Pasqual Maragall visits training session

The ex-President of Catalonia, Pasqual Maragall, came along to watch the players in training at Sant Joan Despí this morning, as the 4 first team players worked out with the B team.

Pasqual Maragall, ,who was President of Catalonia between 2003 and 2006 was present at pitch number three of the Ciutat Esportiva this morning, as Guardiola put the remnant s of his first team squad through their paces with the B team players. Sr Maragall spoke after the session with Guardiola, Iniesta Pinto and Maxwell. 

Training with the B team 
As has happened all week, the four members of the squad available –Pinto, Maxwell, Fontàs and Iniesta- trained with the B team, under the instructions of Pep Guardiola and Eusebio Sacristá, who shared the training duties between them. 

Final session of the week on Friday 
The squad will be back at the Ciutat Esportiva on Friday morning at 10.00 for the final session of a week that has seen 14 Barça players away with their national teams. 

36 goals from open play in 11 games

Barça have scored 37 goals in their first 11 games of this season, with just one coming from a dead ball situation – the rest have all been a result of teamwork and occurred in open play.

The five goals against Villarreal, Atlètico Madrid and BATE Borissov, or the historic 8-0 win over Osasuna have helped to make Barça the leading scorers around at the moment and what’s more, the goals are nearly all coming from open play. 

Brilliant interplay 
The 36 goals in open play have come with clever one-twos, incisive passing and brilliant interplay between Barça’s stars. The team’s leading scorer is Leo Messi, who as well as scoring 14 times has also laid on 9 assists for his teammates. 

Villa’s free kick 
There has only been one goal from a dead ball situation – David Villa’s stunning free kick against Milan in the first game of this season’s Champions League. That one of course, wasn’t quite enough, as the Italians fought back to grab a point in the last minute of the game. 

Three own goals 
Three of the 37 goals were down to defensive errors: Osasuna’s Roversio put through his own net, as did Atletico Madrid’s Miranda and BATE’s Volodko. 

With the Bobby Robson Foundation

Barça and Guardiola get involved in the auction for the benefit of the Bobby Robson Foundation

Barça and first team manager, Josep Guardiola, are joining the charity auction promoted by the organization Breakthrough Breast Cancer and the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, to raise funds for the fight against cancer. 
These two organizations have launched the Sir Bobby's Breakthrough Auction, an online charity auction to help in the fight against breast cancer, which involves different clubs, institutions, and individuals. Barça have joined the cause promoted by the Foundation of the ex Barça manager (1996/97) Bobby Robson, who died on 31 July 2009, victim of cancer. 

Barça - active participation 
In this auction, Barça will provide the possibility of being close to their stars. In fact, the winner will attend a first team training session, acquire a shirt signed by the players, participate in a meeting with some of the players and coach Josep Guardiola, and receive two tickets to attend a game at the Camp Nou. 

Guardiola: "It is a pleasure and an honour to contribute" 

The first team manager, Josep Guardiola, who spent the 1996/97 season under the guidance of Bobby Robson, is very pleased to participate in this charitable initiative. "For Barça and for me it is a pleasure and an honour to contribute to the Foundation of Sir Bobby Robson, and be a part of this task to fight against cancer. This is a small way to help because every day cancer is something that is better treated over time it will be just another illness" said Guardiola. 

Joining the auction that begins this Thursday, 6th of October is a new recognition of the figure of Robson. "I was lucky to be one of his players, and learn from him and his values, how to handle players, how to behave in victory and in defeat, and his fair-play. It was a great lesson for us and for me. As an institution it’s an honour to collaborate in this fight" Guardiola explained. 
You can contribute as a donor or participate as a bidder through the following website:www.sirbobbysbreakthroughauction.com 

Constant struggle against the disease 
The Sir Bobby Robson Breaktrough Breast Cancer is dedicated to raising awareness on prevention, treatment, and erradication of breast cancer, fighting on three fronts: research, information, and education.

Barça Fans QR barcode prize shirt is awarded

Alba Villar is the winner of the competition organised by Barça Fans using QR bar codes and has won a shirt signed by all the members of the first team.

