Alves confirms he will play first league game

Speaking to journalists after yesterday's training session, Barcelona right back defender Dani Alves has confirmed that he will take part in Barcelona's first league game against Sporting and won't travel early to Brazil:

"I don't see any problem there. Leo will leave before the game and I will leave after the game. For Argentina, Messi is a key player. When he's not there, that has a great influence. My case isn't the same at the Brazilian national team. I'm not a fixed starter, I'm just one of the guys. I wouldn't make a big deal of this."

Read more:
Guardiola confirms Messi will miss first match
Alves wants to play first league game

Alves wants to play first league game

Speaking to the club's official media after the Joan Gamper Trophy game against Manchester City, Barcelona right back defender Dani Alves said that he wants to take part in the first league game:

"I think I will first play the game against Sporting and then travel to Brazil for the national team."

Read more:
Guardiola confirms Messi will miss first match
Dani Alves underwent ear surgery

Dani Alves underwent ear surgery

Catalan television channel TV3 claims that Barcelona player Dani Alves underwent cosmetic ear surgery during his vacations this summer. The player would have asked the club for permission to come back a few days later because of the operation.

Messi will miss first league game

Speaking to Catalan radio station RAC 1, the president of the Argentinian football association Julio Grondona has said that Barcelona attacker Lionel Messi won't be able to play the first league game with Barcelona:

"This is something that has already been agreed upon between Guardiola and Maradona. There's no problem about that."

Barcelona will play against Sporting on Monday 31 August, while Argentina faces Brazil on Saturday 5 September. Players should be at the disposal of their national team five days before a game. This way, Barcelona right back defender Dani Alves could also miss the first league game.

Read more:
Maradona on Messi and Xavi
Messi rejects blank cheque of Manchester City
Messi could miss first league game

Quote of the day: Alves

I can't remember I ever was tired after a game.

Dani Alves, Barcelona player

more quotes and numbers

Picture of the day: Dani Alves

At the Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle

Barcelona's wage structure

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Barcelona's wage scale has six levels:



GROUP A
Messi

GROUP B
Henry
Ibrahimovic

GROUP C
Alves
Xavi
Iniesta
Puyol

GROUP D
Valdés
Touré
Márquez
Keita

GROUP E
Bojan
Piqué
Jorquera
Pinto
Busquets

GROUP F
Pedro
Víctor Sánchez
Muniesa
Jeffren

Alves confirms he will wear the number '2'

Speaking to journalists after the friendly game against Los Angeles Galaxy, Barcelona right back defender Dani Alves has confirmed that he will this season wear the number '2' instead of the number '20' he played with last year:

"I feel a special satisfaction today because I finally was able to play with the number 2 on my back. I already wanted it last season but it wasn't possible. Cáceres, a friend, was wearing it so the number was untouchable.

But now he has left and the number was free. And I have to confess that for me this number is a reference and I'm especially motivated to wear it at Barça. My idol Cafú played with that number, he is one of my examples and that's why I have chosen this number. I feel honoured and very happy."

Read more:
Which shirt numbers will the new guys wear?

Barca internationals return for medical tests

Catalan paper Sport reports that Barcelona internationals who enjoyed an extra week of vacation will soon rejoin the rest of the squad. Confederation Cup participants Carles Puyol (31), Xavi Hernandez (29), Gerard Pique (22), Sergi Busquets (21), Dani Alves (26) and Andres Iniesta (25), who is recovering from injury, are scheduled to carry out medical tests at 8:30 pm tonight at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper in Sant Joan Despi.

Pique would have already returned early and trained by himself at the Ciutat Esportiva for the past week.

Sport also claims that Guardiola is scheduled to train with this group for the first time tomorrow at 9:30 am. The group would only conduct training today and tomorrow before joining their teammates in the United States on Wednesday.

Read more:
First training of the season
Medical tests to start pre-season

The Scapegoat in Failure, The Forgotten Man in Success - Txiki Begiristain

The man under fire, the guy with a bull’s-eye mark on the back of his head, let me present, Txiki Begiristain.

Some called him a flop, some called him blind but that does not change the fact that he played his part in our treble winning season.

5 players came in, some excelled, some struggled and some flopped, let’s review what these players did last season.

