Nou, with the knowledge that such tarnsfer related news will be a distraction to Ronnie.
Ronaldinho agnet and brother, Roberto de Assis, who is also a representative to some players that have been transferred to AC Milan, says Ronaldinho is happy at FC Barcelona and is not contemplating a move.