Valencia, Barça and the TV companies have reached an agreement to move the Copa del Rey semi-final second leg match back one day so that it does not coincide with the last day of Las Fallas which is the city fiestas of Valencia. The game will now take place on Thursday 20th March with the kick off time set for 8.45pm local time. Logic would suggest that Barça’s following game which is at home to Valladolid will now definitely be played on Sunday 23rd March. So nice for football fans to be given so much time to plan our lives. Don’t forget the first leg game is being played next Wednesday kick off at 10pm.

Despite drinking more than I should last night, I woke up early this morning feeling fresh and energetic. Last night’s scintillating exhibition of football was still buzzing around in my head. Ninety minutes of fast flowing football in front of a packed house of what surely must be the best most passionate fans in Europe, is just about the best advert for the game that you could find. Keep reading →

Football Club Barcelona all but booked their place in the last eight of the Champions League with a 2-3 win over Celtic. Very rarely will Celtic Park have witnessed such a superb display of football as that offered by Barça tonight. Two goals from Leo Messi and a Thierry Henry special gave Barça the victory which looked in doubt as Celtic took a 2-1 lead in at half time. Keep reading →

Johan Cruyff is set to make a surprise move back to Ajax where he will take a role as a type of technical assessor, responsible for organizing the internal structure of the club. Cruyff, who is 60, will return to the club where he played from 1964-1973 and 1981-1983, he was also coach for Ajax from 1986-1988.  Keep reading →

The return of Samuel Eto’o has meant Frank Rijkaard has left Bojan Krkic out of the 18-man squad for tomorrow night’s Champions League match at Celtic Park. Bojan will have just one more chance in the return game in two weeks’ time to become the youngest goalscorer in Champions League history. The good news is that for the first time in the entire season Barça are in a position to put out a full strength team. Keep reading →

I am delighted to announce that FCBNews has been voted “Best La Liga Blog 2007″ in the readers choice category. With 59% of the vote it was a fairly comfortable win over second placed “La Liga Loca” which polled 19%. La Liga Loca managed to hit back winning the editor’s choice award with FCBNews in second place. I’d like to thank every one of you who voted for me. To see all the results click here.

With only two days to go now before the eagerly awaited Champions League game at Celtic Park, I thought I would weigh up the chances of an upset. Many Barça fans will see that Celtic are trailing Rangers by four points in the Scottish Premier League and conclude that as Rangers were relatively easy then Celtic must be easier. However, recent history suggests that it could be much tougher. Keep reading →

A nail-biting 1-2 victory for Barça in La Romareda has reduced the gap with Real Madrid to only five points, after Madrid lost earlier to Betis. A late penalty from Ronaldinho gave Barça an undeserved but vital victory in a game dominated by the referee’s controversial decisions. Thierry Henry’s opening goal looked to be after the Frenchman had used his arm to control the ball. Zaragoza were awarded a doubtful penalty that Diego Milito missed, and then Barça’s penalty near the end was also very questionable.   Keep reading →