Barça back to full strength ahead of La Liga debut

The Chilean Alexis Sánchez was the last international to join Barça after this week's international friendlies, which allowed Tito Vilanova to prepare for the team's La Liga debut with all the available first team players 

Jonathan Dos Santos and Carles Puyol trained with the team while Thiago continued his recovery plan apart from the group

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Tito Vilanova’s team is back to full strength ahead of Barça's 2012/13 La Liga debut this Sunday against Real Sociedad. The available first team players trained this afternoon on Field 1 of the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper, including the Chilean Alexis Sánchez, who was the last international player to arrive in Barcelona after this week’s international friendlies. The Barça B's Cristian Tello and Sergi Roberto also trained with the first team. 

Puyol and Dos Santos train with the group 

Just as they did on Thursday, Carles Puyol and Jonathan dos Santos trained alongside their team-mates this afternoon. Thiago Alcántara, however, trained apart from the group as he continues to recover from the injury that kept out of the Olympic Games. 

Training session on Saturday at 9.00 

The team will continue to prepare for the match against Real Sociedad on Saturday morning. The closed-door session will start at 9.00, Tito Vilanova will hold a press conference after the training session.

Tickets for Hamburg v FC Barcelona now on sale

www.fcbarcelona.cat

06/05/2012 10:11

On Tuesday the first tickets have gone on sale to the general public for the game between Hamburg and FC Barcelona on July 24 (18.00)

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El partit es jugarà el dia 24 de juliol (18 hores) / FOTO: HSV.DE

Tickets for the first game of the FC Barcelona preseason are now on sale. From Tuesday June 5, and now that the period for exclusive purchase by members of Hamburg SV has ended, the general public can buy tickets for the game at the Imtech Arena on July 24 at 18.00.
Anybody wanting to acquire tickets for the first game in preparation for FC Barcelona’s 2012/13 season, and which will mark Tito Vilanova’s debut as head coach, can do so by clicking on the following link:

BUY tickets

Related articles

• 05/29/2012 Friendly match with Hamburg SV on July 24
• 05/30/2012 Epic meetings between Barça and Hamburg

The Netherlands, with Afellay in the starting line-up, lose to Denmark (0-1)

www.fcbarcelona.cat

06/09/2012 20:32

First surprise of the 2012 EURO as the Netherlands lose 0-1 to Denmark. The Azulgrana Ibrahim Afellay featured in the starting line-up and was substituted on 71 minutes

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PHOTO: UEFA.COM

The first match of the second match day of the Poland and Ukraine EURO pitted the World Cup runner-up, Netherlands, against Denmark. The Netherlands lost 0-1 to their northern European neighbors. It wasn’t the best debut for the Oranje, who are playing in one of the most difficult groups of the competition. The Netherlands must face Germany and Portugal in the following weeks.

Afellay in the starting line-up

The FC Barcelona player, Ibrahim Afellay, featured in Bert Van Marwijk’s starting line-up. Holland quickly took control of the game in the Ukrainian city of Jarkov at the Matalist Stadium, but they came up against a very solid Denmark defence. In the first minutes of the match, Afellay was involved in various plays that could have ended up in his team’s first goal. His first chance came on 10 minutes but his shot went over the crossbar.

In one of the few Denmark attacks, the Danes scored the first and only goal of the game. On the 24th minute, Krohn-Dehli beat two defenders and then buried the ball in the back of the Dutch goal. The Netherlands came close to equalising before the half but Robben’s shot crashed against the woodwork.

In the second half the Dutch side went on the attack against a Danish team that was ready to weather the onslaught. The manager Van Marwijk decided to bring in his substitutes, among the players to leave the pitch was Afellay (on the 71st minute); Huntelaar took the Azulgrana player’s place on the pitch. In the end, however, the first-half goal was enough to win the three points for Denmark.

Messi leads Argentina to victory over Brazil with a stunning hat-trick (4-3)

www.fcbarcelona.cat

06/09/2012 23:46

The Barça player was the man of the match in the international friendly between Argentina and Brazil in New Jersey. The Argentine scored three goals, the last one was truly a work of art, as he led his team to victory

Javier Mascherano also featured in Argentina's line-up against Brazil at MetLife Stadium

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PHOTO: ARXIU FCB

Leo Messi dazzled the world once again. This time he was in the Argentina jersey at MetLife stadium in New Jersey (U.S.A) playing in a friendly between two of the best national teams in the world: Argentina and Brazil. Barça’s number 10 had a slow start to the game but once he plugged into the match he was unstoppable proving once again that he’s the best footballer on the planet. Javier Mascherano also had a notable performance.

