Category: News

Busquets is delighted with the team’s impeccable start to the season and the eight-point lead over Real Madrid. But speaking at Sunday morning’s press conference he insisted, “There’s a long way to go”

For Sergio Busquets, the fact that FC Barcelona has already won in Pamplona and Getafe, two of the games the team lost last season, is a good sign. However, he stressed today that, “Every league is different and there’s a long way to go”. As for the eight-point lead over Real Madrid, he insisted that it lessen the pressure on the players. “We play each match with the idea of winning without looking at what the rest are doing”.

Squad focussed

Busquets, who declined to comment on Mourinho’s remarks after Real Madrid lost to Sevilla, explained that the Barça squad are fully focussed on the job in hand. “We’re looking to ourselves. There’s a long way to go in the league. We go out to win every match and that’s all. I’m not in Mourinho’s shoe. The gap is surprising, but this has only just begun. Now we’re focussed on having a good match in the Champions League”.

Sergio Busquets has just celebrated his fourth anniversary as a Barça first team player: “Everything’s gone by so quickly and the truth is I never imagined I’d win so many titles. I’m very happy. My role has been important, I’ve played a lot, and I would never have imagined it. I hope I’ll have many more years with Barça and win many more titles”,

Finally, Busquets explained that Tito Vilanova is asking him to do “more or less the same” as the previous manager, Josep Guardiola: “It always depends, above all, on the playing system of each opponent”. He also spoke about Thiago: “He’s a very important player and we’ve missed him. It’s obvious that he brings a lot to the team and that’s he’s got power and quality. He’s very young and he’ll be very important”.

The squad had a light training session on Sunday morning focussed on recovering from the match against Getafe but with an eye on Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Spartak Moscow

Following on from the win in the Coliseum Alfonso Perez, the players reported for training on Sunday morning with the main focus being on recovering from their efforts against Getafe.

On Wednesday, Barça will kick off their Champions League campaign against Spartak Moscow in the Camp Nou and in today’s session the players got their first touch of the match ball that will be used on Wednesday. They will have the day off on Monday and return to training on Tuesday.

Alba absent with flu, Alexis continues recovery

Jordi Alba, who missed out on the match against Getafe, is still recovering from flu and so was also absent from today’s training session. Meanwhile, Alexis Sanchez continued his recovery process apart from the main group.

Academy players join in

Twelve players from the Barça B squad joined the senior players in today’s session: Tello, Deulofeu, Masip, Bañuz, Gómez, Araujo, Cá, Gustavo, Espinosa, Román, Quintillà and Dongou, plus Sanabria from the youth squad.

FC Barcelona has made a great start to the league season with two wins away to Osasuna and Getafe, stadiums where the team lost last year

And a win away to Getafe is a lucky omen; a victory there has always been followed by Barça taking the league title

Messi has already broken his own goal scoring record for a calendar year with 61 goals so far in 2012

Here are some of the positive facts thrown up by Barça’s 1-4 victory over Getafe:

Barça has already won in both of the stadiums where the team lost last year (1-2 in Pamplona and 1-4 in Getafe). Last season Barça lost these matches 3-2 and 1-0, respectively.

•  So Barça has already come out on top in two of the three league matches lost last season. The third was the game against Real Madrid in the Camp Nou. Barça can make it three out of three when the two sides meet on 7th October.

•  Barça has always gone on to lift the league title after winning away to Getafe.

•  The starting line-up in the Coliseum Alfonso Perez featured no fewer than 10 players brought up through the Club’s youth academy. The odd-man-out was Adriano.

•  The final score of 1-4 was a fair reflection of the opportunities enjoyed by both sides. Getafe had 6 shots compared to Barça’s 15.

•  Barça’s clear dominance of the game is also reflected in the stats for possession (67%) and passes completed (248 for Getafe against 619 for Barça).

•  With Messi starting the match on the subs bench, Valdes is now the only player in the squad to have played every minute of every match so far.

•  Piqué moves ahead of Messi into second place in the same ranking of minutes played with 492 compared to Messi’s 486.

•  As of 16th September Messi has already surpassed his personal best of 60 goals in a calendar year, which he established in 2011. His provisional tally for 2012 now stands at 61.

•  Montoya and Thiago made their first appearances of the season in the starting line-up. For Thiago it was also his first game after recovering from injury.

•  On Saturday, Adriano played his 200th game in the Spanish league. And just as he did against Valencia before the international break, he scored the opening goal of the match, his sixth in 75 games for Barça.

