Chelsea and Iceland international Eidur Gudjohnsen is aparently hours away from joining FC Barcelona.


The Clubs seem to have agreed on a transfer fee of €12 mill. with only the mode of payment to be sorted out between Chelsea and Barcelona, before the Iceland international can sign his new 3-years contract (with an additional 1-year option) for Barca. Latest reports suggest that Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho agreed to let Gudjohnsen go to Barcelona and opposed a move to Premiership rivals Manchester United.


A minor difference over payment has to be sorted out between Chelsea and Barcelona. Chelsea want to receive half of the transfer fee immediately, while the remaining half should be paid within 12 months. FC Barcelona is keen to stretch the payments in four annual instalments of € 3 mill. each year.


The conclusion of the transfer should be announced any time now.


With Gudjohnsen, Barca coach Frank Rijkaard will get his first choice player who he believes to be the perfect replacement for Swedish international Henrik Larsson. With the signing of Chelsea forward Gudjohnsen, Barca will end all speculation about their the interest in Villarreal and former Manchester United striker Diego Forlan who was the preferred choice of Barca´s technical director Txiki Begiristain.


Eidur Gudjohnsen became surplus to requirements at Stamford Bridge, once Chelsea signed Ukrainian Andriy Shevchenko from AC Milan for € 45 mill. but the 27-year-old Icelandic international might have difficulties in finding a place in Barca´s starting line-up facing a tough competition in star players like Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o, Lionel Messia and Ludovic Giuly.

FC Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard is delighted by the spirit and work rate that his Barca players had shown against Villareal. Barca boss Rijkaard believes that the victory over Villareal brang FC Barcelona very close to defend the Spanish Primera Liga Championship title and win La Liga a second consecutive time.


Manager Rijkaard praised the ambition of his Barca team and was quick to publicly congratulate his players to the win on Good Friday over Villareal:

I congratulate the players. It was a very important match that we wanted to win right from the very first minute. A number of players hadn´t played a full 90 minutes and I congratulate them because they have worked very hard to get this important win. I have a lot of respect for Maxi. He's been waiting a long time for his chance and he worked really hard. The team started fairly well, creating chances... then the changes affected the development of the game and our game plan.

Barca coach Rijkaard thought that Villareal was a worthy oppononent and also had words of praise for the opponents and their coach Manuel Pellegrini:

Villarreal are having a great season and I think they have a chance of winning their European tie. Pellegrini is doing a good job and is one of the most outstanding coaches in our league.

Frank Rijkaard´s resummee of the match against Villareal was as following:

Three important points for the league title. Now we can think about Milan.

FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta was happy with the result and performance of the Barca team against Villarreal:

We had to work hard to get the win but they are three very important points that take us closer to the league title. It would be something really special as recently there are few teams that have won it twice in a row. Now we have to concentrate on Tuesday's match. We're going into it with caution but also with hope. Let's see if we can recover some of the injured players.

Barça is very close to win the Spanish Pimera Liga Championship. The three points won against Villarreal leave the league title within touching distance. FC Barcelona needs only 5 points out of the remaing 5 matches and this only when their toughest opponents Real Madrid and Valencia do not drop a point. Therefore the players can now look and concentrate fully on their two Champions League semi final matches against AC Milan.


Speaking just minutes after the final whistle on Friday night against Villareal at Camp Nou the player´s had the following to say:


Víctor Valdés:

A professional always wants to win. Today, the result was important apart from the game and the spectacle. I hope the injuries to Larsson and Ezquerro are not serious. They are players who have given everything. Arzo did a fast shot inside the box and I was able to react in time. Im happy with the way things are going on a personal level and for the team. Tomorrow we can start to talk about Milan. As far as semi-finals are concerned, they've got more experience than us. We have to be careful because the Italians play slowly and then end up scoring. There are no secrets to this team: humility, work and a desire to win every match.

Gio van Bronckhorst:

It was an important match and we won 1-0. They are three vital points to win the league. Against Real Madrid and against Malaga, we had a lot of chances but we drew. Today we had chances and Eto'o scored a cracker. We have respect for every team we play. We have to play with great concentration against Milan to get a good result before the home leg. We want a win or a draw against Milan.

Oleguer Presas:

We had possession of the ball. We've played a lot of matches this season. It's a physical effort and this leads to fatigue and tiredness. It's normal that there are injuries. It happens to all teams. It was important to get the three points and we managed it.

Andrés Iniesta:

We'll go to Milan with respect and to get a good result. We have to concentrate hard and keep in mind that the tie lasts 180 minutes. All games are important. Today's win is very important. We've taken a big step forward.

Mark Van Bommel:

I suffered a bit more on the wing today. We need five points and there are five matches left. If we play with concentration we are close to the league title.

Edmilson:

We're very focussed in all our matches. We don't make any difference between the league and the Champions League. When we win 1-0 we have to control the match and thats what we did. There's a month to go before the end of the season so it's normal that there are injuries. But we have work so there aren't any more as we're a bit concerned because a lot of players are injured. As professionals, we have to rest because we must be capable of sacrifice if we want to enter into the history of Barca. After four weeks out I felt fine and confident.

FC Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard after the match: "At this stage it does not look as though the injuries of Larsson and Ezqurro are very bad and I thought that Maxi Lopez came on and worked very hard and created chances for himself. The team as a whole worked hard in order to win and several players put in the effort without having many minutes under their belts this season. The result is very important in the championship race and is a further step forward."


Eight-placed Villarreal had a disappointing night which saw them lose ground in the fight for a European place next season. And they also received a double injury blow with both Villareal players, Juan Manuel Pena and Gonzalo Rodriguez, suffering ankle injuries.


Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini admitted: "It is a big disappointment to lose both of them at this stage of the season, with big games ahead and we will have to see how serious they are. I think that we started with a lack of concentration and were made to pay. We did our best but could not get the breakthrough."