BARCELONA, TOP THREEWORST TRANSFER BALANCE

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Spanish giants Barcelona have been ranked as one of the top three worst transfer balance dating back to five years ago, according to the report from CIES football observatory. The Catalans are one of the worst teams in European football with a negative transfer balance. This is coming on the back of the news that Barcelona are neck deep in debts of around $1.5bn. Since 2016, Barcelona have a transfer deficit of $571m. It was revealed that Barcelona splashed the sum of $1.42m on transfers within the period under review and recouped $849m in the sales of players to put the club in third place for transfer deficit behind the Manchester duo of Manchester United and Manchester City.


Premier League leaders Manchester City are the kings of transfer deficit as they have spent $765m more than the sales made from the transfers of their players. Manchester United are in second place with a negative transfer balance of $711m. Manchester City spent  $1.22bn on transfers within the period of the last five years, while the Red Devils spent $1.008bn under the same period. As observed by CIES, the debts incurred by Barcelona is not entirely due to the lucrative contract given to star player Lionel Messi in 2016. Continue reading →

MESSI MAKES TEAM OF THE DECADE

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Barcelona skipper Lionel Messi has been named on the list of CONMEBOL Team of the Decade joining the likes of former Barcelona teammates Neymar Jr and Javier Mascherano. The CONMEBOL Team of the Decade is for the period of the last ten years. The players were selected based on their performances from 2011 to 2020.


The list of the eleven players for the CONMEBOL Team of the Decade was compiled by the InternationalFederation of Football and Statistics (IFFHS). Barcelona talisman Lionel Messi is widely regarded by a lot of football stakeholders as the best player in the history of the game and it’s not surprising that the petite Argentine national team skipper has made the South American Team of the Decade. Continue reading →

BARCA BOSS KOEMAN GIVES UPDATE ON RIQUI PUIG’S FUTURE

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Barcelona superstar Riqui Puig has sparked a host of transfer rumours after being linked to so many clubs across Europe having been in fine form for his club so far this season. Premier League side Leeds United are one of the many clubs to have been interested in the young prolific star as they have been looking to make some key upgrades in the team, especially in the midfield area.


Marcel Bielsa has identified Puig as one of the very smart business deals out there talking about creative midfielders he could sign for Leeds. Two other names that were drawn up for a possible transfer to Leeds are Udinese superstar Rodrigo De Paul, as well as creative midfield genius Michael Cuisance right before he decided to move to French outfit Marseille instead.
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LA LIGA: BARCELONA STRUGGLES CONTINUE

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Barcelona have struggled for form in the Spanish La Ligathis season and that continued into their latest league outing, an home clash with Eibar at the Nou Camp on Tuesday night. Barcelona were only able to secure an uninspiring draw against lowly Eibar as they failed to close the gap on the top two teams on the La Liga table. The Nou Camp giants were without talismanic player Lionel Messi for the week 16 league meeting with Eibar and his absence was felt as the other players failed to step up for the team.


Ahead of the game, Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman told reporters that Messi will miss the game because of a small injury problem. The said injury kept him out of the Eibar game though he’s likely to return to the team for the league trip to Huesca at the weekend. Without Messi, Barcelona lacked the required cutting edge in front of goaland this was evident when the team was awarded a first half penalty. Barcelona skipper Lionel Messi is the usual penalty taker but his absence meant that another player had to step up. Danish international Martin Braithwaite stepped up in the absence of Messi but he could not convert the spot kick. Continue reading →

INIESTA FIRES VISSEL KOBE TO ACL QUARTERS

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Just when some may think Andres Iniesta has gone past his best, he keeps reminding everyone that no matter what, class is always permanent, even though form may be temporary. The former Barcelona man has been keeping the Vissel Kobe fans since joining the club, getting loads of love and affection from everyone around the club.


He once again showed the stuff he is made of after scoring a goal and helping his team secure passage to the quarters of the Asian Champions League. Iniesta and his teammate Daigo Nishi were the players on the scoresheet, as either of them scored in either half of the 90 minutes on Monday to proceed to the next stage of the competition.
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PIQUE – WE DIDN’T DESERVE THE VICTORY

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The Barcelona defender admitted that their team struggled to contain their opponent, Dynamo Kyiv, and might set for a difficult transition season.

Pique believes Barcelona lost control and was nervous as they narrowly held off a 2-1 win over Dynamo Kyiv on Wednesday night in the Champions League. Lionel Messi handed Barcelona the lead from the penalty spot after five minutes before Gerald Pique doubled Barca’s advantage with a header in the match’s 65th minute.
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Barcelona goalkeeper reveals contract extension talks

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Marc Andre ter Stegen has said that there have been talks with the club on extending the contract. But amid the COVID 19 pandemic the discussions have been ceased. He has assured the fans of the club he will not be leaving the club any time in the near future. He was transferred to Barca on 2014 from the club Borussia Monchengladbach. Even though he was under Claudio Bravo for two years, his potential on the game was not questioned. He became a regular in 2016 and since then he has been a totally dependable person of the club.


Ter Stegen’s contract was extended in May 2017 till 2022 and with two years left in his contract, there have been speculations that he will be moving in from the club which wasn’t very well received by the people. He isn’tdisturbed by the thought that his contract extension has been delayed and he clearly understands that the crisis faced by coronavirus needs immediate attention rather than his contract. The discussions have been going on with his agent and the club regarding the extension but with the intervention of pandemic, it was dropped.
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Lionel Messi wins the seventh Pichichi award

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Lionel Messi,with the goal against Deportivo Alaves,hasbecome the leading goalscorer in La Liga for the 2019–2020 season and has secured the seventh Pichichi award. Last year, he has equalled the number of Pichichi titles with Athletic Bilbao star Telmo Zarrawith six awards. With the seventh one added to the list,Messi is creating his own records that will be broken in the future.

In the match against DeportivoAlaves,Messi scored a couple of goals whichtook him to 25 for the season and once again become the leading goalscorer in La Liga. His pass to Ansu Fati in the initial stages of the game led him to another record of most number of assists in a season and he surpassed his former teammate Xavi.
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Messi isn’t happy with the Barca’scurrent form

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Lionel Messi is very much disappointed after their defeat against Villarreal which led them the title to slip away. Messi has said that if they are continuing to play like this they will be losing the Champions League match against Napoli. On Friday,Barca endured their sixth defeat in the league while Real captured their first title since 2017.


Barcelona was defeated by Osasuna for 2–1 with the goals from Jose Arnaiz and Roberto Torres and the goal scored by Lionel Messi wasn’t enough to make the team come back to their original form. With the defeat, they are seven points behind Real Madridand they have secured the title with the win against Villarreal.
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Former Premier League star Darren Bent believes Paul Pogba will be eager to prove himself when he returns to action later this month. The France international has missed most of the current campaign for Manchester United with a nagging ankle injury and he underwent an operation for the same at the beginning of the year.


The World Cup-winning midfielder was initially fancied to return to the playing field for the final couple of weeks of the season but he will now player a bigger role with the coronavirus pandemic delaying the conclusion of the campaign by three months. Speaking on TalkSPORT, Bent believes Pogba has received unfair criticism despite his reduced gametime this term and he should be keen to prove a point when the season recommences.
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