The difficult months for Vermaelen

Last monday, Barcelona defender Thomas Vermaelen arrived in the city after being operated on in Finland where he underwent a surgery on his semitendinosus muscle in the right hamstring and now will have to undergo four to five months of recovery.

He thanked all the fans and also the rest of the team for their support during his time out of the pitch, not knowing that his teammates will wear shirts in support of him during the 5-1 victory against city rivals Espanyol.

He told to Barcelona TV that he knew nothing and it was a big surprise, he was grateful to all his teammates for their support with the shirt and has given him strength to cope with the next hard few weeks.

He also pointed out that the last few months have been very difficult, as he wasn’t able to recover and that’s why he was forced to operate. Now his only focus is to recover as soon as possible.

Also on Monday, FIFA denied an special permission to sign a new defender to substitute Vermaelen.

Barcelona asked for a emergency signing under “exceptional situations” in Spanish federation rules, despite being banned to sign new players.

FIFA told Barcelona that the disciplinary committee did not conceive and exception for signing outside of the official periods.

FIFA ban was imposed after Barcelona broke rules on international signings of young players and will take place in January, pending an appeal presented to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

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Bartra, the new Carles Puyol

During the last Champions League match, Marc Bartra reminded a lot to his childhood hero, Carles Puyol. He was all over the place, going down to defense and up to support, refusing to give up and let a ball pass.

When Marc put for the first time the Barça shirt he was eleven and unlike other kids he didn’t imitate a forward, he wasn’t interested to become the new Kluivert or Rivaldo. He went straight to the center back position, doing his best to imitate his hero, Carles Puyol.

But, unlike Carles Puyol, he is more calmed and doesn’t posse the same kind of discipline as Puyol but formed at La Masia since he was 11, he is much more technical player than Puyol was.

But apart of their differences, there is also a lot of similarities like their love for the FC Barcelona and to never give up on the field. Un example can be seen when playing against Real Madrid in Copa del Rey 2014. Bartra pushed to be in the pitch from a muscle injury and even during the game he never stopped fighting even if the injury got worse.

Bartra isn’t Puyol, but the admiration for Puyol has made them very similar. After eight year at Barcelona, Bartra entered Barcelona’s first team alongside Puyol, who quickly become his mentor, in and out of the pitch.

Even when he had lucrative offers to leave Barcelona, he only listened to one person, and Puyol told him to stay, work hard and he would reach his goals and stay in the club for many years.

On Wednesday against PSG, Marc Bartra put again all his heart in the pitch with a brilliant performance and showing that he will do everything for the club emblem on his chest.

There is a long way still to reach his full potential, but with his mentor by his side he will get there sooner or later.

Even though he is not Carles Puyol, this is most likely the closest thing that Barcelona will have to a new Puyol.

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Neymar improves

Two summers ago, Barcelona announced that they have signed the Brazillian giant Neymar, bringing the unthinkable pairing with Lionel Messi.

But during the first Neymar season at Camp Nou, he didn’t match the expectations surrounding him for the last years and he was unable to find the rhythm.

But now in his second year it's very different, he is the player that everybody expected, so, what has changed?

First is the different kind of football played in Europe and South America, and he needed time to learn Barça’s system. The Brazilian struggled with a new football culture and identity.

Also he arrived in a club where he wasn’t the undisputed leader of the team, Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta are well known and are the faces of Barcelona. For someone that is used to be the center of the team, this is very difficult to undergo.

Despite all of the above, from time to time some football talent shine through the fog. He ended the season with ning goals and eight assists in La Liga and four goals in the Champions League, good stats of a footballer, but far from what Neymar could do.

But everything has changed this season. The 22-year-old has scored 13 goals in the first 17 La Liga fixtures, not even halfway the season.

Now he understands how European Football works and also how to play with a team like Barcelona, and not only that, he also understands his position inside the team.

Neymar is no longer just one more player into the team, he is now a player that can lead and make an impact. He probably is not yet a face of Barcelona, this still belongs to Messi and will last long, but he is one of the leaders and most likely will continue his improvement as a footballer with an unlimited potential.

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Lionel Messi leaving Barcelona?

During a recent interview for the Argentinian newspaper Ole, Lionel Messi has hinted that he could not finish his professional football career at Barcelona, many things can change in football.

Lionel Messi has spent all his professional football career with the Catalan giants and during this time at the Camp Nou, he helped the club win six La Liga crowns and three Champions League trophies.

