Barca's President makes his satisfaction public.


An obviously delighted Joan Laporta beamed with smiles when he made himself available for the post-match press comments at Camp Nou after the highly rated FC Barcelona smacked perennial French champions Olympique Lyon 3-0 to assume the top position in the Champions League group standings. Filled with joy for the players, coach, fans and friends alike, Laporta began with congratulating the players and the coaching crew:

The team was sensational. We have to congratulate the individual players, the team and the coach. They played well, fought hard and won. Here, we all win and we all lose. That includes the fans, the membership, players, coaches and directors. Rijkaard’s call for unity was very important.

Laporta also showed appreciation for the fact that former Arsenal FC goal king, Thierry Henry had opened his official goal-scoring record at Barcelona, striking in the Champions League match on Wednesday, a feat which brought Henry's total goal to 43 goals in the Champions League, having scored 7 at Monaco and 35 at Arsenal. Laporta says:

Henry needed this goal and I’m very happy for him.

The president ended his speech by urging greater focus and attention to the forthcoming La Liga match day four clash against Sevilla FC in Camp Nou, which comes up in two days time as another must-win match for the Blaugrana.

Advance tickets for FC Barcelona's matches went on sale in a new beginning. Read also about new rules regarding Champion's League tickets.


FC Barcelona has recorded huge success in its advance ticket sales to non-season ticket holders.


Members also had an oppportunity to purchase tickets for the FC Barcelona-Lyon Champions League encounter. The sales are handled through sales channels. For UEFA security reasons, the general public can only buy tickets in person at the club ticket offices fifteen days or less before the game kicks off.


Read more about the tickets below:


FC Barcelona Advance Tickets: Got Yours Yet?

Valdano plays the big-brother role as he moves in to voluntarily protect his fledgling country man.


Argentine legend, Jorge Valdano has expressed fears that more-than-sufficient pressure is being placed on the young shoulders of his countryman, Lionel Messi. The former world cup winner is concerned about the incident where more and more players are constantly in the spotlight, which means that they have less chance of being tolerated for any little error or adjustment in form,playing pattern or anything that is deemed unbecoming of a superstar. Valdona also warns that pressure could come in form of praise, which could be equally as dangerous. Speaking out, the Argentine said:

A player of Messi’s quality should be aware of his opponents inside the football field, as well as his admirers outside the field. He is receiving high levels of pressure. He is often compared to Diego Maradona. To live up to that isn’t easy for such a young player. Fortunately he seems to be a mature person ans is so far, handling it all in his stride.

Valdano also rued what he identified as a cancer eating into the fragments of modern day football:

Latest trends are killing off the fine art of soccer artistry. Football has been getting rid off its most creative players, and we are against a game that each day becomes more physical and less tactical, more collective and less individual. This will mean that eventually, the creative player will disappear from the game.

Toure storms Camp Nou training as an early bird.


FC Barcelona's new player, Toure Yaya has demonstrated his intention to deliver peak performance for Barcelona by beginning his training ahead of schedule. Toure who trained alone and under the supervision of Barca club doctor, has earlier declared winning the Champions' League with Barca was his ultimate goal. In addition, Toure also shows great optimism for Barcelona's campaign's next season. Yaya says:

The coming season will be a very good and fruitful one for us. With the kind of players we have at the club, we shall win many competitions. We have nade very good signings and I am doing all I can to produce my best performance for Barca. I have already been training even before this day, based on some guidlines provided for me by the club.

Toure was signed from AS Monaco and will be a core part of FC Barcelona's trophy challenges in the 2007/08 season. The strong player was indispensable in the Monaco midfield, where his super star peformance earned him a listing among the best defensive midfielders in the world.

AS Roma agree on deal for Ludovic Giuly.


Roma has taken many steps ahead of their rivals in the chase for Barcelona's creative player, Ludovic Giuly as the Italian team has agreed on a deal worth 3.2 Million Euros down payment and an additional 1.2 Million Euros if Roma should qualify for the European Champions League in the first year of Giuly's stay at Rome. The contract will run for three years, due to end in 2010. Giuly was keen to return home to France and continue where he left off with his former club, Monaco, but the prospects of having one more adventure in another foreign land, Italy, was attractive to Ludo, coupled by the the offer of a three-year deal which provides more security for the 31 year-old French star and his career.


Roma were desperate to have Giuly, and the Rome lords offered the Barca star a three year deal even though Giuly wished for a minimum contract offer of two years before considering any offer away from Camp Nou. Though Roma may not pay Ludo as high as Barcelona will pay him, considering a difference of 700,00 Euros in annual take home pay, Giuly is still satisfied with other terms in the contract. Roma will pay Giuly 2.5 Million Euros a year while the left-footed winger earned 3.2 Million Euros at Barca.
English premiership clubs, Tottenham Hotspur and Newscastle United were initially in the race for Giuly but interests cooled off. In France, Monaco and Olympique Marseille were eager to welcome Giuly back to France, but the deals did not materialise.

Reacting to the transfer news, FC Barcelona's Vice-President, Ferran Soriano said:

Various clubs have made enquiries about Giuly and his situation will be resolved very quickly. Four new players have arrived, while Gio Van Bronckhorst and Javier Saviola have left and to cover any injuries that we may incur we are ready to promote two players from the youth ranks.

Bojan Krkic and Giovanni Dos Santos are to be promoted to the Barcelona senior team to add vigour to the already bolstered attacking line of FC Barcelona.