FC Barcelona News

The manager says that it’s important to start off the season on the right foot, he’s also pleased with the good news of David Villa’s return

Tito Vilanova led his team to victory in his first La Liga match of the season. On the game against Real Sociedad the manager said: “it’s important to start off on the right foot. There are a lot of positive things to be learned from tonight’s match. We played 90 minutes with a lot of intensity. In the first 15 minutes we were strong and we reacted well to their equaliser. Furthermore, Villa returned and he scored a goal.” On the forward, the manager said that the goal “gives the player a lot of morale.”

“The Spanish Super Cup is not a minor competition”

After the Joan Gamper Trophy, Barça will focus completely on the away leg of the Spanish Super Cup against Real Madrid. Vilanova said that the team isn’t taking the match lightly: “I don’t think it’s a minor competition. It’s a good tournament that we want to win. Maybe compared to other tournaments it’s not given as much importance but in this house every match is important. It’s an official match and it’s against Real Madrid.”

Vilanova also took the opportunity to say that he didn’t reserve any of his players tonight for the match against Madrid on Thursday. “I based the starting line-up on the matches that we’ve played so far, on the journeys the players made with their national teams and the time the players spent training with the Club.”

Song can play in multiple positions 

The manager talked about Alex Song after news broke that FC Barcelona and Arsenal FC had agreed to terms for the player: “he’s a footballer that gives us a bit of height. He’ll surprise us with his skill, he’s a great player.” He also added that Song can play in different positions and, most importantly, play the pivot role because “Busquets can’t play all of the games.” Vilanova also indents to use the new player as a center back.

The midfielder is pleased with Villa’s return “because he suffered a lot during his recovery,” but he considers that “he’s with us now and he’s doing well, he scored tonight”

Barça’s second captain highlights the importance of winning tonight’s three points and he notes that the Barça players need to “keep their hope and excitement intact”

Alves: “Es importante para los rivales saber que nosotros estamos aquí. Queremos mejorar y hacer las cosas bien”

“We started La Liga off on the right foot,” said Xavi Hernández after Barça beat Real Sociedad in the opening game of the competition (5-1). “We set a good pace,” said the Azulgrana midfielder, who considers that even though there’s a new manager that “the philosophy is the same.” Xavi went on to say that the players needs to “keep their excitement and hope intact and, this year, we’ll try and achieve the objectives we had last year.”

The three points won in the first match of La Liga are “very important,” said Xavi. On the match, the second captain said that the team “played at a good pace,” but he believes that the best piece of news, without a doubt, is “Villa’s return,” who “is doing well now that he’s with us and he scored a goal.”

Here are the statements made by some of the Barça players after the match:

Pedro:

“I’m content because we won and because I scored a goal. I helped the team.”

“I feel great. The team is slowly starting to play at a high level and, in general, we’re playing really well.”

“It’s great to start out the season in this fashion, playing with our philosophy. I’m happy that we won and for how the we played the match.”

“It’s a good result, but we have a lot of games in front of us. This just started and we did our job, we started the Liga off on the right foot.”

“Villa’s return is the best piece of news of the game. He scored a goal and it’s an absolute joy to have him with us.”

Alves:

“We played really well. We were playing against a very well organised team. We were on target, however, and we reacted correctly to their goal.”

“It’s important for our rivals to know that we are here. We want to improve and play good football.”

Tello:

“What’s truly important for me is to play with the best players in the world.”

Mascherano (on Twitter):

“Great start to the season. We have to continue playing like this!”

Piqué (on Twitter):

“It’s always important to start the Liga off with a victory! I’m really happy for the three first points of the season!”

Puyol (on Twitter):

“I’m really happy that we won and that El Guaje scored!”

The Camp Nou gave the forward a standing ovation when he started warming up on the sidelines and he returned the supporters’ affection with a goal

David Villa made a dream-like return to the Camp Nou this evening. 247 days after he broke his tibia, the Azulgrana forward took to the Camp Nou pitch against Real Sociedad in Barça’s 2012/13 first La Liga match. The crowd’s standing ovation was deafening when he came on and he was quick to return the supporters’ acclaim: on 83 minutes he linked-up with Iniesta and scored, with his left foot, the definitive 5-1. He dedicated the goal to his family and his physio Emili Ricard, a man that was key to the forward’s recovery.