Alba Villa is the winner. Photo: FCB

The first team shirt signed by all the players went to Alba Villar, who won the Barça Fans competition which was organised this summer using QR codes at the Club’s facilities. 

Villar is a Barça Fan and a supporter of the first team- especially of Andrés Iniesta and heard about the competition via the Club website. She was one of the thousands of people who signed up at www.fcbfans.com via her mobile, thanks to QR technology. QR – Quick Response – is a matrix barcode technology which allows users with a smartphone equipped with a camera and QR barcode reader to connect automatically to the Barça Fans website. 

More than half a million Barca Fans 
Barça Fans is the official FC Barcelona supporters community and as of August 1st had more than 600.000 members from all over the world, who enjoy special offers from the Club. Together with the 20 million fans on Facebook and 3 million on the three Twitter accounts - @fcbarcelona_cat, @fcbarcelona_es and @fcbarcelona, this has helped make the Barça feeling go global. Barça Fans has grown enormously, not just in Spain, but also in countries such as USA, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, India, Poland or Morocco.

fcbarcelona: One match ban for Tito Vilanova

fcbarcelona: One match ban for Tito Vilanova: The Competition Judge of the Spanish Football Federation has suspended Tito Vilanova for one match, and imposed a 600 Euro fine, for incide...

One match ban for Tito Vilanova

The Competition Judge of the Spanish Football Federation has suspended Tito Vilanova for one match, and imposed a 600 Euro fine, for incidents at the end of the return leg of the Spanish Super Cup.

In resolution that was made public today, it was reported that the Barça assistant manager will have to complete a one match ban for his response to the action of José Mourinho, who put his finger in Vilanova’s eye, in the Barça-Madrid game last August 17th (3-2). The ban must be completed in the next Spanish Super Cup game in which Tito Vilanova would participate.

Two games for Mourinho

Moreover, the Competition Judge has sanctioned José Mourinho with a 2 game suspension, and 600 Euro fine. The resolution indicates "the absence of injury or lack of conclusive evidence on the intention to do harm by Mr. Mourinho". 

Lionel Messi, a goal scoring machine

Few adjectives remain to explain what Messi, the best footballer on the planet, does on the pitch. Messi has scored 14 goals in 11 games. Brutal statistics.

14 goals in 11 official matches. Top goalscorer in the current League season, a player who has scored more goals in the history of the Spanish Super Cup, second top scorer in Barça history, tied with the legendary Kubala, and in the Champions League he’s already amongst the twelve players with most goals scored this year, and it’s worth remembering that Messi was top scorer in the Champions League for the last three seasons. 

Looking to catch Pedro 
Messi still has some personal challenges remaining. For example, do the same as another Barça player, Pedro Rodriguez, did during the 2009/10 season. Pedro scored goals in all competitions (Spanish Super Cup, European Super Cup, League, Spanish Cup, Champions League, and World Club Championship). Up to now Messi has covered four of the six possibilities. He scored 2 goals in the Spanish Super Cup against Real Madrid, 1 in each leg, 1 in the European Super Cup against Porto, 2 in the Champions League, both in Minsk against BATE, and in the League the superstar has scored 8 goals in 6 games. 

He just needs to score in the Spanish Cup and the World Club Championship, which he may well do before Christmas. 

Two hat-tricks and two double goal hauls 
Messi has already taken 2 balls home with him, signed by his teammates. Against both Athletico Madrid, and Osasuna, both at matches at the Camp Nou, Messi scored three goals. He now has 11 hat-tricks since he became a first team player. Messi has scored twice in 2 games, once in the league against Villarreal, and again in the Champions League against BATE. With these stats it’s logical that Messi heads the ranking of top scorers in the League. 

Pending challenges 
The only things remaining to him, to complete the scoring circle, are to score in the League away from the Camp Nou, and to score in the Camp Nou in the Champions League. In the first case, Messi will not be able to do this until the 25th or 26th of October, in Granada, whilst on the 18th of this month, he could score his first goal in the Champions League at home this season, with the game against Viktoria Pilsen. 
For the moment, the goal scoring machine will try to do his thing in an Argentinian shirt, against Chile and Venezuela. 

