Barcelona Win European Super Cup - 2/6 Complete

Barcelona beat Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0 in Monaco to clinch their second trophy of the season, and fifth since Pep Guardiola took charge last season.

Pedro scored the winner deep into extra time in the 115th minute after a deft passing exchange with Lionel Messi.

Barcelona Squad

Valdés

Alves
Piqué
Puyol
Abidal

Xavi
Touré (100th minute - Busquets)
Keita

Messi
Ibrahimovic (81st minute - Pedro)
Henry (95th minute - Bojan)

Barcelona 5-1 Bilbao on Aggregate - 1/6 Done

Barcelona crushed Athletic Bilbao 3-0 at the Camp Nou and 5-1 on aggregate to clinch the Spanish Super Cup, which is their first trophy of the season.

Barca will be competing for six trophies this season, and have clinched their first in emphatic fashion.

Messi scored two goals, including a penalty while Bojan added the third by walking the ball into the net in embarassing fashion for Bilbao.

Goals

Messi - 49th (assist: Ibrahimovic)

Messi - 67th (penalty)

Bojan - 72nd (assist: Alves)

Bilbao Should Be Afraid!

This could be Barcelona's forward-line against Athletic Bilbao if Guardiola's assertion to go all-out is true.

First Trophy of the Season Could be Won Tonight

Barcelona face Athletic Bilbao at the Camp Nou tonight, taking a 2-1 aggregate lead from the first leg away at San Mames.

The game should turn out to be an easy affair for Barcelona with Athletic Bilbao not placing much importance on the fixture, opting to save them for the Europa league qualification game against Tromso later. Athletic coach Joaquin Caparros has elected to rest eight key players for the game.

Apart from Aitor Ocio and Fernando Amorebieta, who have slight knocks, Yeste, Markel Susaeta, Javi Martinez, Iker Muniain and Oscar De Marcos have been left out of the squad.

Fernando Llorente has been included, but is unlikely to play.

Barca, however, are at nearly full strength, with only Iniesta and Marquez, plus long time absentee Gabriel Milito, unavailable. It is believed that the former pair should be ready for the first league game of the season, against Sporting Gijon. Zlatan Ibrahimovic gets his first official call-up to the squad, while Marc Muniesa, Andreu Fontas, Jonathan Dos Santos and Jeffren have also been called

Barcelona squad

Valdés, Pinto, Jorquera; Alves, Puyol, Piqué, Henrique, Fontàs, Muniesa, Maxwell, Abidal; Xavi, Touré, Keita, Busquets, Gudjohnsen, Jonathan; Pedro, Jeffren, Messi, Henry, Ibrahimovic, Bojan

Athletic Bilbao squad

Iraizoz, Toquero, Koikili, Ustaritz, David López, Llorente, Gabilondo, San José, Armando, Iraola, Orbaiz, Etxeberria, Gurpegi, Ion Vélez, Castillo, De Cerio, Iturraspe, Xabi Etxebarria

Bid for Schalke Right-Back Rafinha

Barcelona have made a preliminary 4 million euro bid for Schalke's Brazilian right full-back Rafinha (23), reports Catalan daily Sport.

Rafinha's relationship with Schalke's management is reportedly strained since last year's Olympic games, where they had fined him 700,000 euros for a "breach of contract", when he had returned after representing Brazil in the Olympics.

Schalke nevertheless would be wanting 10 million euros fo the marauding full back, who is guaranteed to have a bright future ahead.

Barcelona would be hoping to close the deal for 7 million euros.

Gamper Cup Result: Barcelona 0 - 1 Manchester City

Barcelona fielded a largely second string side in the Gamper trophy, and found themselves on the wrong end of a 1-0 scoreline against Manchester City, despite a dominant second half performance.

Martin Petrov scored in the 28th minute to give City the lead from a counter-attack.

Guardiola brought on eagerly awaited signing Ibrahimovic in place of Bojan in the second half, and he came close to making an impact in the game.

Shay Given saved smartly with his feet from Ibrahimovic after 73 minutes and he was on hand again in the dying minutes to spoil the Swede's party after some neat foot work from Lionel Messi.

The former Inter striker combined with Thiago Alcantara once more but failed to connect when he had the goal at his mercy from about seven yards and City cleared the ball to safety.

Despite a stoppage time effort from Messi hitting the upright, City held on and emerged victorious to claim the Joan Gamper Trophy, becoming only the third team in 20 years to beat Barcelona in the annual pre-season fixture.

Barcelona 0-1 Manchester City

0-1 Martin Petrov 28'

FC Barcelona: Pinto, Montoya (Alves 45), Fontas (Henry 63), Puyol (Bartra 31) (Pique 63), Maxwell (Muniesa, 63), Toure (Tiago 45), Busquets ( Keita 45), Gudjohnsen (Jonathan, 45), Pedro (Messi 45), Bojan (Ibrahimovic 45) and Jeffren (Gai Assulin, 54).

