Ibrahimovic gets his own Barça toon

These days, you're not considered fully as a Barça player if you don't have your own 'toon' (just joking, of course). So it happens that Ibrahimovic just got his. Enjoy the not-so-great animation.

Ibrahimovic ja té el seu toon

Related links:
- Barça toons, huge video playlist (youtube.com)

FC Barcelona 2 - Dinamo Kiev 0 (Champions League)

Barça is leader of its group and easy win, with first goal by Messi and second by Pedro, here are the goals:

1 - 0 (Messi)

2 - 0 (Pedro)

Related links:
- Barça too good for Dynamo (Goal.com)
- El Barça vende al Dínamo de Kiev y ya es líder (Lavanguardia.es)

FC Barcelona vs Dynamo Kiev: What are the odds?

Tonight Barça plays its second Champions League match. It's been doing very well since now, and we hope this match won't be an exception. Anyway, I've been looking at some betting online pages to see what chances do we have, at least by the opinion of the gamers:

At oddschecker.com we can check many sites at once, we can see the odds of Barça winning are quite high as many sites offer 1/8  to 1/10  in this case, but a huge 18/1 to 20/1 in case of Dynamo winning. Odds of a draw are from 7/1 to 9/1. Here is a table with some of the offerings:

Bookie offers on FCBarcelona vs Dinamo Kiev

Anyway, I always bet on Barça winning, no matter the chances :) Good luck tonight!

Related links:

- Oddschecker.com

Malaga 0 - FC Barcelona 2 (la Liga)

One goal from Ibra (38') and one from Piqué (55') gave Barça another victory in La Liga. Malaga didn't get even a chance to make a goal. It's the begginning of the season and things haven't changed a lot. Barça is winning all his games and playing great football. I wonder if they'll be able to keep this pace for the whole season. As Pep Guardiola said yersterday: "...if we lose any player, here are more, and if we lose those, we have the second team, there's always a solution." He's maybe the best coach for the best team, as he seemed to be right in the last decisions, like changing Et'o for Ibrahimovic or using junior's team players like Pedro.

Historically, those are the matches that Barça wouldn't win, apparently easy away matches that got difficult in the end. These days, that big team - big loses comple is gone and away matches are no problem at all...

Málaga CF 0-2 FC Barcelona Highlights

Related links:
-La racha de Ibrahimovic y Piqué da el triunfo al Barça (La Vanguardia)
-Malaga 0-2 Barcelona: Ibra & Pique score as blaugrana win (Goal.com)

Marketplace: Cáceres to play at Nou Camp this season

A 16.5 millio euros transfer, Martín Cáceres a central defence from Uruguay, will be playing for Barça the next four years. Although he's been transfered from Villareal (a team in wich he never got to be), this season he played at Recreativo de Huelva.

At 21 years of age, he's played four times for his national team and will be playing with Uruguay the next World Cup qualifiers.

Another buy, we are still expecting some sales.

Jose Martin Caceres

Related links:
-El Villareal confirma el traspaso de Martín Cáceres al Barça (lavanguardia.es)
-Martín Cáceres at wikipedia.

Marketplace: Now Piqué... Will it be a shopping spree?

Gerad Piqué at Manchester Utd (Photo: Eurosport)

I guess it depends on what we sell to finance all this new players. Some clubs seem to be interested on buying, like Inter asking price for Eto'o, Deco and Giovani (I guess they want some kind of 'bundle pack',). We'll be seeing new faces at Nou Camp, but european clubs, knowing Barça is in need of renovation may rise the price of adquisitions (some would say it's a free market, I guess).

There are talks about Ibrahimovic, but just that. Mourinho is soon to coach Inter and he may not want Ibrahimovic as he would prefer Drogba from his former team Chelsea. The price may be a swap with Eto'o, a player that I wouldn't sell as I believe will rise again next season.

Talking about Gerard Piqué, he's a central defender, who played at Manchester Utd, but comes from Barcelona (he is one of Barça's former vicepresidents grandson and played on Barça's youth clubs until 2004 when he left for Manchester). He hasn't played that much, although he played at Zaragoza (where he scored two goals and played 22 matches) for one year as a loan from Manchester, but he has been a regular at Spain's national team.

Gerard Piqué signs for Barça (r10ljung Youtube's channel)

Related links:

-Gerad Piqué at Wikipedia
-Gerard Piqué's Blog
-Gerard Piqué vuelve a casa (via lavanguardia.es)

Marketplace 2008-2009: Keita to play for Barça

Keita is near to be confirmed as Barça player for 2008-2009 season. He passed medical tests yesterday. Keita played in Sevilla F.C this season as a midfielder. Barça will pay 14 million euros for the player's rights. Last minute negotiations are being held at Seville concerning the payment of such a big sum of money (at least I think it's a big sum of money...).

Keita at Lens FC

Related links:

- Seydou Keita at wikipedia
- Seita's statistics 2007-2008 (via Terra.es)

Confirmed: Goodbye Frank, hello Pep!

It is done. Pep Guardiola will be next season's coach, although the future Barça has been preparing for months now with Txiki Beguiristain, Fc Barcelona technical manager. This has been a very personal desition of Laporta and he may face a lot of criticism for not choosing a more experienced coach, like Laudrup or Mourinho.

Rijkaard leaves two Ligas (2005 and 2006) and a Champions League in 2006 (the club's second). He was one of the icons of the renovation that Joan Laporta, Barça's president took after winning the elections in 2003.

As a player, Guardiola won six Ligas and also Barcelona's first Champions League. As a coach, he has minimal experience, being only Fc Barcelona second team coach for this season. We hope his confidence on directing a team on the field will translate while at the bench, being one of the most intelligent players ever to play Barça or any other team. Hello Pep and Good Luck! Let the offensive soccer rule again at Nou Camp.


Related links:

-Rijkaard to leave Barcelona post (via BBC SPORT)
-Rijkaard until 30th June; Guardiola to take over (via FcBarcelona.cat)
-Laporta confirma que Pep Guardiola relevará a Rijkaard (via Lavanguardia.es)

GUARDIOLA TO REPLACE RIJKAARD

Rijkaard won't be at FcBarcelona next year. It's not official, as the season technically hasn't end yet, but all the press it's already talking about the newcomers. My preference would be a seasoned coach with a taste for ataccking soccer, something you don't find everyday.

Read at itv.com and everywhere on the net:

Reports emanating in Spain have revealed that Josep Guardiola will replace Frank Rijkaard as Barcelona coach in the summer.

The dream is over. Manchester Utd 1 - Fc Barcelona 0

It seems like the end of an era is coming as Barça will remain championshipless this year. Maybe it's a good time to start looking into the future and saying goodbye to the past. Ronaldinho is leaving, maybe Deco too.

Rijkaard doesn't seem very stable at his position and there's been talk about Mourinho.

Picture Sport.es

Tomorrow -and probably today, too-, everybody will star talking about replacements...It's the old end of the season tune again.


Match reviews:

-FCBarcelona.cat
-Uefa.com