Víctor Valdés suffers a serious knee injury

Víctor Valdés suffered a knee injury after saving a free kick from Augusto. The Club's Medical Services confirm that he will need surgery.

The keeper fell on his right leg, forcing him to ask to be substituted. He was subbed off two minutes later for Pinto while he was being carted off the pitch of the Camp Nou. 

This isn’t Valdés’ first injury this season. The keeper picked up a calf injury during the international friendly in South Africa. He was out for eight matches, the last ones of 2013. His first match after that injury was against Elche at the Camp Nou. 

Pinto proved an able replacement with a couple of decisive interventions, first with a brilliant double save on 52 minutes and then making another great stop from Bermeo just a few minutes after he’d himself picked up a nasty knock after colliding with the post.

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FC Barcelona made a brilliant game at Bernabeu stadium

This was an unforgettable game. Di María and Benzema looked to have claimed glory, but in the end it was Leo Messi, with yet another hat trick who led Barça to win the game.

Barça improved their possession ball at the start of the second half, as Madrid looked to their own more direct game. At 3-2 up, Madrid’s confidence began to grow, but just past the hour mark, Ramos brought Neymar down as he was haring in on goal and the refree had no doubts about awarding the penalty and sending the Madrid defender off.

Messi put the spot kick away and Benzema was replaced by Varane, as Ancelloti aimed to secure at least a point. Martino responded by bringing on Pedro for Neymar.

Now Barça saw the chance to pounce and with Madrid sitting ever deeper, Alves nearly put the visitors ahead on 73 minutes with a pile driver that came back off the woodwork, but the winner finally came on 84 minutes when Iniesta was brought down in the area and Messi again silenced the Madrid crowd, hitting home the penalty to mark yet another hat trick and yet another epic victory at the Bernabeu.

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Rivaldo announces his retirement

Rivaldo used social networks to reveal that “with tears in my eyes I’d like to give thanks to God, my family and for all the support I have received in 24 years as a player. 

Today I’m announcing to my fans around the world that my history as a player has reached its end.”

Rivaldo is unquestionably one of the greatest players that has ever played for Barça. He stayed at FC Barcelona for five years between 1997 and 2002. Rivaldo arrived from Deportivo la Coruña for the 1997/98 season, as a direct replacement for his compatriot Ronaldo. Tall and strong, he did so brilliantly with the kind of skill rarely seen before, a tremendous left foot, exquisite dribbling ability, a powerful shot and an outstanding capacity to score from set pieces.

He wasn’t a natural centre forward, but tended instead to play out wide or just behind the attack, but still managed to score an astonishing amount of goals for FC Barcelona: 136 in 253 appearances. He was always a discrete person who preferred to so his talking on the pitch, and was rewarded with the Ballon d’Or in 1999.

Some of the fondest memories of his time at FCB include a famous hat-trick at the San Siro, a brace at the Bernabéu in 2000/01 and most of all, his spectacular last-minute overhead kick against Valencia to ensure qualification for the following season’s Champions League. At Barcelona, Rivaldo won two leagues, one cup and one European Supercup.

After winning the 2002 World Cup with Brazil, Rivaldo left Barça to spend two seasons at AC Milan. Since then, he also played for clubs in Brazil, Greece, Uzbekistan and Angola. He is currently president of Brazilian Serie C club Mogi Mirim, where his son Rivaldinho is among the playing squad.

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Pellegrini and Kompany are confident that Manchester City can win the match against Barça

Pellegrini is suspended for the match against FC Barcelona at the Camp Nou, but the Chilean is confident in his team’s chances of reaching the next round of the Champions League: “We have a lot of confidence that we can fight back. If we have a good day we can do it.” He added: “We will play to win the match, we can get our revenge.”

The Chilean manager highlighted Barça’s quality: “It’s difficult to win in the Camp Nou because Barça is a good team with good players. The pitch is also big and their fans will support them. If we score early maybe they will get nervous. If they score first, it will be easier for them,” said the former manager of Villarreal, Real Madrid and Malaga.

Vincent Kompany was present at the Ricard Maxenchs Press Room at the Camp Nou, and the captain echoed his manager: “We are very excited. We’re motivated and we’re confident that we can get a good result.” He added: “We have a lot of attacking players. If everything goes well, we can put in a good match.” The Belgian center back went on to say that his team-mates know exactly what to do: “We’re here to have a special night. We have to score three goals”. 