Even after he revealed that he wants to see the end of his career at Barcelona, also conceded that this is not guaranteed due to the volatile nature of football.

He talked of the present and how hi wants to make a great year and win titles with Barcelona, and nothing else is in his mind, after that, we will see.

“Things can change a lot in football”, he said during the interview with the newspaper, “While I have always said I would like to stay at Barcelona, sometimes things don’t work out the way you would”.

He also was asked if his future depends on him or in someone else and his answer was that if it was up to him he will stay at the Nou Camp forever, but not everything happens the way you expect, more when talking about football and its volatile nature where it’s complicated to see the future, more during the moments that Barcelona is experiencing right now.

He also commented on the current season and the way things are shaping for Barcelona, he said that this is a huge club and after loosing two matches there is always criticism from everywhere.

He is confident with the new coach and the ideas he brought to the team, but things take time to settle. The team has enough quality players to win everything this year and Messi is relaxed about it.

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Time to solve issues

The international break gives Luis Enrique an opportunity to solve the problems that surfaced in recent weeks, after a promising Barcelona season start.

Nothing is lost, with just over one-quarter of the season complete, Barcelona is just two points behind La Liga leaders Real Madrid and is already qualified for the next round of UEFA Champions League.

On  a normal team, just three defeats in 15 games would be a very good start for most coaches, but for Barcelona this is not the case, and after the game lost in the Santiago Bernabeu two weeks ago, Enrique has been under pressure.

With one week before the next changeling match against Sevilla at Nou Camp, the coach has time to deal with some long-term issues for the next fixtures to come.

One of the most pressing matter is Gerard Pique, who has been out of the pitch in the last three starting lineups and has been considering to move abroad during the January transfer window. A move that won’t hurt the club financially with a contract signed until 2019 after recovering the player from Manchester United in 2011.

The problem arises when we look at the defense line situation and the ongoing ban for Barcelona until January 2016; loosing a top-class defender like Gerard Pique will not help the team. 

Luis Enrique still has an opportunity to show the player that stills trusts the center-back in the next important games facing Sevilla, Valencia and Espanyol. Enrique needs some stability in defense more than anywhere else.

Luis Enrique has issues all over the field, with his decision to rotate the team so much, for example, in the last match against Almeria, Lionel Messi was paired in attack with Munir and Pedro Rodriguez, but after a terrible first-half, Suarez and Neymar where called from the bench and were able to turn things around.

Why have both players benched in the first place? With upcoming international break there is no need to rest the players, more when Neymar and Messi have begun to forge a relationship and Suarez in need of pitch time to get him up to speed.

There is no simple answer, and everyone has his own best starting XI; but only Luis Enrique can determine that and will be in his mind in the next 10 days.

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It’s the right time for youngsters

Barcelona was trying to forget his worst week, where the team lost his match against his historical rival Real Madrid and was unable to score a single goal against Celta. These to consecutive defeats raise some questions about Luis Enrique club direction and style.

 The match against Ajax had two clear halves, and the first one showed everything that is wrong in current Barça. But at the end the result was 2-0 for Barcelona with Messi breaking another record, so everyone was happy at the end.

During all this season, some things showed in Barcelona that need to be fixed. The first one is the inability of the midfield to link with the forwards, with a lack of creativity that is required to allow Messi to play his best games, and forcing him to drop deep to get the ball for himself.

We thought of Rakitic as a possible substitution for the important role of Xavi, but he has been unable to do so and it seems that Barcelona still needs Xavi now more than ever. But with Xavi getting older, and Rakitic not at the same level, playing safer and not trying to penetrate and open the opponent’s defense there is no easy future in the midfield. Also, the injuries of Iniesta will not help this team weakness.

Probably now is a good time to introduce the youngsters, Denis Suarez, Sergi Samper and Alen Halilovic to help in this position and prepare for the future of that midfield. They are a group of talented young players, but they need time to get used to the Barcelona First team and the couch has to give them minutes so they can understand the roles of Xavi and Iniesta.

It’s time, also, for us to say goodbye to Xavi and Iniesta, it was a great era, but is now ending and to accept that Barcelona needs to introduce new kids thinking in the future. It’s not easy, but Luis Enrique is the one that needs to start this movement as soon as possible, and the fans to accept the changes.

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Barcelona - Almería next La Liga match

After two consecutive losses in Spanish La Liga, the team was under a lot of pressure, but after the victory against Ajax last Wednesday in Champions League Group F match, the feelings have changed in fans, players and couch and the word that can describe it is “releif”.