Brazil scored the first goal of the match. On the 22nd minute, Rómulo latched onto the free kick taken by Neymar to send the ball into the back of the Argentina goal. Messi scored the first of his three goals eight minutes later. Barça’s striker ran onto the ball after a superb pass from Higuaín, outpaced two Brazilian defenders and sent the ball to the far post as Rafael rushed out of goal to meet him. Minutes later he scored his second. In three minutes Messi had turned the game around. The teams went to the break with 2-1 on the scoreboard.

A work of art to complete the hat-trick

Brazil came out swinging in the second half and on the 56th minute they managed to grab the equaliser thanks to a goal from Oscar after a good give-and-go with Leandro Damião. Brazil went on to score the go-ahead goal on 71 minutes thanks to Hulk’s goalscoring ability. There was still time for Argentina to mount a comeback. Four minutes later Fernandez made it three-all as he headed in a corner taken by ‘El Kun’ Aguero. It was a festival of goals in New Jersey to the delight of the crowd at MetLife Stadium, but the best was yet to come. With six minutes to go before the end of the match Messi stepped up to put the final touches on the exciting clash between the two South American giants. The player received the ball in the midfield, beat Marcelo and raced toward the Brazilian goal, as he neared Brazil's area he beat another defender and unleashed a shot that sent the ball sailing into the upper 90 of Rafael’s goal. The spectators erupted with joy with Messi’s third goal. Minutes later the referee blew the final whistle, Argentina claimed victory over Brazil with a stunning hat-trick from Leo Messi.

Futsal

09.04.2011 19:33

Barça Alusport win again in Segovia (3-2)

www.fcbarcelona.cat

Barça Alusport took the 3 points against Caja Segovia, in a pretty poor match. Barça took full advantage of their goal scoring knack, to finally decide the match in their favour.

MATCH STATS

CAJA SEGOVIA, 2
FCB ALUSPORT, 3

Caja Segovia (0 +2): Cidao, Tobe, Geison, Sergio Lozano (1), Esquerdinha (1) - starting five - Antoñito, Borja, David

FC Barcelona Alusport (1 +2): Cristian, Chico, Lin, Igor, Saad (1) - starting five - Ari Santos (1), Carlos Munoz, Fernandao, Wilde (1)

Goals: 0-1, Wilde, min. 17; 1-1, Sergio Lozano, min. 32; 1-2, Ari Santos, min. 33; 2-2, Esquerdinha, min. 36; 2-3, Saad, min. 37

Referees: Cuesta Sánchez and García Morón

Marc Carmona and his players have now put the pressure on ElPozo. The Murcia team, who play on Sunday, must now win to keep up the fight for the title , with only 3 match-days remaining, not counting this one, in the regular season.

Barça Alusport came away victors from a tough, but fairly dull, match. At a venue with lots of good memories for Barcelona - the Pedro Delgado Pavilion is where they won the Spanish Cup - the five-a-side team was made to suffer for their win, but it was always going to be the case. They were also without Javi Rodriguez, who remained in Barcelona with a slight injury.

Wilde put them on the right track

Although the game lacked tension, and Barça started erratically and a bit cold, they took the lead before the break, when a great diagonal pass from Ari Santos found Wilde, who made no mistake.

The 1-0 lead helped to calm things down for Barça, although after the restart there was still something missing.

The away team’s game remained a bit static and Jesus Velasco’s side equalised through Sergio Lozano, on loan from Barça, but the 1-1 lasted a very short time, as Ari Santos put Barça 2-1 up within seconds.

In a very tight game, Esquerdinha scored an equaliser, but Saad beat goalkeeper Cidao to make the final score 3-2 in favour of Barça.

Critical Analysis

For the Barça coach "the best thing was the result". Carmona acknowledged that the team hadn’t played well and would need to analyse it to find the reasons why, because "I don’t have any explanation at the moment. "It seemed like we had the game under control, but that wasn’t entirely true and we got a bit anxious”, he said, but he also recognised the fact that their suffering was minimised because as soon as Caja Segovia scored, his team responded.

Futsal

30.03.2011 22:27

Through to the final with another big win (6-1)

Llorenç Tarrés

Barça Alusport duly defeated Lugo in the second leg of the Spanish Cup semi final to make the Final in Toledo with a comfortable, serious performance.

More info

STATS

FC BARCELONA ALUSPORT, 6
AZKAR LUGO, 1

FC Barcelona Alusport (2+4): Paco Sedano (1), Chico, Javi Rodríguez, Saad (1), Wilde –starting five-, Jordi Torras, Ari Santos (2), Carlos (1), Igor, Sepe, Eric Martel and Cristian (keeper).

Azkar Lugo (0+1): Óscar, Adri, Rafa López, Matamoros (1), Miguel –starting five-, Guerra, Hugo, Genaro, Iago Míguez, Antonio and Mendiola (keeper).