Second joint session with the reserves

Due to the absence of the international players, playing with their national teams, the first team players who stayed in Barcelona, trained on Wednesday, for the second time this week, with Barça B.

Barça trained from 11.00, at pitch number 2 of the Ciudad Deportiva Joan Gamper, in the second of four training sessions planned for this week. These are sessions notable for the absence of up to 14 players who are away with their respective national teams.

This is why the four players who remained in Barcelona, Iniesta, Maxwell, Pinto, Fontàs, trained for the second consecutive day with the team led by Eusebio Sacristan. The B Team Manager kept a keen eye on the session, as Josep Guardiola also did.

Mascherano has left

In the case of Javier Mascherano, who was working in the gym on Monday, and is suspended for the Argentina versus Chile match on October 7th, he has already gone to join up with his national team. Mascherano is available for Argentina’s second match, against Venezuela.

Two more training sessions

The first team players still in Barcelona have two more training sessions programmed, on Thursday and Friday at 11.00. Following that the players will enjoy three days off, and will not return to training again until Tuesday next week. 

Thiago, a Guardiola fixture

Apart from the signings from other clubs, the incorporation of Thiago Alcantara from the reserve team has been the third major 'signing' of the season. Thiago has played in all the League games, five as a starter.

He’s winning his place, game after game. Thiago Alcantara, thanks to his hard work, commitment, and tactical discipline, in addition to his extraordinary talent as a footballer, is surprising almost everyone. The son of the Brazilian World Cup winning international, Mazinho (1994), is already, at the start of the season, a Guardiola fixture. 

Full house in the League 
Thiago Alcantara has played in all the League games so far. Against Villarreal, Osasuna, Athletico Madrid, and Sporting he played all 90 minutes. In Anoeta he was also part of the starting eleven, but was substituted on 61 minutes, while in Valencia, in the only game he didn’t start, he came on for the last 30 minutes. In total, Thiago has played 449 minutes in the League. 

His first goal 
It just so happened that Thiago scored Barça’s first goal in the League this season, at the end of August. It was against Villarreal at the Camp Nou, and Thiago made it 1-0 with a left foot shot from outside the area to beat goalkeeper Diego Lopez. 

One game in the Champions League 
In the Champions League, Thiago has played one whole match: the big win against BATE in Minsk (0-5). However, he didn’t play against AC Milan at the Camp Nou in the first game of the group stage. In the matches corresponding to the two Super Cups, Thiago played in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup, in the Bernabeu, as a starter, in the first official game of the season. He was replaced by Xavi after 57 minutes. 

In many positions 
He doesn’t play in just one position. On the contrary, his versatility and adaptability make the young player a priceless wild-card. He can play anywhere in midfield, and can also play up front. In recent matches he’s played wide on the left, but has made his classic diagonal runs, to pressurise opposing defenders, or to help his teammates up front.

Agreement with Audi until 2014

Audi and FC Barcelona have agreed to the extension of their sponsorship agreement until 2014. The German company is official sponsor since the 2006-07 season.

Audi and FC Barcelona signed the agreement for sponsorship renewal that will unite the two entities until 2014. With this new agreement Audi becomes Premium Partner and the relationship between the two organizations reaches a new dimension, as the German brand is also now the FC Barcelona official car, anywhere in the world. With this agreement, the Club continues to consolidate its sponsorship program with one of the world’s leading brands. 
The new sponsorship deal allows Audi to expand their rights of association and the use of the Barça image for promotion at national and international level, marketing rights, use of the Barça installations, involving of players in advertising material, and various other hospitality services. In addition, Audi will continue to be linked with the Club on the pre-season tours that the first team undertake during the summer months. Besides the financial benefit that the Club will accrue, the German car brand will continue to provide cars for Barça first team players. 

Brand with international prestige 
Audi became an official FC Barcelona sponsor in the 2006/07 season. Since then, the German brand joined FC Barcelona in a strategic alliance that has continued to position the two companies at the forefront of their fields of activity: the automotive world and the football world. 