After the last mediocre two matches lost, the team was in a log of pressure, but they responded with a solid 0-2 win over Ajax in Amsterdam, a hard fought match. 

But it’s not only the victory, but how it was earned, especially during the second half of the match, were The Catalans performed really well and showed good perspectives for the final months of 2014.

But this feelings need to continue in the next match, a trip to Andalucia to play against Almería, an always difficult match, even with an Almería that have only nine points after 10 la Liga matches. It’s difficult to play away from home, but Barcelona can win, even more after the last Champions League match in Holland where they were put again on track.

This will be the last match before, again, another international break, and due to this break, the coach Luis Enrique will not be rotating the squad as much as he has done in the rest of the La Liga season.

The coach is still searching for the right lineup and also needs to give more minutes to Luis Suarez with the top players in the team and to find the right connection with Messi and Neymar in the front line. 

We will, most likely, see the best 11 in this match, not very different from the one that faced Ajax.

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Ajax 0 - Barcelona 2

Lionel Messi was the star of the last Barcelona UEFA Champions League fixture against Ajax, both for the victory and to match the goal record set by Real Madrid Raul with a total of 71 goals in the competition.

This last victory, help ensure a place for Barcelona in the knockout stages and finished the hopes for Ajax to continue in the European League. The victory of Paris Saint-Germain over APOEL Nicosia set the top two spot in Group F.

All eyes are now fixed to when will Messi break the record after surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo in the process.

The match started with an early goal from Neymar after just three minutes, but this early lead was disallowed for offside. 

During the first half, Ajax was lively and about to take the lead with a shot fired by Lucas Andersen after a poor interception from Dani Alves. 

Ajax winger posed serious problems to Barcelona defense in the first minutes of the fixture and Davy Klaasen had his opportunity for Ajax but was stopped by Marc-Andre ter Stegen just after 26th minute.

Jordi Alba was fortunate when he seemed to block El Ghazi with his arm. However, just minutes after, Barcelona took the lead when Cillesen having blocked a free-kick from Messi, went to the left edge of the area to take a ball but was beaten by Marc Bartra who passed Messi, the Argentinian scored the first goal with his head past Ricardo van Rhijn on the line.

The Catalans improved after the half time interval and seemed sharper, with Luis Suarez having his opportunity to increase the advantage after a clever pass from Messi, but he was denied his first Barça goal against his former club where he made 159 appearances during the last four seasons.

Ajax had his opportunity to draw the match thanks to Arkadiusz Milik, but Ter Stegen was able to stop it with his right hand, after just one hour of game. But the hopes of victory for Ajax were dented after the second yellow card for Velman after bringing down Messi.

This advantage was capitalized by Barcelona when Messi scored his second goal after a Pedro’s cross from the right finishing a perfect answer after the two consecutive La Liga defeats.

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Barcelona, what’s happening?

During this year, we have seen two different faces for Barcelona: the first one, when breezing through la Liga and Champions League with a perfect clean sheet. But when they faced teams with some quality, they were unable to play, especially in their match against Real Madrid.

It’s clear that loosing against Real Madrid and PSG is not a cause for alarm, but it’s the way this defeats came that should concern, in contrast with the rest of the matches. Despite some brilliance in the front line, the team seemed vulnerable nearly all time during the two matches.

At Bernabeu, with a starting midfield formed with Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta, the same trio of the rest of the matches, they were slow, unimaginative and overrun by Real Madrid. From a tactical point of view there is no difference between this team and the team that beat Real Madrid 4 years ago with a 5-0 score at Camp Nou, but this is most likely the real problem.

The players are the same in some extent, but they are 4 years older and the midfield formed by Xavi and Iniesta are showing a lack of ability to impose their will in the big matches.

In the front, the trio formed by Neymar, Suarez and Messi is an upgrade to the Messi, Villa and Pedro front line but with no tactical evolution, the other teams will found ways to stop them.

This was the case with Real Madrid and PSG, they denied them space to move and make their game while launching lighting transitions that left Barcelona defense and midfield exposed.

Another problem in Barça game was in the set pieces, with a lack of height, especially in defense has been the issue, one problem that they were unable to address and put the team in a vulnerable position.

They are still one of the best teams in the world, but they need to change their game, start been unpredictable and shake things up tactically, to improve their results in the biggest matches.

