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FC Barcelona will visit Los Pajaritos Stadium on August the 31st, in Soria, to play Numancia in the first game of La Liga 2008/09.
The rest of the fixtures are:
Athletic de Bilbao - Almería.
Osasuna - Villarreal.
Deportivo de La Coruña - Real Madrid.
Numancia - FC Barcelona.
Racing - Sevilla.
Sporting - Getafe.
Betis - Recreativo de Huelva.
Espanyol - Valladolid.
Atlético de Madrid - Málaga.
Valencia - Mallorca.
Visit here for all FC Barcelona tickets.
The bielorussian Alexander Hleb (Arsenal) will arrive to Barcelona today to sign a 4 years contract with FC Barcelona. Hleb will be the 5th player signed for the Catalan team this season. He will be presented on Thursday.
FC Barcelona, Arsenal and the player are yet to agree the final figures of the transfer, which is expected to happen today. It´s said that the transfer would cost FC Barcelona around €15 million, €6 million less than what AC Milan is paying for Ronaldinho. The pay out clause of the biolorussian will be €90 million.
Once the agreement is closed and the doctors give the OK, it´s expected that Hleb will join FC Barcelona training sessions, which kicked off last Tuesday.
The Brazilian player will play the Italian team until 2011. One of the best players that played in the Catalan team is leaving the club through the back door. AC Milan will play €21 million, plus €4 million in case the team qualifies for the next Champions League edition. Only one year ago, the Italian team insinuated that they could pay the €150 million of the Brazilian´s pay out clause. Now, and after an embarrassing season mostly spent in the gym and beting treated by suspicious injures, Ronaldinho is being transferred for a lot less than he was worth a year ago.
Today La Gazzetta dello Sport entitled the news as “Miracle in Milan”. That´s what the Italian team is going to need to get Rolandinho it his best shape, when he was without debate the best player of the world. Good luck to Dinho, nevertheless, despite his horrible last year, he has given many happy days to the FC Barcelona fans.
More rumours, as often in this time of the year. It is said that FC Barcelona are interested in Moutinho, 21 years old player from Sporting of Lisbon, who showed an very good performance in the first game of the Eurocup against Turkey. The player won´t give any answer about his intentions before the end of the Eurocup, as he understands that the championship is a great window for big games to put their eyes on him.
The midfielder is valued in €25 million, a figure that seems a bit excessive considering that he´s still a promise, but FC Barcelona are apparently keen to close the transfer after seeing the enormous potential of the Portuguese. In any case, we´ll have to wait and see what happens with this new target of the Catalan Club.
FC Barcelona will play Boca Juniors in the 2008 Joan Gamper Trophy. The Argentinian team will challenge Barça on August 16th, between the first and second leg of the third qualifying round of the Champions League. The first leg of the round will take place on August 12-13, and the second leg will take place on August 26-27. The FC Barcelona tickets for the Joan Gamper Trophy have already been released.
It seemed logical that Ronaldinho´s performance in the latest season needed to damage both the club and the player during and after the season. He hasn´t been of any help during the season, being more a liability than an asset for the team. Therefore it seems wise to transfer the player, but the problem is obvious: Where? What team that can pay Ronaldinho´s wages would still be interested in him? AC Milan lost the interest months ago. Same for Chelsea. The brazilian makes €7.5 million and FC Barcelona are asking for €40 million trasfer fee.
Manchester City are offering him €10 million but the brazilian is reluctant to go to a minor team, far from the category of the big european teams. I´m wondering, what is he expecting after his attitude last season? Would he expect the biggest teams of the continent to be queuing up to win him?
In any case, Guardiola doesn´t count with him for next season, but Rolandinho has a contract with FC Barcelona until 2010, and doesn´t seem too keen to sacrifice a penny in his next contract.
FC Barcelona will play two exhibition games in the United States before European Champions League qualifying in August.
FC Barcelona will meet Mexico’s Chivas Guadalajara on Aug. 3 in Chicago and Major League Soccer’s New York Red Bulls on Aug. 6 at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., MLS said Friday. I can´t avoid thinking if this is the best way to prepare the third round of Champions League qualifying, with matches Aug. 12-13 and Aug. 26-27. I don´t know how much money this tour will give the Club, but it´s undeniable that the two past tours haven´t helped the results of the team in the upcoming season. Priorities should be clearer, and nothing should put in risk the qualifying of the team for the next Champions League competition
After closing the deal with Sevilla for Alves, it seems that the next player to arrive to Camp Barça will be Alexander Hleb. The bielorussian Arsenal player is very much liked by Pep Guardiola and the Catalan club have approached his managers to make them aware of the existent interest in bringing him on board for next season. At least that´s what Uli Ferber, one of Hleb´s managers, told the news channel BBC. “We have talked but have signed nothing” the manager said.
The 27 years old player already let Arsène Wenger that he was willing to play in another country next season so in the Londoner club they are aware that Hleb will fly and they´ll sit down to negotiate the transfer. It´s said that FC Barcelona will offer up to €15 million to bring the player to Camp Nou.
Brazil defender Daniel Alves said he was “happy and very satisfied” at the prospect of joining FC Barcelona from Sevilla.
FC Barcelona has agreed to pay Sevilla 29.5 million euros for Alves, which would make him the world’s most expensive right back.
On top of the 29.5 million, Sevilla could see their fee increased up to six million euros in incentives depending on Barcelona’s achievements over upcoming seasons.
“I’m happy and very satisfied. I’m an ambitious player and I hope that arriving at such an important club will help me win some important things. Let’s I hope I can win some titles,” Alves has told Catalan radio station RAC-1 today.
At the same time FC Barcelona forward Giovani Dos Santos has signed for Tottenham, the club have announced in their official website. The 19-year-old Mexico international, who joined Barca in 2002, has signed a five-year contract with the London-based club in a six million euro transfer which could rise to 11 million euros depending on performances.
“FC Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur FC have come to an agreement for the transfer of Giovani Dos Santos to the English club,” read a statement on Barcelona’s official website.
FC Barcelona threw away a good share of their options to win the league title this year, after an unexpected defeat against Villareal at home. On Saturday Real Madrid had obtained a priceless victory against RCD Espanyol in Bernabeu Stadium, so the pressure was on the Catalan team. Quite inexplicably Barcelona did show a poor performance during great part of the game, which deserved the 1-2 final scored.
FC Barcelona noticed in excess the absence of Leonel Messi, and lost the fresh and electric level that had been showing in League and Champions League after the team got a draw against Athletic Bilbao in San Mames. The defeat against Atletico de Madrid the previous Saturday had been seen as an accident, but the reality is that the two points gap between Barsa and Real Madrid increased until five points. After the weekend, FC Barcelona are again eight points behind Real Madrid, a point less than before the crisis started in the White Team. The moral in the Catalan team seems quite fragile after this defeat, with President Laporta confirming that it has been a big hit in the aspirations of the team. He could not hide the disappointment that the defeat has meant for the club and said “The League is slipping away from our fingers”.