Manchester City: Given, Onuoha, Kolo Toure (Ben-Haim 45), Dunne, Zabaleta (Garrido 65), Weiss, Ireland, Barry (Etuhu 70), Wright-Phillips (Trippier 80) , Petrov, Tevez (Bellamy 65).

Ibrahimovic to Make Debut Tonight

Zlatan Ibrahimovic will make his debut for Bacelona against Manchester City in the Gamper Cup at 2215 hours Barcelona time.

Ibrahimovic had been signed from Inter Milan but was unable to play until now because of a broken metacarpal bone in his left hand.

When asked how he felt ahead of his debut, Ibrahimovic said,"Of course I am a bit nervous but I am not worried about my qualities. I know how good I am. I have a lot of confidence.

I always try to do my best and give something back to the spectators. It's the people who follow you and pay the expensive tickets and I think they will enjoy it."

Not Exactly Barcelona, But Still...

Well, this is the first humour article I have written on B/R and thought of posting it here too. It is not strictly about Barcelona, but there are some references. So, without further ado, let me introduce (drum roll)

The Transfer Policy of Some Football Clubs

A lot of Europe's top clubs have displayed a sort of "pattern" when it comes to signing players. Here is taking a firmly tongue-in-cheek look at some of the more peculiar ones:

Real Madrid:

Valdano and Perez sitting and discussing the transfer policy.

Perez: Get me last year's Ballon d'Or nominees list.

(Valdano, shuffles around, hands him the paper)

Perez: Ah, yes. Table offers for the top ten players on it, and come back to me. Spend no more than 350 million, that is a strict cap we must adhere to. Remember, the world is in the middle of a severe recession.

Valdano: But don Floren, there is no defender in the top 10.

Perez: Huh?? Defense? We need that?

Manchester City:

The Manchester City transfer policy can be summarised as follows:

- Go to the first Champions League playing club you can find.

- Table offers for the top four attacking players, usually equalling their multi-million euro release clauses.

- Stay undeterred by the players' complete lack of interest. Instead, start throwing blank cheques to everyone, in the hopes that some players (read: Greedybayour) start drooling and sign up.

- Move on to the next club, then the next, and so on.

A crucial point to be noted is that at no point in the season should there be less than eight strikers in the squad. The more the better.

Barcelona:

Guardiola: I have a "feeling" that some players are not needed at the club. I also have a "feeling" that some defenders (read: Caceres, Henrique) who are widely believed to be average, are in fact perfect for the squad, and we can splash out a cumulative sum of nearly 25 million euros on them.

Laporta: We make stars, Real Madrid buys them. We refuse to spend big in the current economic climate.

Then, he promptly flies to Milan to seal a deal worth "only" 40 million euros+Samuel Eto'o for Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Guardiola (at the end of the 2008-09 season): I would like a bigger squad next season to compete for six trophies.

Then, just a few days back: I prefer a smaller squad, of only 18 players or so.

Huh, come again?

Arsenal:

Arsenal's transfer policy can be summarised as follows:

- At the start of the transfer season, sell at least one player who was integral to the team in the previous year, preferably to Barcelona, without actually lining up a replacement.

- Towards the middle of the window, look at possible targets. Naturally, all targets above the age of 20 are immediately discarded as being too old. The others are discarded one-by-one as being too expensive.

- Finally, sign one unknown player who is turned into a world class talent.

- Next season, repeat the same procedure.

AC Milan:

The exact opposite of Arsenal's policy. Summary:

- At the start of the transfer season, buy one player from Barcelona. The player should normally have been an outstanding performer , but somehow, his performance must have "dropped" over the last year.

- Sell their best player and then declare that the squad is complete and no reinforcements are needed.

- Later, after the club headquarters have been trashed by ultras demanding Berlusconi's head for cavorting with another 40 women, start looking at possible targets.

Naturally, Milan transfer targets have the following characteristics (remember, opposite of Arsenal):

- Usually above the age of 30, the older the better.

- They are usually world class talents when bought, and then turn into unknown players!

PS: This article is intended for humourous purposes only. No offense is meant to any clubs or their supporters, as is evident by the fact that I have pulled Barcelona's leg as well.

The cartoon is the scene described in the Real Madrid section.

Athletic Bilbao 1 - 2 Barcelona

Barcelona kicked off their season with a win over Athletic Bilbao at San Mames in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup final.

The starting lineup was:

Valdes

Alves

Piqué
Puyol
Abidal

Xavi (80th Busquets)
Touré
Keita

Pedro
Bojan
Henry (69th Jeffren)

Iniesta, Ibra, Messi and Marquez were all unavailable for this match due to injury. Considering that, and considering the stature of the opponents (remember, Bilbao is the only team aside from Barca and Real that has never been relegated), this is an admirable result.

Barcelona' goals came from Xavi and Pedro in the 58th and 68th minutes respectively, after Bilbao had taken the lead through De Marcos in the 44th.

The result leaves Barcelona in pole position for the return leg in the Camp Nou on 23rd August (next Sunday). For that game, they will have the attacking trio of Iniesta, Ibra and Messi, and hence a goal fest would not be an unreasonable expectation.