The Edmilson burst-up, Ronnie massacre by the press and the fight between two Arsenal FC players in the full glare of the public shows the pressure is on top European teams.


As the season centers around the half-way mark in most leagues, the pressure is on the pre-season favourites of top leagues in Europe to live up to their bidding. FC Barcelona are under great pressure to catch up with leaders Real Madrid, after the Blaugrana were overwhelmingly tipped to lift the La Liga this season with little effort. However, half-way through the Barca are trailing seven points in second place. No doubt, the Catalan giants have the ability to catch up with Madrid and eventually win the league, but this will not be easy. Ronaldinho is being sacrificed by both Barca fans and the world press and being accussed of failing to lift FC Barcelona, while Edmilson, lying on the hospital bed before his injury, attacked all the players and the team with harsh words, ending with the word black sheep to refer to an unnamed player.


Another top European clubside, Arsenal FC, who were not exactly tipped to win the English Premiership before the season started, but who played themselves into the top contender position with fine football, have slipped to the second place position after maintaining top spot since the season began. Manchester United, the traditional English premiership winners are once again in their familiar first position. The pressure showed after Arsenal were drubbed 5-1 in the Carling Cup semi-final match by Tottenham Hotspurs and qualified 6-2 on aggregade. During the match, things got so heated up that two Arsenal players, team-mates Nicklas Bendtner and Emmanuel Adebayor fought on the pitch while their fans watched in disbelief and the entire TV cameras were focussed in dismay. Caution was thrown to the winds. The pressure is on and still rising.


As FC Barcelona file out against Villarreal in the Copa del Rey, a lot of pressure is on Barca not to lose, as a loss will mean a third straight loss tho Villarreal in El Madrigal. Also, Barca must never lose any game be it in the La Liga or not, so that the Blaugrana will maintain their wining mentality acquired since this year, when the giants have not yet lost any match.A lot remains to be seen. Indeed, the pressure is on. The new battle is no more against arch-rivals, but in addition to that has emerged a battle of nerves, composure, self-control and possible lessons in anger management for all the super stars in Europe's top leagues.

A desperate Frank Rijkaard storms El Madrigal in search of first victory against Villarreal.


Speaking in his pre-match press conference, the Dutchman admits the yellow submarines were the better side before, but things will definitely change this time around. Although Barca have lost in two successive encounters in Villarreal's home ground, the Catalan giants defeated the hosts right in their home ground in the 2005/06 season. Frank Rijkaard wants to lead Barca to repeat this feat, as that time, the man on the bench was Hen Ten Cate after Rijkaard was sidelined himself due to an illness on that day. Now the Barca helmsman wants to prove all his critics wrong that he can secure victory for Barca when he's on the bench at the El Madrigal. Rijkaard demonstrates clear knowledge of the Villarreal side:

They were better in the last league game. They came out very strongly and scored early on. We were unable to turn things around and Villarreal justifiably won. They are a team that can wait for to play in their half before launching counter-attacks or can come out and attack you from the first minute. We know what to expect and we will have to go out and start strongly ourselves.

Read the full interview below:


FC Barcelona's Rijkaard: Villarreal Were Better In The Last Game.

Abidal has been ruled out due to injury as Edmilson returns.


The brilliant French defender took a blow to his left foot and will be out of the Villarreal game, while Edmilson has been certified fully fit to play against the yellow submarines who have had a very good record against Barca, having defeated the Blaugrana in the last two matches both teams have played at the El Madrigal. FC barcelona want to put an end to this trend, and this is the best time to do it as the semi-final ticket of the Cop del Rey is at stake. The men to do it for Barca include:


Valdés, Pinto, Milito, Márquez, Puyol, Xavi, Gudjohnsen, Iniesta, Zambrotta, Henry, Edmilson, Giovani, Messi, Deco, Thuram, Oleguer, Bojan, Sylvinho.


Ronaldinho is back in training, but did not train with the rest of the squad as he continued with specific therapy and training to address his particular situation. Three young talents, Pedrito, Víctor Sánchez and Busquets were also present in training, all three coming from the junior team, Barca B.


The match against Villarreal takes place at El Madrigal on January 24th. Kick-off time is 22:00 hours local time.

Another milestone achieved by Europe's greatest club, after successes with Unicef and UNESCO.


History was made today as FC Barcelona and ACNUR signed a collaboration agreement in Geneva today for a three-year period. The first refugee action programmes involving Barça will be applied in Rwanda, Nepal and Ecuador. The agreement will be in place, in principle, for three years, and the first 12 months will be focused on Rwanda, Nepal and Ecuador, three countries that host thousands of refugees from other territories. The president of FC Barcelona, Joan Laporta, and the High Commissioner of UNHCR/ACNUR, António Guterres, signed an agreement at midday today by which the football club will be adapting some of the Foundation’s programmes to different refugee camps in different parts of the world. The agreement was signed at the UNHCR/ACNUR headquarters in Geneva. According to Joan Laporta, who spoke after the signing, the Barca president said that:

This is further evidence of Barça’s commitments. This is our next big challenge. We are ready to score lots of goals.
Yet again, we are sending a message to the world, but as always, it is not just a message. It is also about actions.

In response, the ACNUR high commissioner, António Guterres thanked FC Barcelona and was clearly happy with the resolve and philosophy of the Catalan clubside. Guterres outlined the importance of the agreement when he said:

We believe Barça will open a lot of doors for us in order to make society understand about the plight of refugees. FC Barcelona and its Foundation have a high capacity for communication. Associating sport with education is a formidable thing.

Coach Frank matches on in winning ways with the rest of the team.


The Barca coach has set himself apart from many as hi inches his way closer to the few remaining coaching records at FC Barcelona. Rijkaard now has the highest number of wins in the history of the great club, winning 61% of all matches he has led Barca into, a record previously held by Johan Cruyff at 59% of wins. Read more records broken by the talented and intelligent tactician at Camp Nou:


Frank Rijkaard Breaks Multiple Records At FC Barcelona.