The last loss against Celta broke their domination against weaker sides, but it’s unlikely to signal a downward spiral, they had a more than decent chance to win La Liga title.

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Javier Mascherano, Barcelona’s 2013-2014 player of the year

This award is named after Aldo Rovira, a former club member who died in 2009 in a car accident and is decided each year for a jury filled with former football figures in Catalunya and Spain.

During the Ceremony, the current Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu alongside with Aldo Rovira’s father Josep Lluis Roviera had some words about the decision to award Javier Mascherano for all the efforts of the player during last season La Liga.

During the debate of the jury, there was quite some discussion at first, but when the name Mascherano came to the table, there was a unanimous response of all the jury members. 

This was a deserved prize and it’s an honor for Barcelona team to have a player like Mascherano, said president Josep Maria Bartomeu.

Rovira added that the price to Mascherano was the right thing to do and it showed when he was named as a candidate for the Balon d’Or. He has a lot of virtues, and his commitment to the team is always a 100 percent, and this was from the beginning when he used his own money to come to this team.

Last words came from Mascherano himself and this was an honor and that he will tray to keep up during the rest of his years in Barcelona.

He was thankful for all the people that voted him and will try to do the things as well as they have until now with the same dedication and effort while being faithful to the club and his philosophy.

This is the first time that Mascherano wins this award, after three won by Leo Messi and Eric Abidal named winner for the 2011-12, a season after his battle with cancer.

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Messi not worried by record

Lionel Messi has stated that his personal records are not important and his focus is in the achievements of this current team and more important in the next saturday El Clasico against Real Madrid.

This La Liga season has started with seven goals for Messi, with a current 250 total in his professional life, just one behind all-time record of Telmo Zarra, former Athletic Bilbao member.

With just two more scores on saturday will make history and set a new Spanish record, and better yet, in the home of the Barcelona’s biggest enemy; but Messi also claimed that victory is more important than the record and personal prestige.

With a victory during Saturday match, Barcelona will have a seven point advantage over Real Madrid for the title race, but Luis Enrique said during this week that it’s just another match and the season wont be lost or won this Saturday; there are a lot more matches ahead.

Last Tuesday victory against Ajax in Champions League and the perfect connection between Messi and Neymar, confirmed with an early goal from Neymar after a Messi’s pass.

But both players will be joined for the first time during this season with a new star, Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez, who will debut at the Bernabeu after the four month ban.

Also Johan Cruiff, former legend both as player and as coach in Nou Camp club’s history, backed the Uruguayan striker and the lack of fitness and familiarity with the team won’t be a problem. 

Whether will be starting the game in the starting line-up or on the bench is still a question with a lot of discussions, but Cruiff has no doubt that he will be on the starting line-up. 

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El Clasico - Attackers

Attack is and essential part for the two teams with the most la Liga titles and this season the attacker line is one of the most impressive. With Messi and Ronaldo scoring more than 50 goals per season we can be sure that we will see goals this Saturday.

FC Barcelona

Messi is not a sole star in Barcelona, the success of the Argentinian is thanks to all the other players that are able to feed him with passes. 

Other important names in the team are Iniesta, Alves and Xavi but we cannot forget the other players in the team and all of them essential for the match.

This year with the new coach Luis Enrique, we have seen Messi fall back to a position a bit behind his usual one; and Messi is scoring as much as he is assisting. 

Nonetheless he is currently the second scorer in the team, just one goal behind Neymar. The first season in Barcelona for the Brazilian wasn’t a good one due to the injuries and this year has been constantly substituted by Luis Enrique, but even so, he is the top scorer in the team with ten goals in ten matches.

The last one in the line is in the air, some are hoping to see the debut of Suarez for the first time in a official game, but others want to see youngster Munir in that position.

Real Madrid

As well as in Barcelona, Cristiano Ronaldo is not the only name in attack for Real Madrid, but a big part of it. The Portuguese has the rest of the team to help him in this task.

But most likely Cristiano will be the man that will decide the fate of the game, a good night will bring the three points and a most likely nightmare for Barcelona defense.

Excluding Ronaldo, coach Ancelotti has other good players to choose from, the trio Benzema, Bale and Cristiano, but the Welsh will not be in this game with a muscle injury.

The job to assist Ronaldo falls in the hands of Benzema, who has scored six goals against Barcelona and his job is critical. The place of Bale will most likely be filled with James Rodríguez, that will also help in the defense and midfield.