DANI ALVES:-

If you could grade his performances last season, then he definitely gets an A+. The marauding fullback, the best right back in the world. Just one question - who brought him here? That’s right, Txiki. But does he get some credit for signing the best player in his position? No, it's simply forgotten. We all remember when Madrid, Chelsea, Milan and Man U(teams with open cheque books , barring Milan ;D) wanted him, but he went and got a personal agreement with Dani so that he doesn’t choose anyone but barca. Some would say a bit overpriced due to Txiki's bad negotiation, but let me ask one last question - would any of the clubs mentioned above signed him for less than 35m+ euro? I don’t think so.

GERARD PIQUE:

Another master stroke. Sir Alex is still weeping over the loss of one the best defensive prospects in the world. When Ferdinand spent half of last season injured there was no one to replace a defender of his calibre. There was no Pique, because he flew back to Barcelona. Sure some would say we paid a lot for our own youth product, but after seeing Pique last season, does 6 million Euros seem expensive? No.

SEYDOU KEITA:

Here's a guy who struggled to make an impact in the first stages of the season due to lack of playing time but his confidence grew with time. He scored important goals and gave Xavi & Andres to roam free because they knew that someone's got their back. He might not be a Yaya but he's good enough to fill the void if Yaya is injured. He's another good signing for a good price, and credit goes to Txiki, again.

MARTIN CACERES:

A young defender who was once dubbed as the new Sergio Ramos had a catastrophic first season with Barcelona. He never really got going because of little playing time and some disastrous mistakes, but don't all young players do that? Rafa Marquez makes the same mistakes and he's a veteran, so should we sell him? Of course not because he's the best defender in Mexican history, and like him Caceres needs to learn. He's only 22. How many people had faith in Henry after his debut season, not many, but he learned, improved and he was 29, and besides, if you're a sporting director who gets excellent scouting reports about a young player wouldn’t you have signed him for 15 mil? Of course.

ALEX HLEB:

Now here's a player who has the word flop engraved on his forehead. After amazing seasons with Arsenal, everyone thought that he would hit the ground running at barca. But the truth was cruel for Alex as he was greeted to La Liga with a tackle that ruined his career with us. The only thing I can thank him for is his pass to Henry in El Clasico and that it wasn’t someone else who got that tackle. But would you rather buy a 15 million euro flop or buy a 30 million pound Berbatov, a 40 million pound Shevchenko or a 30 million euro Quaresma? The answer is obvious...

In short, there is no sporting director without mistakes. At least Txiki's mistakes were the least costly ones. So there you have it, a guy who didn’t spend the summer chasing a Ronaldo and wasting a Robinho. A guy who did not spend 150 mill on two players. The guy who brings what the coach wants. Txiki.

Posted by hamad_ali.

Video of the day: Alves

Video of the day: Alves

Alves and Abidal protests not admitted

UEFA announced yesterday in an official statement that the appeals against the cards handed to Barcelona players Eric Abidal and Dani Alves have not been accepted:

"The UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body today rejected the protests of Manchester United FC regarding the suspension of Darren Fletcher, and [...] of FC Barcelona against the red card of Eric Abidal and the yellow card of fellow defender Daniel Alves in the semi-final second leg against Chelsea FC.

All three players are therefore suspended for one UEFA club competition match and will serve their bans when Barcelona meet Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League final in Rome on 27 May.

In reaching its decision, the Control and Disciplinary Body concluded (i) that the protests had not been submitted within the required 24-hour deadline of a match for filing protests – as specified in the disciplinary regulations – and (ii) that even if they had been admitted they would have been rejected as unfounded as there were no grounds for contesting the referees' original decisions. The decisions of the Control and Disciplinary Body can be appealed within three days of the dispatch of the written decision."

Read more:
Guardiola and Messi protests not admitted

Barcelona will appeal Alves and Abidal cards

Barcelona will appeal Abidal and Alves cards

Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola has said at a press conference today that Barcelona will appeal the red card handed to Barcelona player Eric Abidal and the yellow card handed to Barcelona player Daniel Alves during Wednesday's Champions League game against Chelsea:

"Of course we will appeal the cards of Abidal and Alves. We'll do it out of respect for them. I hope they will be able to play the final, as well as Darren Fletcher who only tried to play the ball so that decision wasn't correct either."