Audi is a premium car company based in the German city of Ingolstadt. The panoply of models, well known for its logo of four rings, responds faithfully to its slogan "at the forefront of technology". Tradition, technology, sportsmanship, and design, are the hallmarks of the brand via a refined and visionary character which creates the tendency to respond best to their clients’ needs. At present the Audi brand is seen in more than one hundred markets worldwide, and by 2015 there are plans to increase its product offerings up to 42 models. Audi produces vehicles in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm (Germany), Györ (Hungary), Changchun (China) and Brussels (Belgium). Since June 2011, Audi’s last launch, the Audi Q3 is also manufactured in Martorell. In 2010, Audi, which has 60,000 employees around the world, produced around 1,092,400 cars and in the first half of 2011 has already sold 652,970. 

Obama grateful for Barça gifts

The US consul for Spain has presented Sandro Rosell today with a letter in which Barack Obama shows his gratitude for the gifts that the Club’s delegation gave him during their visit to the White House last summer.

Gregory Crouch, general consul for the United States has visited the club’s installations to meet Sandro Rosell and discuss the visit made by the club’s representatives to the White House last summer, and also to hand over a letter from the president of the United States, Barack Obama, saying thank you for the gifts he received from the club, specifically two first team shirts. 

"It’s a club with a fantastic reputation" 
In reference to the increasing interest in Barça among the North American community, Crouch said "Barça have a fantastic reputation around the world and thanks to this club, soccer is increasing more widely known in the United States. Everybody knows who Messi is!". 

obama's letter:

Defence is the best form of attack

The current Barça team is famed for its attacking ability, but is also extremely solid at the back, having just kept three consecutive clean sheets.

A common comment at Barça is the one that goes that “defence is the best form of attack”, and in Guardiola’s book, that defending starts in the opponent’s half of the pitch. The idea behind that is that if his team does lose the ball, then there are immediately men available to win it back and build up another attack as quickly as possible. 

3 shutouts in a row 
Barça have just scored 11 goals in three games against Sporting, Bate and Atlético Madrid, while not conceding any. In official matches played so far this season, the Catalans have conceded two goals in five games, while in all the other six matches they have managed to keep clean sheets. 

Similar to previous seasons 
Barcelona have had the best defensive records in the last three seasons. The first year they let in just 35 goals, in the second 24 and last year, 21. The stats have got better and better since Guardiola arrived, and it would be no surprise for there to be further improvements this time round. At this stage of the last three campaigns, Barça had leaked 0.7 goals a game, but after conceding 4 goals in 6 games so far this term, that makes for an even better average of 0.66 goals. 

Defence not part of the system 
Guardiola has always believed that everybody is responsible for helping out in defence, and adjusts his system regardless. Barcelona have just played three games using a 3-4-3 system that has sometimes had to make do without Puyol or Piqué, but the solidity at the back has never wavered, with no goals scored against them and Valdés not having an enormous amount of work to do.

Andrés Iniesta declared fit

Iniesta has recovered from the hamstring injury sustained in the Champions League against Milan. The midfielder was given medical clearance after taking part in a training session involving mainly Barça B players.

After pulling a hamstring against AC Milan on September 13, Iniesta is back to full fitness. 

No internationals 

He was told the good news this morning at the Ciutat Esportiva after a session in which Pep Guardiola was bereft of all of the players that have been called up for international duty. So, the only first team players on pitch number 3 were Iniesta, Maxwell, Pinto and Fontàs, training in the company of the Barça B squad. 

Javier Mascherano, who is suspended for Argentina’s game against Chile on the 7th, worked out in the gym. He will be flying out to join the rest of his international team mates later this week to prepare for their second World Cup qualifier against Venezuela. 

Cesc Fàbregas, who got injured on Saturday, is still recovering at the Ciutat Esportiva. Meanwhile, Abidal, who hurt his hamstring at El Molinón at the weekend, is not as badly injured as had been feared, and was able to travel to join the rest of his French international team mates.