Goals: 1-0, Paco Sedano (14’); 2-0, Carlos (18’); 3-0, Saad (24’); 4-0, Hugo(o.g.)(27’); 5-0, Ari Santos (32’); 5-1, Matamoros (34’); 6-1, Ari Santos (34’);

Referees: Alonso Montesinos and Rubio Fajardo. Yellow cards for Lugo players Óscar and Matamoros.

Venue: Palau Blaugrana.

Although they had virtually won the tie with their victory in the first leg, Barça didn’t relax for this game and coach Marc Carmona showed his intentions by sending out his best team, with Chico, Javi Rodríguez, Wilde and Saad joined by Paco Sedano who returned to the starting line up.

The players were determined to put on a show for the fans and Azkar were also keen to entertain, in contrast with their ultra defensive strategy when they came to the Palau in the league: that may have worked quite well then, but their performance this time round was much more entertaining to watch.

The chances came from the start and Javi Rodriguez had a great opportunity to put the hosts one up when Igor set him up at the far post, but he shot high and wide. Soon after Javi again found himself in a good position, but he chose to pass to Wilde, whose shot was stopped by the Lugo keeper Oscar.

Santos returns and Paco Sedano scores!

There was never really any doubt about who would get through to the final and Carmona took the chance to give youngster Sepe a good run out, as well as bringing on Ari Santos for his first game in six months, but whilst all eyes were on the Brazilian, it was keeper Paco Sedano who opened the scoring with a lob over the advanced Lugo keeper Oscar.

That put an end to any slight hope the visitors might have had and just before the break, Carlos made it two after good work from Sepe.

Azkar took advantage of a certain relaxation from Barça after the break and began to pose something of a threat, but Wilde was having none of it and after just missing out with a double occasion, he set up Saad to score after Oscar had parried his shot.

Èric Martel impresses and Ari is on target again

A minute later, youngster Eric Martel, who caused a lot of problems for the visitors and saw a chance come back off the post late on, won a penalty, but Javi Rodríguez then missed from the spot. Martel was also involved in the fourth, as his cross was turned into his own net by Lugo’s Hugo. Javi’s bad luck in front of goal continued when he saw a nice chip come back off the bar, but Ari Santos marked his return with two late penalty goals, whilst Matamoros scored a consolation goal for the Galicians.

This was a clinical demolition in the end and Barça now go to the final in Toledo to look for their second title .

Football

27.03.2011 21:19

Barça Alusport back on top (4-4)

Llorenç Tarrés

Despite drawing at Reale Cartagena, Carmona’s side have returned to the first place they lost to El Pozo a fortnight ago. They came back from 3-1 down to lead before conceding a late equaliser.

Match stats

REALE CARTAGENA, 4
FC BARCELONA ALUSPORT, 4

Reale Cartagena (1+3): Fabio, Fabián, Messias, Yoni (1), Beto (2) –starting five-, Bebe, Cobeta, Pizarro, Carrasco (1).

FC Barcelona Alusport (1+3): Cristian, Chico, Igor, Saad, Wilde (2) - starting five -, Carlos, Jordi Torras (1), Javi Rodríguez, Fernandão, Sepe i Paco Sedano.

Goals: 1-0, Beto (2'); 1-1, Wilde (9'); 2-1, Yoni (29'); 3-1, Carrasco (29'); 3-2, Jordi Torras (32'); 3-3, Saad (37'); 3-4, Wilde (40'); 4-4, Beto (40').

Referees: Cordero Gallardo and Linares López. Yellows for home side Fabián, Cobeta, Beto and Pizarro and for FCB’s Cristian, Chico and Igor.

The Wsell de Guimbarda witnessed a gripping encounter involving two teams desperate for points. It was 1-1 at half time, and then Cartagena looked to have settled things with two goals in a minute. But Barça managed to turn the whole game around before Beto snatched an equaliser eleven seconds from the end.

Early Reale goals

The Murcians struck first through Beto after just two minutes, and what followed was some intense play, with chances falling to both sides. FCB’s Wilde was next to score and for the most of the half it was one-way traffic, with Igor, Javi Rodríguez and Wilde all coming close before Jordi Torras hit the post. But a late flurry from the home side led to Barça keeper Cristian producing some stunning saves to keep things level at the break.

Minute of pain

It was just as gripping after the restart, with both sides waiting for the other to make a mistake. And it was Barça Alusport that were guilty in that department. A Carrasco counter was completed by Yoni to make it 2-1. And directly from the restart, Carrasco produced a splendid volley to make it 3-1.

It was Cartagena’s game to lose. But then Torras pulled it back to 3-2. The last four minutes were extraordinary. Carmona opted for a rush goalie and it paid off. Saad produced an equaliser and then Wilde grabbed what looked like the winner. But with seconds remaining, Cristian failed to hold on to a ball, and Beto was there to convert a sensational equaliser.