Read more:
Uefa didn't receive any appeals by Barcelona
Barcelona will appeal Alves and Abidal cards

Uefa didn't receive any appeals by Barcelona

UEFA has put out an official statement on the Champions League semi-finals, which indicates that Barcelona did not appeal the red card Barcelona player Eric Abidal was given on Wednesday.

This means that Abidal will not take part in the final of the Champions League. The statement on UEFA's official website reads as follows:

"With regard to the UEFA Champions League semi-final second leg between Chelsea FC and FC Barcelona in London on Wednesday, UEFA has received both the referee's and delegate's report. UEFA is currently examining those reports, as well as gathering additional evidence. It will decide which action to take in the course of next week. No protest has been received with respect to the red card shown to FC Barcelona player Eric Abidal.

UEFA has also received a submission from Manchester United FC concerning the red card shown to the club's player Darren Fletcher in the UEFA Champions League semi-final second leg against Arsenal FC in London on Tuesday. The UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body will meet on Monday to deal with this case."

Read more:
Guardiola and Messi protests not admitted
Barcelona will appeal Alves and Abidal cards

Barcelona will appeal Alves and Abidal cards

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Barcelona will appeal the red card handed to Barcelona player Eric Abidal and the yellow card handed to Barcelona player Dani Alves in Wednesday's Champions League semi-final second leg game against Chelsea.

Because of the cards, both players wouldn't be able to take part in the final. Although the legal department of the club thinks that Uefa will difficultly accept the protests, the club wants to use all means possible.


Read more:
Guardiola and Messi protests not admitted
Alves has yellow card revoked
Red card of Pique revoked

Happy birthday: Dani Alves

Barcelona player Dani Alves turns 26 today.
Congratulations!

Several clubs preparing bid for Barcelona players

Catalan sports weekly paper Gol claims that several European top clubs will try to sign Barcelona players during the summer transfer window.

It is believed that some of the players and their agents will use the interest to ask for a salary rise.

The paper gives an overview of which players are monitored by which clubs:

- Víctor Valdés: AC Milan
- Dani Alves: Chelsea and Manchester City
- Rafael Márquez: several English clubs
- Carles Puyol: AC Milan
- Yaya Touré: Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City
- Andrés Iniesta: Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester City
- Lionel Messi: Juventus
- Thiery Henry: Manchester City and Chelsea
- Samuel Eto'o: Chelsea and Inter Milan

With the buyout fees of the players being unattainable, Barcelona has the last word and is not planning to let one of the above-mentioned go, with the exception of Barcelona attacker and French international Thierry Henry (31). The club would be ready to listen to offers for the striker because this seems the best moment to sell the player and because an exit of Henry would allow them to rejuvenate the squad (read more here).

Read more:
Henry, Eto'o, Toure and Keita are for sale
Touré wants a pay rise this year
Messi is dream for Juventus
Manchester City working on Henry transfer

Real Madrid coach wanted Alves last summer

Asked about last summer’s transfer period, former Real Madrid manager Bernd Schuster has confirmed in an interview with Madrid sports tabloid Marca that Barcelona (then Sevilla) right back defender and Brazilian international Daniel Alves (25) was one of the players he asked for:

"Last summer, I didn't get one of the players I asked for. I asked for three or four players in case Cristiano Ronaldo wouldn’t come. I understood that the club would have to pay an immense fee to sign that boy and they made clear to me that if he came, it would be very difficult to sign another player. Maybe one more, but a cheap one.

But of course, if he didn't come we could sign players, something we really needed. I asked for three or four players. Besides, we didn't really need Cristiano, that was more a club issue. With only him, we knew we wouldn't solve the other problems since he can't defend or play as full back... The surprise was that in the end no one came. Hair Gel Guy (Mijatovic) told me that there was no money. For Cristiano there was money, but for Cesc, Alves and Villa there wasn't."

Read more:
Schuster wanted Alves for Madrid midfield
An evaluation of last year's transfer summer
Madrid fans want Iniesta

Barcelona and the U-20 World Cup

source: FIFA.com

date: 2 April 2009

editing: fcbtransfers.blogspot.com

As the FIFA U-20 World Cup approaches FIFA.com took a look back at some of the stars of the previous tournaments, the common theme amongst the biggest stars of these past tournaments seemed to be one club: FC Barcelona:

As Egypt prepares to host the 17th edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the locals may well be wondering what to expect. The tournament's billing has traditionally promised 'a look at football's stars of tomorrow, today', but has the 32-year-old showpiece really lived up to this kind of hype? FIFA.com set about finding out.