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Alexis Sánchez feels positive about the league

Alexis Sánchez spoke to the media after training on Monday about Saturday’s defeat in Valladolid and how it has affected the team’s hopes for the rest of the season.

He declared: “It was a strange game, but we have to put it behind us now and not feel sorry for ourselves. 

We have to be positive because we have an important game ahead”. Alexis claimed that Martino had made it clear to the players: “Forget the Valladolid game and focus on City”.

The striker, who came on against Valladolid for the last half hour, believes now is the time to stay united: “We are all part of Barça and we have the same aim. 

The league isn’t lost, just as when we were on the top people were wrong to say we had it won. We are in the fight for all the titles.

I am hungry to win and so are all my team mates. We want to win everything, the League, Champions League and the Cup. I don’t know anyone in the squad who doesn’t want that”.

Finally, Alexis Sánchez commented that, like Guardiola, Martino “is a coach who really motivates the players”. 

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Qatar Airways promotes FC Barcelona on the air

Qatar Airways and FC Barcelona are taking their partnership to the skies as the airline introduces FC Barcelona’s livery for the first time on a Boeing 777. 

The aircraft, which features the distinctive ‘Barça’ scarlet and blue, arrived from Bangkok this week to the Doha International Airport.

Building on the concept of ‘a team that unites the world’, which was first introduced in the popular TV spot created to support the partnership, the design incorporates the colourful Barça flag draped across the fuselage of a Boeing 777. The aircraft was sent to Dublin, Ireland, where it took a team one week to hand paint the custom-made design onto the aircraft.

Qatar Airways and FC Barcelona have been developing a successful partnership since it officially started in July 2013. “Our commitment to Barca goes beyond having our name on the team jerseys. 

We are truly fans of the team and genuinely believe that together we are a team that unites the world’,” said Qatar Airways CEO Akbar al-Baker. “We are very proud to showcase the FCB livery alongside the Qatar Airways Oryx on our aircraft. It is just one more way that we are able to demonstrate the strong partnership between our two organisations.”

In the nearly eight months since the partnership has been in effect, the airline has launched a hugely successful partnership campaign including the ‘Land of FCB TV’ commercial that has garnered more than 8mn views from fans all over the world.

The Boeing 777 featuring the livery will be flown to a number of destinations throughout the airline’s global network, including North America, Europe and Asia.

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A conspiracy against Barça is supposed to be made

FC Barcelona does not want the mess caused by the recent controversy surrounding Neymar to affect the squad. Gerardo Martino has tried to protect his player, although he the club feels persecuted. 

He fears that a campaign from the country's capital aims to end the dominance of a team that has won everything over the past few years.

The Catalan club does not believe in coincidences and thinks that plans exist to destabilise it. From inside the offices at the club, they believe that if the team had lost in England, the matter would have shelved for the future.

They are sure that Barça is being persecuted and in some small circles they even speak of conspiracy, special interest groups and a string of accusations that all originated in Madrid. 

They believe it is all intended to distort Barça's image and destablilise the club both on and off the pitch. They are so sure of this that they think that certain groups in the capital will do everything in their power outside of the game to stop them from winning the league.

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The Spanish Cup Final will be in April

The RFEF and the two clubs agreed in a meeting today that the final of the Copa del Rey between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid has been fixed for  Wednesday, April 16th at the Mestalla stadium in Valencia.

Barça has been allocated 40% of the seats in the stadium, which represents about 19,350 tickets. 

This is slightly lower than the number available for the final in 2011, which was also staged in Valencia, as a result of changes to the stadium which have reduced capacity. 

Ticket prices range from 45 to 240 Euros, with more than a half of the tickets between 20 % and 25 % cheaper than the prices for the previous Cup Finals.

Both FC Barcelona and Real Madrid will apply to the Professional Football League to have their games set for the week before the final switched to Saturday and for the following weekend’s games (set for 19 or 20 April) to be postponed due to the proximity of a possible Champions League semi final on 22 or 23 April. 

Barça has suggested Wednesday May 7 as a date to play their game scheduled for that weekend, against Athletic Bilbao. The Club will shortly be informing members about procedures for ticket applications.

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