After a week marked by the absence of Barça’s international players, Tito Vilanova’s men look ahead to a week that’s marked by the team’s Champions League debut and the Liga match against Granada

After the international break and the match away to Getafe, the Azulgranas look forward to this week where they will  make their debut in the Champions League and play in La Liga at home against Granada. Tito Vilanova’s men, who have Monday off, will train five times this week.

Before for match against Spartak Moscow, the Azulgranas will train at the Camp Nou (on Tuesday and Wednesday). After the match against Spartak, the team will return to training at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper.

Monday, September 17

Day off

Tuesday, September 18

18.00 training session at the Camp Nou

Wednesday, September 19

12.00 training session at the Camp Nou

20.45 FC Barcelona – Spartak Moscow

Thursday, September 20

11.00 training session at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper

Friday, September 21

11.00 training session at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper

Saturday, September 22

12.30 training session at the Camp Nou

22.00 FC Barcelona – Granada CF

Sunday, September 23

Day off

A couple of Azulgranas stepped up for the injured Iniesta, Alexis and Jordi Alba and led Barça to its fourth consecutive victory in La Liga

Tito Vilanova / Jorge Roura

No Iniesta, no Jordi Alba, no Alexis, no Dani Alves, no Messi, no Mascherano (though the two Argentinians played a portion of the second half). The first three were unavailable and the latter three only trained twice with the team before this weekend’s Liga match. Games after international breaks have always proved complicated for FC Barcelona, and the fact that Barça had to face Getafe at the Coliseum added an extra dose of caution to the players’ psyche.

Tito Vilanova, who wasn’t allowed to manage the team from the bench due to suspension, said after the match that he named “the freshest players” to Barça’s starting line-up, which meant Messi, Dani Alves, and Mascherano didn’t get the nod to play from the get go, and Montoya, Cesc, Thiago, Tello and Puyol did. Vilanova’s plan – set in motion by assistant coach Jorge Roura – worked. Both Adriano and Montoya overwhelmed Getafe’s wide defenders with the assistance of Pedro and Tello; Cesc, Thiago and Xavi – all of whom alternated their runs into the Getafe area –  kept Getafe’s defence in a state of disarray; and the tried and true Piqué-Puyol duo didn’t disappoint at the back. All in all, Tito’s game plan was too much for a Getafe side that defeated Real Madrid just weeks ago.

Xavi Hernández:

Xavi, who completed 93.1% of his 101 attempted passes, organised his fellow midfielders around him like bumpers in a pinball machine as he made sure the ball bounced around the Coliseum’s pitch at a furious pace. In fact, the Catalan was voted man of the match by Barça fans after the game (this may change as voting is still open). With the 1-4 scoreline secured after the 90 minutes of play, Xavi said: “I feel great, fresh. Thiago played a brilliant game, as did Cesc. Busquets gave us that equilibrium from the back … We all played at a high level. It’s hard to do well here, so we should be proud of how we played.”

Thiago Alcántara:

It was good to see Thiago back on the pitch after months of recovering from an injury that kept him away from the London Olympic Games and the start of Barça’s season. The youngster was the perfect compliment to Xavi’s methodical style of play. Filling in for the injured Iniesta, Thiago added a certain level of depth to Barça’s midfield with incisive runs and crisp one-time passes – 96.8% of which were completed.

Cesc Fàbregas:

It wasn’t an easy international break for Cesc as there were rumblings in the media about the player’s performances with his Club. He was named to the starting line-up by Vilanova and was tasked with playing the ‘false 9’ role for most of the game (until Messi came on in the second half). The Catalan rose to the challenge and played his part beautifully. Adriano opened up the scoring at the Coliseum thanks to a brilliant run from the Catalan and later, in the second half, Cesc’s through ball was brought down by Villa and slotted into the back of Moyá’s goal for Barça’s fourth. Two assists in 90+ minutes. In addition to his two assists, Cesc paired up well with Thiago and Xavi in the first half and settled in perfectly for Thiago when the youngster was subbed off for Messi in the second. The midfielder actively contributed to the team’s dominating display of possession football (67.1%) over Getafe.

Leo Messi:

Six goals in four La Liga games. Messi played a rough-and-tumble World Cup qualifier against Peru on Wednesday, but he only needed 31 minutes to grab two more goals for his personal La Liga goal tally this evening. The Argentine was subbed in for Thiago on 59 minutes and quickly put the game beyond Getafe’s reach by beating Moyá twice in four minutes. The first was from the penalty spot after Pedro was tripped in the area, and the second was scored after a deflected cross from Montoya.