The Press Room

Puyol recovery on schedule

Carles Puyol is getting close to ending the first phase of his recovery following the operation on his left knee. The Club captain has been working on muscle exercises and will soon begin to work out on the training pitch.


Puyol’s recovery is on schedule and he is working hard to be fit and available for the start of the new season, combing a well deserved summer break with some intensive recovery sessions.

Puyol is coming to the end of the first three-week stage of his recovery, the objective of which is to work on the musculature of his left leg. If all goes as planned, he should be able to start gentle training out on the pitch by the end of June. The aim is for the captain to be fit for the start of the season following his operation on June 1st.

Suffering since January

Puyol was laid up for three months with knee tendon problems which were detected following the game against Racing at the Camp Nou on January 22nd and only made his return for the league game against Madrid on April 15th.

From then on until the end of the season, Guardiola used Puyol carefully – he played in both the Champions League semi finals, but only came on for the last 3 minutes at Wembley. He was operated on by Doctor Ramon Cugat on June 1st, when a piece of cartilage was removed from his left knee.

Source: http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/noticies/futbol/temporada10-11/06/18/n110618118055.html

El Periodico has tallied the average attendance for home games at the Camp Nou over the last three seasons.

Here are the numbers:

•2008-09: 66,359
•2009-10: 74,804
•2010-11: 74,659


Read more: http://www.totalbarca.com/2011/news/stat-of-the-day-lets-go-to-the-match/#ixzz1Pw0CUXtW

Barça will also display UNICEF in the Champions League

UEFA will allow FC Barcelona to display the UNICEF logo on the back of the shirt during Champions League matches in the 2011/12 season.

The Board spokesman, Toni Freixa, announced at a news conference this Wednesday: "As a result of our active action with UEFA, and their willingness, it will be possible that in next season’s Champions League matches we can display the UNICEF logo on the back of our shirt, and we’re just waiting for the final design".


Toni Freixa wanted to thank, on behalf of Barça, "the willingness of UEFA", the result of which will allow the image of FC Barcelona in the Champions League to continue to be associated with UNICEF.

Two sponsors on the shirt

So, Barça will have 2 sponsors names on the shirt in all three competitions: Qatar Foundation on the front of the shirt and UNICEF on the back.

http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/noticies/club/temporada10-11/06/22/n110622118113.html

In season 2010-2011, Xavi made 3,411 passes with a 94% completion rate in all competitions.

RealGunner wrote:In season 2010-2011, Xavi made 3,411 passes with a 94% completion rate in all competitions.

great stat..thx

Thiago gets nose operation

Thiago Alcántara has undergone nasal septoplasty this afternoon to solve the respiratory problems he has been suffering as a result of a deviated nasal septum.


The Club Medical Services have said that the intervention, supported by Egarsat, was performed at the Clínica Mútua in Terrassa. The player is expected to require ten days to recover.

The young star has undergone this surgery at the end of a long season that was culminated last week with the conquest of the European Under 21 Championship title with the Spanish national team.

Link: http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/noticies/futbol/temporada10-11/06/27/n110627118180.html


he will be out for 10 days!

Definitively the best year in club history "16 trophies in 2010-2011"


The futsal league title rounded off the finest season ever in the history of Barça’s professional teams. The club also won women’s football’s Copa de la Reina and the youth football team won the treble.

Never in almost 112 years of history has FC Barcelona won as many trophies as it did in 2010/11. The achievement was completed on Sunday when Barça Alusport won the Spanish league, the sixteenth professional title of the year. In an amazing campaign, the futsal team has won the Spanish league and cup double, as well as the Catalan league.

Football treble

Of all the cups brought home in 10/11, none was noted around the world more than the football Champions League won at Wembley against Manchester United (3-1). Nobody could argue that it wasn’t thoroughly deserved, and the same players also won the Spanish League and Supercup this season.

Joy at the Palau

Like Barça Alusport, Regal Barça also had a wonderful season with four titles, including all three ACB basketball competitions (League, Cup and Supercup) and the Catalan league. Barça Borges also contributed by becoming handball champions of Spain and Europe, and also winning the Pyrenees League.

The roller hockey team, who have won more titles than any other of Barça’s many sections, also contributed with the Copa del Rey and the Continental Cup.


Women and youth too

In addition to the 16 professional titles won by Barça, we can also mention the women’s and youth football teams. The ladies coached by Xavi Llorenç won the Copa de la Reina for the first time in seventeen years, while the youngsters coached by Òscar Garcia won the League, Champions Cup and Copa del Rey.


