UEFA Champions League Draw :

Group A: Porto, Dynamo Kiev, Paris St-Germain, Dinamo Zagreb

Group B: Arsenal, Schalke, Olympiakos, Montpellier

Group C: Milan, Zenit St Petersburg, Anderlecht, Malaga

Group D: Real Madrid, Manchester City, Ajax, Borussia Dortmund

Group E: Chelsea, Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus, Nordsjaelland

Group F: Bayern Munich, Valencia, Lille, Bate Borisov

Group G: Barcelona, Benfica, Spartak Moscow, Celtic

Group H: Manchester United, Braga, Galatasaray, Cluj

Expect a tiring trip to Moscow and a good game against Benfica.
Oh, and check out the Group of Death: Group B!

INIESTA : The Best player in Europe!!

"Without my team-mates at the Spanish national team and Barcelona I wouldn't have won this individual trophy"- Iniesta 

Photo: FCBarcelona.com

Finally he gets recognition for his superb game! Andres Iniesta has been awarded the "2012 UEFA Best Player Award".

He beat team-mate Lionel Messi and rival Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo to win the trophy. Iniesta received 19 votes from the panel, while Messi and Ronaldo were both given the nod by 17 voters.
More..

Half Time at the Bernabeu

Photo : Miguel Ruiz, FCB

Things couldn't get worse! Barca are 1 man down (Adriano) and the scoreboard reads 2-1 in favour of Real. One more goal could be enough to win. Messi was the man to score the last goal. Can we get another goal with ten men? Sure we can. Go for it champs!

To our second Home : The Bernabeu (Highlights)

The second leg of the Super cup

14 and counting. Photo : FcBarcelona.com

Before the evening could end in an overwhelming victory at home, a Valdes blunder in the end resulted in the score line 3-2. That means there's everything to play for at the Bernabeu.

Here we bring you only the highlights of the preview to the game. The complete review can be found here. Click to continue.

Messi and team Barca break even more Records

The best player EVER? Image : AP

Messi makes breaking records look so easy, doesn't he? Every few games there's some record waiting to be broken by him. Many standing for decades. And remember he's merely 25! What he can possible achieve and overcome is terrifying. Last year Barca missed out on the two most coveted trophies, the league and European cups. Other than that, Messi had a stellar year! 72 goals in all competitions is the the cherry on top of the various achievements that included beating César Rodríguez to become the top scorer in the 113-year history of FC Barcelona.

So what record(S) did he break last game? Read more to find out!

Video : Alex Song Beauties!

Alex Song - our new signing

Alex Song was, after Robin van Persie, easily Arsenal's best player last season. It is yet to be seen how Tito Vilanova uses him, be it starting alongside Busquets in Defensive midfield, play as a Centreback in Puyol's absence or maybe even as a substitute when games already in the pocket need to be "shut". He could be Barca's missing Joker in the pack! We don't know whether he's going to feature in the clasico to come or not but it doesn't mean we don't indulge in this beautiful video. Hope we're gonna get to make a similar video in the future...with him inside the blue and red shirt! Check the video down below! Neat?

Picture of the week : The infamous past

The Mourinho we remember!

Exactly a year ago! Picture from the always excellent Total Barca

Mourinho may be a great coach, no doubt, but this moment in history will always shift the judgement against him. A coach of such a glorious team like Real Madrid is a role model for millions of kids around the world. But here we have Mourinho who "shows the way". The victim of the eye gouge? None other than then assistant coach and present Barca coach Tito Vilanova. Both have mended terms and the ban on Mourinho has been lifted (imagine if it was the English FA and not the Spanish one). But the world will watch them again as Barca take on Real Madrid this thursday.

Spanish Super Cup 2012 Preview

@ Camp Nou!

The 2011-12 Copa Del Rey winners defend their Spanish Super Cup trophy against the reigning La Liga winners in the matches fought fiercely over two legs, and hands, and fingers.

When the "bitter one" told media last year (after they last to Barca) that the Spanish Super Cup is a very small trophy that doesn't matter much to Madrid he was only acting mean. Yes, the Spanish super cup doesn't amount much when placed with heavyweights like the league and European cup. But when a certain Barcelona face a Real Madrid, in whatever-the-fucking-occasion match, its as grand as can be.

Flashback to last year, it wasn't a very beautiful competition. Spanish Super Cup matches are normally not worth remembering but then last year, like this year, it was a clasico. Clasicos are watched, scrutinized and remembered. And clasicos are eventful! And last years Super Cup reminds us of several events.
The Good: David Villa's amazing Golazo!!
The Bad: Marcelo's tackle on new signing Cesc Fabregas.
The bitter and downright ugly: the poke in the eye of current Barca coach Vilanova by the then-and-present Madrid Coach Mourinho.

Come Thursday (and then the Wednesday after that) these two Spanish giants clash not just for the trophy but for gaining a psychological edge in the long season that follows. Two legs of Clasico is simply mouth-watering.
Here's a bit of what to expect..entire preview after the jump!

Season 2012-13 preview Part III - New Club Signings

From inside the club

Sergi Roberto and Christian Tello have made their entry into the Barcelona official squad but I will not include them in the "New Additions" list. They are La Masia products and have already appeared for the first team. In fact, Tello played 22 games for Barca last season that included 15 league games and 3 European games. Not only that, he managed to score 7 goals in all. Not bad!
Sergi Roberto too made 4 appearances and scored 2 goals last season.

Well these were the additions made directly from the "B" team. Let us look into the players we "purchased" in the transfer market.

Season 2012-13 Preview Part II - Know the Manager

Tito Vilanova wasn't a very popular football player (he hardly played three seasons in top flight football), very much unlike Pep who was part of Johan Cruyff's dream team that won Barcelona's first ever European Cup. Tito Vilanova will have to get used to comparisons with the man that preceded him. Of course these are two different individuals who do things differently. And Vilanova has come a long way from playing second fiddle for the last four years to managing the great club itself.
Details inside!

Season 2012-13 Preview Part I - The Basics

Where We Come From

The last four years were synonymous to unprecedented levels of success. The Pep Guardiola-run Barcelona has been, time and again, called one of the best teams in football history and has been compared with Pele's Brazil and Sacchi's Milan. Whether it was the best ever is a hard topic to debate on but it truly was magical! Was?
Yes. Last season was a different era. The new season is the beginning of a new era. The Vilanova era as different from the Guardiola era. We start from zero. We start hungry for new success.
Read more after the jump!

2012-13 FC Barcelona season HERE WE COME!!

Hello folks! Its been three months since our beloved club Barca last played an official game. That definitely is a long long time in footballing terms. We are so used to seeing Barca play week-in and week-out that not sitting back on your sofa sipping beer to watch the Messi-o-taunts leaves a gaping hole on our weekends. If you are a football fanatic like I am! But it is almost "the end" to the pre-season and the crazy transfer rumor mills are coming down as the curtain opens to a brand new Footballing season 2012-13. The game, the drama, the clashes both on and off the pitch....oh! We're ON! So the next few posts will be previews to the new season! Since there are going to be a "few" posts, we are going to cover a few different aspects. Stay tuned! Oh, I nearly forgot to mention, barcaMatters.blogspot.com is born! Welcome everybody!

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