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Barça ready for El Clasico

Luis Enrique and his team is ready for the next weekend match against Real Madrid and open a seven point gap after the last victory against Eibar with a final score of 3-0.

With no goals during the first half, Barça broke the match when Xavi Hernandez scored the first for his team early in the second half, followed by two more goals from Neymar and Messi for a final 3-0 and maintaining the four point advantage over Real Madrid.

Lucho, said post match that he is looking forward to the next La Liga weekend and he hopes to win the match, but he also pointed out that next week result will not decide the title.

Messi goal after a one-two with Neymer set him to a final count of 250 goals in his La Liga career, just one behind record holding Telmo Zarra, former Athletic Bilbao striker. While it is possible for the Argentinean to break the record against Real Madrid next week, nothing can add extra motivation for a blaugrana fan or even player other than Bernabeu visit.

Eibar had two clear opportunities to score before the end of the first half, with a Barcelona unable to find his way. Luis Enrique said that Eibar is a reflection of the players and coach, they are brave, hardworking and daring.

Barça’s defense survived and this is another game without conceding a goal, but Barcelona’s coach is happy for this feat, but he is more interested in the victory.

One player that also shined during the match was Dani Alves, with 20 full crosses during the match, including one that allowed Neymar to score the second goal and being vital according to Luis Enrique.

Where will Messi be in 10 years

Nobody predicted the rise to superstar of Lionel Messi from that skinny teenage boy to the greatest player of all times. 

Of course, there where people who predicted this move for Messi, like Charly Rexach when he was presidential advisor and who signed the Argentinian with a contract on a serviette, or Frank Rijkaard who gave him is first opportunity with the senior team back in October 16th 2004.

In the latest book about Guardiola, Pep Confidential by Marti Perarnau, former Barcelona coach explains how he told Messi to turn into a false nine. 

He was in his office before El Clasico in May 2009 and watching a video of Real Madrid searching for clues to beat the defense; he saw a gap between the two centre-backs and then he realized that he needed someone to receive the ball and drive into; this man was Lionel Messi.

He immediate called Lionel Messi number and told him to come over to his office to show him something important, one hour later, a young Lionel Messi entered coach office and from that point, this was the “Messi Zone”.

Barcelona won that game with an incredible 6-2 and Messi was born, he broke all the records and winning four Ballon d’Ors.

Now at 27, he is halfway of his career and entered the best moments, so probably the best move will be for Luis Enrique to bring him away from the front line deploying him as a traditional 10 instead of the false 9.

Having signed Luis Suarez and Neymar, Messi could find more space deeper and producing plenty of assists for his team and probably winning some more Ballon d’Ors in the way. A move that we already saw on the last matches.

From here is difficult to predict, at 30 the physical attributes start to decline and probably he will end up relaying on his technical ability and probably dropping even deeper, even as a central midfield

Andres Iniesta wins Golden Foot 2014

Andres Iniesta has won the Golden Foot 20014, the award was presented to him yesterday evening in a gala held in Monaco.

The Barcelona midfielder started his professional career in Barcelona under Pep Guardiola, after spending some time in La Masia where he captained the Under-15 team to win the Nike Premier Cup in 1999.

During all this years he played for Barcelona and also for Spain national team where he won the World Cup in 2010 after scoring the winning goal on minute 116th against Netherlands.

Iniesta traveled to Monaco alongside Andoni Zubizarreta, Barcelona sporting director, his agent Ramon Sostres and his wife Anna Ortiz. He returned to Barcelona later that same day to prepare the match against Eibar with his team mates.

He was nominated with other nine active footballers aged 28 or more and he became the first Barcelona active player to collect the trophy, a trophy that has been awarded each year since 2003. The other players from around the world also nominated where: Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Andre Pirio, Manual Neuer, Thiago Silva, Brazillian women’s footballer Marta Vieira Da Silva and former Barcelona players Touré Yaya and Thierry Henry.

All the players were selected from a group of journalist and the decision was based on the achievements and the player’s personality. The Trophy can only be won once in a lifetime and involves leaving a footprint in the Monaco seafront, also known as “Champions parade”.

Iniesta that will be back for training today with the rest of the team, has started 6 games so far this season and also has been wearing the captain’s armband a lot more during this season, with his team mate and former Barcelona captain Xavi having played a lot less.

He will return to Barcelona training after been away with Spain’s national team under coach Vicente del Bosque and also other Barcelona players like Gerard Piqué, Jordi Alba, Marc Bartra, Sergio Busquets and Pedro Rodriguez.