Link: http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/noticies/destacades/n110627118175.html

Official: First team goalkeeper Carles Busquets, father of Barcelona player Sergio, returns after one year to the B-team.

Bojan's father, Bojan Krkic senior, is one of the two Barcelona scouts whose contract won't be renewed this summer.

Barbara stays at assistant coach of the B-team. Carlos Hugo becomes the other assistant of new Barcelona B coach Eusebio.

Gd Luck Belletti

Former (2004-2007) Barcelona player Juliano Belletti (34), who signed for Ceara last week, has announced his retirement. [blogdobelletti]
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Belletti, the hero of Paris, retires

Juliano Belletti has announced that he is giving up football following a series of fitness problems. He had been playing in Brazil.

“As much as I want to carry on, my body won’t let me. I’m ending my professional career due to physical problems” said the 35 year old on Twitter.

17 years as a pro

The full back has spent his seventeen years in the game at seven different clubs Cruzeiro, São Paulo, Atlético Mineiro, Vila-real, Barça, Chelsea and Fluminense. He recently signed for Brazilian outfit Ceará, but never got to make his debut.

The finest moment of his career was May 17, 2006, when Barça won its second Champions League by beating Arsenal in Paris. Belletti went down in club history by scoring the winner following a 1-1 with Larsson.

That was the only goal he ever scored in his time at Barça (2004-087). In his three seasons here, his other honours included two Ligas and two Spanish Supercups.

Now that he has retired, Belletti says that he would like to stay in the game as “a commentator, assistant coach or advisor”.


Link: http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/noticies/futbol/temporada10-11/06/28/n110628118187.html

Jonathan Dos Santos suspended over prostitute scandal

Baby-faced Jonathan Dos Santos, attacking midfielder at Barcelona B this season, has been suspended for six months by the Mexican Football Commission, according to reports in Sport and El Mundo today. The suspension means that Dos Santos will miss the upcoming Copa America which gets off the ground on July 1 in Argentina. Seven other members of the Mexican U22 squad have been similarly punished.The sanction stems from allegations that the players entertained prostitutes in their hotel rooms during a party last Saturday, at the teams headquarters in Quito, Ecuador. The players reported that they had been robbed during the festivities, but official investigations revealed that the players themselves had provided the evening’s entertainment. In addition to the 6-month ban, each player has been fined 50,000 pesos [about 3,000 euros].

Dos Santos has yet to make an official statement to reply to the accusations. Watch totalBarca for more news, as this story develops.



Read more: http://www.totalbarca.com/2011/news/jonathan-dos-santos-suspended-over-prostitute-scandal/#ixzz1Qcnfm5LJ

Barcelona sources deny there's a final deal on the transfer of Udinese attacker Alexis Sanchez (22)

Obama compares himself to Messi WATCH !http://www.fcbarcelona.cat/web/english/noticies/futbol/temporada10-11/06/29/n110629118198.html?utm_source=FCBarcelona.com&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=FCBarcelona&utm_term=FCBarcelona&utm_content=Football

Official: Swiss club Neuchatel Xamax announce the transfer of midfielder Victor Sanchez (23), last season on loan at Getafe, for 2 seasons.

Picture: Victor Sanchez presented as new player of Swiss club Neuchatel Xamax http://bit.ly/lmOod9

!!!


UPDATE:
Although Neuchatel Xamax yesterday presented Victor Sanchez (23) as new player, both Barcelona and his agent deny the deal is done.

Victor Sanchez could join Xamax for free. Barcelona would get first option to buy him next summer and a percentage of a future sale.[sport]

La Masia closes its doors


From June 30th, La Masia has ceased housing the young sportsmen who are being trained to become a part of the Club’s professional teams. In a simple, but emotionally charged ceremony, the doors were today closed on La Masia.

At twelve noon today, La Masia closed its doors for the last time as a home for up and coming youngsters, after 32 years. Club sporting vice president Josep Maria Bartomeu, football academy director Jordi Mestre, the director of La Masia, Carles Folguera and the professional football director and ex-resident at La Masia Guillermo Amor took charge of the official closing, with the new Centre de Formació Oriol Tort at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper taking over the function of a residential centre for the youngsters from tomorrow. The 16 trophies won this season were displayed at the front door of the building for the ceremony, attended by a large number of reporters.

Emblematic space

“This is a symbolic act as we close the old Masia. We are moving and La Masia has had the success it has had – today we are proud to show the 16 titles we have won this season and the graduates of La Masia have had a lot to do with that success”, explained Sr, Bartomeu.

