Marca newspaper published yesterday a news regarding a potential exodus of players that would be in the spot if FC Barcelona don’t want any titles this season. The club understand that they might be facing the end of a cycle and if the squad don’t win Liga or Champions League they’ll launch a deep renovation of the team. There are five players who end contract this season: Edmilson, Thuram, Ezquerro, Pinto and Sylvinho (who is the most likely to stay in the club). There are another six players who could leave the club if offers arrive: Ronaldinho, Deco, Gudjohnsen, Giovani, Zambrotta and Oleguer.

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FC Barcelona are traveling to Sevilla without seven of their main players. Deco and Sylvinho have increased the list of unavailable players. Also, Zambrotta and Bojan came back injured from their stay with the Italian and Spanish national squads. These four players add up to the previously accounted absences of Puyol, Ezquerro and Jorquera, injured, and Etoo and Toure, still in the Africa Cup of Nations.

Ronaldinho to play from the start

The long list of unavailable players will mean that Ronaldinho will play from the beginning, 48 days after the defeat in Camp Nou against Real Madrid.

Marquez and Giovani, in the list

Rikjaard included Marquez and Giovani in the squad in spite of having returned from the US on Friday afternoon, where yesterday they played a friendly game with their national squads -the defender played the entire game and will travel to Sevilla without having completed a training session with the team this week.

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Didier Drogba is very keen to leave Chelsea. Some weeks ago he confirmed that his future was away from the Stanford Bridge Stadium. Yesterday he narrowed down his next club: “My future is in Milan or Barcelona”. The striker has approached FC Barcelona and he´s a player very muched liked by the club. However, it´ll be difficult to see Drogba playing in Barcelona in the near future.

The main aspect that concerns FC Barcelona is that by signing Drogba they´d be difficulting Bojan´s progression. At the moment there are three strikers in Camp Barça, Etoo, Henry and Bojan. Rikjaard struggles when the three strikers are available, that´s why Henry often plays in the left wing, as well as Etoo. Players like Messi and Giovani are also affected by the overpopulated roll of strickers.

The club fully trusts Bojan. He hasn´t played too much this year because it was his first season in the A squad, but next year it´ll be a different story as the managers expect him to play more minutes. And, if Drogba comes, he won´t be given those minutes.

Another problem is his high salary. He makes 7 million euros after tax, which seems like a lot of money for a player that, theoretically, it´d be Etoo´s natural sub. Only if Mourinho signs for FC Barcelona, the story could change. Time will say.

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In an interview with UEFA.com, Croatia star Luka Modric talked about his likely summer switch away from Croatia…

Luka Modric admitted again how keen he is to switch to FC Barcelona in June.

He told UEFA.com, “My goal is to move to bigger club during the summer and into one of the world’s best leagues.

“I am ready to play in any of the five best leagues, but I am most attracted to Spain, especially Barcelona. I am honored that they are interested in me.”

Allegedly Arsenal wanted to sign him last summer. Modric confirmed that Arsene Wenger showed his interest in bringing him at the same time as Eduardo, but he decided to wait and take the step to Barcelona.

A group of visiting journalists from Catalunya have named him the ‘new Cruyff’ and have given a famous Cruyff-esque number 14 shirt. “The journalist from El Mundo Deportivo cheered me up with this gift,” he said.

Here it goes a video with a few goals from Modric:

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Very good article and interview to the Argentinian genius Leonel Messi. A piece very worth reading:

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/story/0,,2249095,00.html

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We all know that, in football, things change within minutes. One day Real Madrid is unbeatable and the following day they become only humans. One day the league looks decided and, the following day, closing the 6 points gap with the eternal rival seems like an achievable quest. If we bear in mind that there are 16 remaining league games to played -a total of 48 points- it feels obvious that it’s a bit too soon to consider the league finished. FC Barcelona fans don’t forget that last season Real Madrid achieved something very similar, so they are specially keen to get their revenge.

