Toure Yaya and Ivory Coast have qualified for the quarter finals of the African Cup Of Nations beating Benin 4-1 in Sekandi while Nigeria and Mali drew 0-0. Toure had another good game, setting up the first goal for Didier Drogba and then scoring the second after good work from his brother Kolo. Toure will now definitely miss Barça’s game next week against Osasuna. However, Samuel Eto’o will be coming home early if Cameroon lose tomorrow’s crucial game with Zambia in Kumasi.

See Toure’s goal here

As expected, Andres Iniesta has signed a new contract which will see him stay at Barça until 2014. His current contract was until 2010 and had a buy-out clause of €60 million, this has now been increased to €150 million. No details were given as to his wage increase but undoubtedly there will be one. Keep reading →

Barça gave a vastly improved performance from the last time they visited El Madrigal and were perhaps unlucky not to achieve more than a 0-0 draw to take into next Thursday’s second leg at Camp Nou. Carles Puyol had to pull out hours before kick off due to a heavy cold which meant a game for Lilian Thuram in defence, and Frank Rijkaard preferred to reserve Leo Messi for the second half. Keep reading →

Jose Edmilson returns to an 18-man squad for tomorrow night’s Copa Del Rey quarter-final first leg against Villarreal in El Madrigal (kick off 10pm local time). Eric Abidal will miss the game after bruising his left foot in training, and Ronaldinho is still recovering from his knee problems, though he is looking close to returning. Keep reading →

You have probably already heard about the new organization set up to represent the interests of the clubs. The G14 is to be disbanded and replaced by the European Clubs Association (ECA) which will represent 103 clubs from 53 different football associations. Keep reading →

With the usual lack of regard for the fans, the LFP have now agreed to Barça’s request to switch next weekend’s league game to Sunday 27th January with the kick off time set for 7pm local time. The problem arose thanks to the RFEF decision to set the date for the Copa Del Rey match this week for Thursday. Barça naturally did not want to play two games in three days. The Athletic game will now not been shown free on Spanish TV but will instead be shown on a pay-per-view channel. I wonder how many girlfriends/wives get fed up with their partners’ constant changing of plans.

Toure Yaya will play his first game of the African Cup of Nations this afternoon when Ivory Coast take on Nigeria in Sekondi, kick off is at 6pm Spanish time. Tomorrow will see Samuel Eto’o perform as Cameroon play Egypt in Kumasi. Here are the fixtures for Cameroon and Ivory Coast: Keep reading →

In an attempt to find out what is happening with regards to this week’s kick off times I had a look this morning at the websites of the Liga de Futbol Profesional (LFP) and of the Real Federacion Española de Futbol (RFEF). The LFP has a special note on the subject saying that the Athletic-Barça game has been agreed with the TV companies as the Saturday night game to be shown live on Spanish TV. Barça, Athletic and Villarreal have all complained about playing their Copa Del Rey games on Thursday, but it is up to the RFEF to decide on the dates and kick off times for cup games. Keep reading →

A goal after half an hour from Thierry Henry was enough to see off an organized but unambitious Racing Santander. Leo Messi returned after five weeks out injured to play the last twenty-five minutes and lift a pretty ordinary performance from Barça. After Real Madrid’s win in their game against Atletico this was a vital win for Barça to stay in contention for this season’s league championship. Keep reading →

There is a return to the squad for Leo Messi and Oleguer Presas, while new signing Jose Manuel Pinto will start his first match on the bench as Victor Valdés’s understudy. Frank Rijkaard has stated that Messi is not ready to play 90 minutes so the Argentinian will most likely start as a substitute. Keep reading →