Defense an ongoing problem at Barcelona

The last Champions League and with two goals scored from a standing position, highlighted an old problem for Barcelona, the back line.

Despide going down with a fight, Barcelona ended having what they deserved at this big night at Parc des Princes.

Defense has been always a big problem for Barcelona and the arrival of Luis Enrique does not seem to have changed anything, not been able to score from corners of free-kicks but allowing a lot from them in the other side.

Even after not scoring any goal during this season, they looked vulnerable from dead balls and PSG scored twice from these situations, with a free-kick conceded by Dani Alves which allowed David Luiz, marked by Mascherano, to control de ball and send it to the right corner of the net. 

The second came from a corner, with Ivan Rakitic having to mark several PSG men and with an error from ted Stegen, left an easy task for marco Verratti to just head to ball to the empty net.

Mascherano and Mathieu are in good form, but with Mascherano build making them more vulnerable to this type of situations against much more robust players that he faces. 

And if Barcelona cannot block this situations, at least the should try to conceive as few as possible near their area.

The absence of Gerard Pique after scoring a goal against APOEL in the last Champions League game was noted, and his physical presence was much needed during all the match.

Barcelona can learn a lot from the last La Liga champion, 

Atletico Madrid, which are known for their tactics in this kind of situations when attacking, with Messi and Rakitic been very good delivering from a dead-ball, Mathieu and his mates need to watch what the Atletico back line is doing well.

Marco Reus in Barcelona 2016 squad?

Currently the most wanted footballer is Marco Reus, with all the big names in Europe football wants to sign him after the end of his contract with Borussia Dormund next summer. Lots of rumors have suggested that the German star has already somewhere to go.

Reports coming from England and Germany said last Tuesday that Marco and Barcelona have already reached a deal during a meeting last August and probably the midfielder is already playing on loan in his current team Borussia.

Due to the ban to Barcelona and the satisfaction of current coach Luis Enrique with his current squad, he will not be able to play with his new team until the end of 2016, where Barcelona will be able to start signing new players again.

It will be a tricky contract, with the current contract with Borussia finishing on July, Barcelona will be required to loan the midfielder during the 2015 season and finally joining the squad at the end of that season. 

This is needed for Barcelona to not being accused of negotiations while banned, also, with negotiations starting from last August where the team was still able to make moves at the market.

But all of this are just rumors and not confirmed, so anything can happen. 

Probably the most likely outcome is for Reus to follow the same path of Mario Götze and Robert Lewendowski, joining Bayern Munich after leaving Dortmund.

But if the reports are correct, this will be the biggest signing for Barcelona of future 2016 season.

Barcelona first big match, first match lost

Barcelona lost their first match of the current season, with a score of 3-2 against Paris Saint-Germain during the last match of the UEFA Campions League Group F game.

The first goal came from PSG’s David Luiz at minute 10th, being the first goal conceded from Barcelona during this season with a total of 639 minutes. But the answer was fast and impressive, with an excellent goal from Lionel Messi just 90 seconds later.

PSG put themselves ahead thanks to Marco Verratti after a Ter Stegen error.

The third goal for the parisians came at 55th minute during the second half thanks to an impressive play finished by Blaise Matuidi. And again the response was a fast goal from the catalans after Neymar was able to control a pass from Alves and also a mistake from the defense.

With Barcelona playing much better during the rest of the second half, they were unable to score another goal and lost the 3 points.

With no excuses, PSG was the clear winner of this match with Barcelona looking poor, and a lot of their players out of place and lost. 

The only ones that had an impressive match were Neymar and Messi as usual, with Mascherano having some moments.

Again the Barcelona defense was broken time after time by the PSG front, and they remembered last seasons faulty defense. 

Ter Stegen in his first important match after the APOEL had some mistakes, especially with the first goal, but not all was his fault.

One big mistake for Luis Enrique is putting Pedro in the pitch and leaving Munir El Haddadi in the bench; yes, Pedro has more experience in Champions League games but he has been poor during all current season and even Iniesta and Neymar had doubts passing the ball to Pedro. Luis Suare’s ban cannot end fast enough for his team.

Another surprise was the absence of Gerard Pique in the game, probably Luis Enrique thought that having Zlatan Ibrahimovic would be enough, but with PSG’s David Luiz, Marquinhos  and Cavani, the tall defense player would have been a good addition to the back line.