After the match, the Spaniard talked about his performance: “I was really touched by how I was received by the crowd. Their support has been very important during these eight months and I hope I can return the favour with goals.” He added, “when so many people help you it’s hard to say thanks. I want to publicly thank everyone that helped me along the way, without them I wouldn’t have been able to do it.”

El Guaje also thanked “the managers for having confidence” in him and “the support from the players.” Villa considers his performance against Real Sociedad as “another step towards a 100% recovery.” In addition, he also noted that the goal “liberated him and made him content. I really wanted to enjoy this game.”

30 unforgettable minutes

Villa’s brilliant return to competitive play started on the 61st minute of the match, when he started warming up on the sideline (to the delight of the Camp Nou faithful). He had played a couple of minutes against Dinamo Bucharest a week before, and on the 74th minute he made his return official when Tito Vilanova subbed him in for Pedro.

El Guaje made a couple of brilliant plays moments after he took to the pitch. Playing on the left wing, he injected his team-mates with ambition and was rewarded with a goal.

During his 19 minutes on the pitch, the Spanish forward shot once on goal (which ended in a goal), completed 15 out of 17 attempted passes, won possession back once and was given a yellow card for taking his shirt off after he scored the definitive goal of the match.

Puyol opened the scoring with a header after just three minutes

The Basques drew level six minutes later through Chory Castro

Barça hit back with two goals from Leo Messi to make it 3-1 within the first 15 minutes

Pedro and the returning Villa rounded off the scoring with goals at the end of each half

Tito Vilanova made a great start to his time in charge of the team after Pep Guardiola’s departure with an emphatic 5-1 defeat of Real Sociedad with Puyol, Messi (2), Pedro and Villa – back from injury- scoring the goals. It was a dream start to the season for Barça who made their intentions clear from the off – now bring on the Gamper and Madrid in the Super Cup!

Electric start

After just three minutes of the new season kicking off at the Nou Camp, Barça were one up when Puyol headed home a Xavi corner. Real then put in their best period of the game and almost immediately Illarremendi nearly equalised before he set up Chory Castro who made no mistake – two goals within 9 minutes.

Messi brace

There was no time to reflect on that equaliser though – as two minutes later Leo Messi found a space amongst the Real defenders to open his league account – which he then doubled, putting away a Tello cross to make it 3-1 after just 15 minutes. Both Tello and Pedro were creating danger down the flanks and causing all sorts of problems for the Real defence and just before the break, the two combined just to make it four as the Spanish international put away another cross from the youngster from deep. It really couldn’t have got any better from the Barça attack in the first 45 minutes.

Villa back in style

With Piqué on for Puyol at the start of the second half, Real came close to a second, but Messi was constantly threatening and looking likely to score. Iniesta came on for Cesc and David Villa received a tremendous ovation as he warmed up on the sidelines.

With fifteen minutes left, Tito sent Villa on and in a fairy tale ending he combined wonderfully with Alba to fire home for Barça’s fifth and confirm the promising sensations at the Camp Nou tonight.

In a charity match in Germany, Xavi Llorens’ players lost to the runner up of the European Cup and the seven-time German League champion, FFC Frankfurt

Sonia Bermúdez scored the only goal for the Azulgranas

Excessive punishment for Xavi Llorens’ players, who lost 8-1 in a charity match against the European Cup runner-up, FFC Frankfurt. FC Barcelona’s Women’s A team took to the soggy pitch in front of 1,200 spectators this morning and were able to put up a fight for the opening 30 minutes but the experienced Germans pinned Barça back with two early goals. Bretigne notched a brace for her side thanks to assists from Schmidt and Peter.

Frankfurt reacts to Sonia’s goal

At the start of the second half, Sonia Bermúdez pulled a goal back for Barça’s Women’s team, but FFC Frankfurt smashed all hopes of a comeback with four goals in five minutes.

It all happened from the 66th minute to the 70th, after Xavi Llorens subbed in most of his bench, Garafrekes, Ana-María, Schmidt and Simone Laudehr put the game beyond reach of the visiting side.

There was more bad news to come for the visiting side, however. With 6-1 on the scoreboard, the home side scored two more goals. Wich and Garefrekes made it 8-1.