A big percentage of the real chances to reach their target will depend on the result of the two next games, both outside the Nou Camp, against Sevilla and Zaragoza. If FC Barcelona comes back with two victories in the pocket, we might be talking about a completely different story until the end of the season. After those games the team will also add two important players, Toure Yaya and Samuel Etoo, playing the Cup of Africa at the moment.

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It’s difficult for a person like Abramovich to stay unnoticed wherever they go, and Barcelona isn’t an exception. Obviously, the Chelsea’s owner can have many reasons to visit a city like Barcelona, but is well known how eager Abramovich is to hire Rolandinho, so a visit like the one that he paid over the weekend inevitably started the rumor about the nature of the Russian’s visit.

What is known for sure is that Abramovich didn’t attend the game in Nou Camp, which would have turned on all the alerts in Camp Barsa, not just regarding Ronaldinho but also Frank Rikjaard, a manager that is much liked in Stamford Bridge.

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Xavi´s goal two minutes from the hour was enough to beat Osasuna and reduce the gap with Real Madrid to six point, after the White Team lost against Almeria on Saturday. It´s true that now all the teams come to Camp Nou to put 10 players behind the ball, but it´s also true that the squad are not making good use of all the chances of goal that they generate. We saw that against Villareal on Wednesday and last night against Osasuna. It seems the opposite to how Real Madrid have been winning their games lately, which is taking advantage of every goal chance.

Rikjaard’s men chased Ricardo’s goal for the entire half, but the Osasuna goalkeeper’s performance was outstanding. The best chances for FC Barcelona came from Messi (15′), from Iniesta in a one to one with Ricardo after a great pass from Bojan (28′), and another great kick from Messi that missed the goal by centimeters (40′). Also Henry showed his class (32′), and Bojan, who was very active during the first half, tried in the minutes 38 and 44.

Second half to be forgotten

The second half was a completely different story. Apart from the goal, two minutes from the end, there was just one goal chance by Deco (69′). But the miracle came in the minute 88′, when Xavi took the Camp Nou from their depression with a superb goal, the most celebrated one in the last times.

La Liga is not decided

FC Barcelona reduced to six the nine points disadvantage with Real Madrid, after their unexpected defeat in Almeria on Saturday.

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FC Barcelona will play Valencia in the semi finals of the Spanish Cup. Racing Santander and Getafe will play the other draw. Barsa, “King of Cups” with 24 titles, have reached the semi finals 10 years after winning their last Spanish Cup against Mallorca. Henry’s goal last night allowed Barcelona to reach the semifinals, in a very delicate moment of the season, 9 points behind Real Madrid and just about to re-take their presence in The Champions League.

FC Barcelona v Valencia is, for many, a final, since Racing Santander never reached this point in the competition and Getafe only played one final, last year against Sevilla. Valencia FC are living an important crisis, and haven’t scored in the last 4 games played in La Liga in 2008. The Spanish Cup is probably the last chance to play a European competition next season, since they are 6 points behind the UEFA positions and 10 points behing the Champions League ones.

Ronald Koeman: “Barsa is the rival that nobody wanted”

Koeman said, after the draw celebrated this moring, that FC Barcelona is the rival that all teams wanted to avoid but that the tie is down and they have to accept it. “Getafe, Racing and us probably wanted another rival, but the tie is done and we have to prepare it. But now we have more important games in La Liga”. Regarding the second leg being played in Valencia, the manager said that it’s good, but it’s not a definitive factor, and reminded that in the last round, 3 out of the 4 qualified teams played their first game at home.

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FC Barcelona is closer to win their first Spanish Cup since 1998. Winning this competition is almost mandatory for this Barsa, even though they’d need to overtake three new obstacles: the semifinals -also reached by Valencia, Getafe and Racing Santander - and the big final on April 16th. The next rival will come from the draw celebrated today at noon.

Last week’s defeat in Bilbao seemed to encourage the teat that showed a completely different attitude than in San Mames. The team reminded the good times and, with Henry and Messi giving their best performance, Barsa challenged Villareal during the first half. But thanks to an outstanding performance from the goalkeeper Diego Lopez, the Yellow Team avoided a bigger defeat.

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