Diego makes his entrance

Nothing compared to the sense of history-in-the-making that accompanied the 1979 edition in Japan. This was the tournament at which a certain Diego Maradona gave the world a memorable first glimpse of his awesome potential, inspiring an outstanding Argentina side to glory.

Star-studded supporting casts

The elegant, imperious Robert Prosinecki proved a popular choice as the tournament's outstanding player, but the title-winning Yugoslavia team alone provided the midfielder with a plethora of worthy rivals such as Zvonimir Boban, Predrag Mijatovic and Davor Suker. There was similarly stiff competition in Saudi Arabia two years later, with Diego Simeone, Sonny Anderson and Oleg Salenko all in the running for honours.

Portugal 1991 witnessed the crowning of a 'golden generation' as the hosts retained the trophy, despite the efforts of emerging talents such as Giovane Elber, Andy Cole and Paulo Montero. Yet the player identified as the competition's shining star was not Luis Figo, nor Rui Costa or Joao Pinto, but rather Peixe, who unlike his overlooked team-mates went on to enjoy a surprisingly unspectacular career.

South America again dominated the podium in 1997, but while an Argentina side including Juan Roman Riquelme and Esteban Cambiasso took home the title, it was Nicolas Olivera who bagged the Golden Ball award. The Uruguayan's happiest times thereafter were spent with Sevilla, but although he also appeared at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, his achievements have been overshadowed by rivals from that class of 97 including Thierry Henry, Michael Owen, David Trezeguet and Nicolas Anelka.

By this stage in the history of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, there was an established pattern of future superstars failing to land the end-of-tournament awards, and this continued at Nigeria 1999 when Ronaldinho, Roque Santa Cruz, Xavi and Diego Forlan all missed out on the Golden Ball. Yet while Seydou Keita was perhaps a surprise recipient at the time, the Malian is currently cementing his reputation as an outstanding, hard-tackling midfielder with the mighty Barcelona.

Messi spearheads new generation

The Camp Nou has proved a popular destination for stars of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, and Javier Saviola - winner of both the Golden Ball and Golden Shoe at Argentina 2001 - was expected to become a Barça legend when he completed a £15 million move at the age of just 19. As it transpired, El Conejo never really won the hearts of the Catalan faithful and is currently to be found warming the bench of Barcelona's old rivals, Real Madrid. Incidentally, Kaka featured among the players beaten by Saviola to the 2001 honours, not the first time a future FIFA World Player had found himself overlooked.

At UAE 2003, the role of bridesmaid fell to the likes of Andres Iniesta, Daniel Alves and Javier Mascherano, with the erstwhile unknown Ismaeil Matar emerging as the tournament's star attraction.

Yet it says much for the continued ability of the FIFA U-20 World Cup to showcase the best emerging talent that the two most recent recipients of the tournament's Golden Ball award are expected to be star attractions in South Africa. Lionel Messi, the star of Netherland 2005, needs no introduction of course, with many already insisting that the Barcelona star is the world's greatest player.His fellow Argentinian, Sergio Aguero, who shone in Canada two years ago and went on to dazzle just as brightly at last year's Men's Olympic Football Tournament, is another youngster for whom hopes could hardly be any higher.

The only question now is: who will follow in the footsteps of this galaxy of stars? Whoever it is, history would suggest that Egypt can safely expect a treat.

read the full and original article here

Note by barca4life:

Spain have been drawn in group B along with Nigeria, Venezuela and Tahiti. FIFA.com says: "With the rising star of Spanish football Bojan Krkic expected to be absent - the Barcelona man is eligible to play but likely to have a full agenda with the U-21 and senior teams - it will fall to several of his former team-mates from Korea 2007 to take a leading role." FIFA.com goes on to list possible Spain stars as rumoured Barcelona target David de Gea and former Barcelona youth player Fran Merida. The coach of the Spanish U-20 team is ex Barcelona and Real Madrid midfielder Luis Milla. He played 53 games for Barcelona between 1988 and 1990, before joining Real Madrid and playing 159 games for Los Merengues. He was last season assistant coach at Getafe where he served under Barca legend Michael Laudrup who coincidentally also played for both Barcelona (1989-1994) and Real Madrid (1994-1996).