Sporting success –but educating people too

Jordi Mestre insisted on the importance of the titles which the Club’s youth teams have won this year: “between the various youth and children’s teams, together with the women’s football team, we have won 19 titles. We should also stress the importance of the B team and even though they didn’t win any title, to come third in the Segona A is just as good”.

Mestre also stressed that titles weren’t the only way to measure success: “for us, the most important thing is when one of our youngsters gets into the first team. We also place great value on the fact that both the first team and the B team have won the Fair Play award”. There was also thanks and recognition for the work of the various coaches and trainers: “our mission is to educate players and people. We have to be a competitive club, but we don’t want to win at any price”, according to Sr Mestre.

Values remain the same

This was a particularly emotive moment for two of the men at the ceremony - Carles Folguera and Guillermo Amor. The Director of La Masia is convinced that the success of the institution will continue in its new home at the Ciutat Esportiva: “we are very excited about the move. We are moving to a residential home which will be an example to the whole world because of the great possibilities it offers. It’ll mean an improvement in organising things, with the medical services which are in the Ciutat Esportiva and with the increased number of places we will be able to offer”, explained Sr Folguera. There may be a change in location, but Sr Folguera insisted: “we will continue with the same ideas and those of us at La Masia are very committed - we will be a much more important reference point for the professional teams with the bigger residence. We will be very happy if we can match success with helping to form excellent people too”.

Both Folguera and Guillermo Amor, who was one of the first residents at the Masia in 1980, thanked the then board for the decision to set up the residence. Amor also explained: “I’m more nervous now than I was when I first came in 1980. This is not an easy day. This wasn’t just a residential sporting centre for me –it was like a home. We’ll have a great new centre and we have to make sure we take the family atmosphere there with us. Naming it after Oriol Tort is a good start”.


Link: http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/noticies/club/temporada10-11/06/30/n110630118215.html

Cristian Lobato has signed a two year deal with the FC Barcelona B squad. is committed for two seasons with the reserves squad. The forward from Esparreguera, 22, arrives from Hospitalet, where he has played from a young age.

As the club’s official site explains, the first signing for Eusebio Sacristán’s squad has already passed his medical exam and has signed a contract with FC Barcelona for the next two seasons.

Cristian Lobato usually plays as a left winger, but in the last season he has combined this position with that of a wing-back. Lobato made ​​his first steps in the FCB Escola, but since from alevín age he joined Hospitalet, where he has played up until this coming season.

In his first words as a blaugrana player, Lobato has expressed to Barça TV his joy upon the confirmation of his signing: “I am very happy and I feel proud to sign for the best club in the world, I come with the conviction that I am prepared to make a place for myself here.”




“I am a fast left winger that can also play in the back as a left-back,” states Lobato, defining his position. At 22, the player from Esparreguera recognizes that he still needs to improve “in many aspects, especially in defense.”

The now ex-player of L’Hospitalet coincided with Barça B midfielder Ilie Sánchez at the FCB Escola, who has already explained what it will be like in the group of Barça B: “He’s spoken of the wonders of this group already to me and I’m waiting for July 11 to begin the pre-season under the orders of Eusebio.”

"LA LIGA Schedule"
The 10 Liga games in the coming season could be played at 9 hours: Saturday 18h 20h 22h, Sunday 12h 16h 18h 20h 22h - Monday 21h
Barcelona and Madrid this season wouldn't yet play home games at Sunday on 12pm, but could play away games at that hour [md]

"Barca News"

- Pedro injured Out for 10 days.. he will be back in time for pre-season (18-July)
- Tw Puyol: "Today is a great day, I'm again running without any problem... Thank you, Juanjo Brau." [@carles5puyol]

Official: Former (2003-08) Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard has today signed a 3-year contract as national team coach of Saudi Arabia

gd luck Rijkaard

Not sure if working with mediocre players is suiting Rijkaard given what happened at Galatasaray. However no top club shows any interest in him. Hence taking this job makes sense. The minimum that is expected is qualification for WC 2014 but if he can also take them to the first knock out round, he will get a place in their history.

You all may enjoy going through this interesting piece on the one and only Pep Guardiola.

http://shanna.imgur.com/pep_guardiola__fourfourtwo_uk_august_2011

FC Barcelona – 19 goals from corners in 2010/11 season

Read more: http://www.totalbarca.com/2011/multimedia/fc-barcelona-19-goals-from-corners-in-201011-season/#ixzz1R61Abncq

In this Thread, I will try to update it with all the official news including Transfers, new contracts etc...