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

Barcelona are in trouble because they allowed players like Messi to play Copa America,Samuel Eto to play Copa Africa, of course injuries will come,so much a body can take to many games for a player.

Off season the President of Barca aqcuired Tierre Henry, of course will collide w/Ronaldinho the men that help Barca to achieve Champions League againts Henry w/Arsenal.Barca need a good Strike,Eto is overrated,Toni de Lucca, Totti,Barca needs to clean house,Eto,Henry,Thuran,the coach, and other players should go,XAVI,DECO,INIESTA,PUYOL,BORCHEN,SHOULD BE THE FUTURE.

Regards Rocky

(posted by a reader)

Barca's Vice-Captain Xavi Highlights Bojan's Talents.

An alarmed Xavi Hernandez has not stopped praising the super skills of Bojan Krkic, the teenager who holds the goal-scoring record at FC Barcelona junior team after hitting close to 1,000 goals in his junior team career! Bojan is also now the youngest player to score a goal for the FC Barcelona senior team, and the youngest player to also play an official match for the Blaugrana in both the La Liga and the Uefa Champions League competitions. The vice-captain of FC Barcelona's senior team, Xavi Hernandez says:

Bojan is a dynamic player, he is fast and scores goals. They were more aggressive, especially in the second half. In the first half we played well, created pressure up front and the goal came from that. We have to keep this attitude up and be more effective up front.

Bojan Krkic is also the leading scorer for the two years now in the Spanish national junior team and has won the top scorer award for Spain in ALL competitions he has played for the country.

Youthful and creative Iniesta is happy with his squad's weekend performance.

Impressive Andres Iniesta, who has been in great form for both his club FC Barcelona and his country Spain, is delighted after helping Spain upstage hosts Denmark 3-1 in the EURO 2008 qualifiers played over the weekend. Iniesta was in high spirits after wards and declared his satisfaction with the Spanish stars, while expressing optimism for the future. The 23 year old star said:

We played a great game and completely controlled the first part and gave a good account of ourselves in the second. People said before that a draw would be worth playing for but, instead, now we're one step away from the European Championship.

Spain are now six points clear of Northern Ireland and are tied with Sweden at the top, having played one more game than their two main qualification opponents.