Barça players at the Olympics

Five members of the first team squad have played in the Olympic Games – Guardiola in 1992, Xavi and Puyol in Sidney in 2000 and the Argentineans Messi and Mascherano in the 2008 games in Beijing.

It’s every sportsman’s dream to play in an Olympic Games, where the best of every discipline come together to compete in a fantastic spectacle that is the focus of the whole world’s attention. Only five of Barça’s first team squad – including the boss -have ever had that wonderful experience.

Argentina Gold

It was a difficult summer in 2008, but it ended happily with Leo Messi finally returning from the Beijing Olympics with a gold medal after the Argentinean team, which included Javier Mascherano beat Nigeria in the final thanks to a Di Maria goal set up by Messi himself.

Xavi and Puyol

After missing out at the 2004 and 2008 games, Spain will again be present in at London 2012. The last time the Spanish team made it through to a Games was at Sidney in 2000, when they lost on penalties to Eto’o’s Cameroon. Xavi and Puyol were both in the young Spanish squad and both played in the final.

Guardiola

In the unforgettable summer of 1992, Pep Guardiola, alongside Chapi Ferrer, Luis Enrique, Abelardo, Kiko and Alfonso, helped Spain win their only gold medal in the competition, beating Poland in the final at the Camp Nou. Can the latest crop of Spanish youngsters repeat that feat next year in London?

Happy Birthday Leo!

This Friday, June 24th, is Leo Messi’s birthday and he’s reached 24 years old as the world’s top player after completing a wonderful year for the Club. Below we detail the records the young Argentinean has set this season. Happy Birthday Leo!

Most goals in a season: Messi has produced his best ever scoring stats this year, with 53 goals in 55 games for the team: 31 in the league, 12 in the Champions League, 7 in the Spanish Cup and 3 in the Spanish Super Cup. His previous best was 47 goals scored in the 2009/10 campaign.

Matches the most goals in a Champions League: Messi’s 12 goals matches Ruud Van Nistelroy’s dozen in the 2002/03 edition of the competition.

First time he’s scored in a UCL semi final: Leo Messi had surprisingly never managed a goal in a Champions League semi final. But he put that right with two strikes at the Bernabeu on April 27th –the second being one of the goals of the season.

First goal in England: Messi also broke his scoring duck in the land that invented the game – and what better occasion to do it than in the Champions League Final at Wembley!

Century of league goals: On November 20th 2010, Messi got a hat trick in the 0-8 demolition of Almeria to take his league scoring past the hundred mark.

150 goals for the Club: Four days later, he scored in the 0-3 win against Panathinaikos to pass the 150 goal mark in all competitions for the Club.

More games than ever: So far this season, Messi has played in 62 games for club and country and with the Copa America due to begin on July 1st, he looks set to break his record of 64 appearances in a single season.

Three more titles: With the Spanish Super Cup. League and Champions League titles won this season, Messi has now won a total of 15 trophies with the Club – 5 leagues, 4 Spanish Super Cups, 3 Champions Leagues, a Spanish Cup, a World Club Cup and a European Super Cup.

Juan Carlos Unzué, returns to Club as goalkeeping coach

FC Barcelona wish to communicate that they have reached an agreement with Juan Carlos Unzué to become goalkeeping coach for next season, with an option of a further year.

Carles Busquets, who has filled the post this season, will move to take on the same role with the B team.

Seven years as goalkeeping coach

Unzué, who played at Osasuna, Barça, Tenerife and Oviedo, re-joined the Club at the start of the 2003/04 season as goalkeeping coach with Frank Rijkaard and after five years working with the Dutch manager, he was kept on when Pep Guardiola took over as boss.

One year at Numancia

However, Unzue decided to then move into management himself and took the post at Numancia and in his first season he took them to tenth spot, clear of relegation and nearly making the play off positions. After last year’s single season in Soria, Unzué has now returned to the back room staff at the Club and will begin work when the squad return on July 18th.

Barça will also display UNICEF in the Champions League

UEFA will allow FC Barcelona to display the UNICEF logo on the back of the shirt during Champions League matches in the 2011/12 season.

The Board spokesman, Toni Freixa, announced at a news conference this Wednesday: "As a result of our active action with UEFA, and their willingness, it will be possible that in next season’s Champions League matches we can display the UNICEF logo on the back of our shirt, and we’re just waiting for the final design".

Toni Freixa wanted to thank, on behalf of Barça, "the willingness of UEFA", the result of which will allow the image of FC Barcelona in the Champions League to continue to be associated with UNICEF.

Two sponsors on the shirt

So, Barça will have 2 sponsors names on the shirt in all three competitions: Qatar Foundation on the front of the shirt and UNICEF on the back.

Bojan says goodbye to Barcelona

Barcelona player Bojan Krkic is on the move, and will play next season in Rome. The striker has signed a five year contract with the Italian club, for which Barça will collect some 10 million €.
Barcelona will have a option to buy back the player during the first two years.

The new contract is expected to be signed next week, once the European Sub 21 Championship is over where he is playing with the Spanish team.

 The departure gives Barça a space where they can put a new striker to join Messi, Villa and Pedro, and it gives Rome’s new trainer, Luis Enrique, who used to be a technician at Barça, a player that he was after.

Alexis Sanchez's transfer to Barcelona is almost complete - Udinese representative

Quique Pina has revealed that the deal to take Sanchez to the Catalans is almost done, with Jeffren thought to be heading to Udine as part of the agreement

Udinese's Spanish representative Quique Pina, who is also chairman of Granada, has stated that the transfer of Chile international Alexis Sanchez from Udinese to Barcelona is almost complete.

The 22-year-old attacker has long been linked with a move to the Champions League winners and, although Udinese owner Giampaolo Pozzo stated on Monday that a transfer was still some way off, Pina has confirmed that Sanchez is edging ever closer to being unveiled as a Barcelona player.

It had been suggested that Manchester City were set to make a last-ditch bid to persuade the player to move to Eastlands, but Pina was quoted as saying by Cadena Cope: "At the moment, Barcelona are on the verge of completing the final details of the move and we could say that it's basically a done deal. The deal is 80 per cent done and we're working on the remaining 20%.

"The transfer will be worth an amount in the region of €45 million, a figure close to the initial valuation of the player. This fee included some variables and one player."

Barca will reportedly pay an initial fee of €28m plus €5m in variables for Sanchez, while Spain under-21 winger Jeffren Suarez will leave Camp Nou for Udinese as part of the agreement.

Sanchez is currently preparing for the Copa America with Chile's national side, but head coach Claudio Borghi confirmed on Monday that he doesn't have any problems with Sanchez temporarily leaving the training camp to complete his move to the Catalan giants.

Puyol recovery on schedule

Carles Puyol is getting close to ending the first phase of his recovery following the operation on his left knee. The Club captain has been working on muscle exercises and will soon begin to work out on the training pitch.

Puyol’s recovery is on schedule and he is working hard to be fit and available for the start of the new season, combing a well deserved summer break with some intensive recovery sessions.

Puyol is coming to the end of the first three-week stage of his recovery, the objective of which is to work on the musculature of his left leg. If all goes as planned, he should be able to start gentle training out on the pitch by the end of June. The aim is for the captain to be fit for the start of the season following his operation on June 1st.

Suffering since January

Puyol was laid up for three months with knee tendon problems which were detected following the game against Racing at the Camp Nou on January 22nd and only made his return for the league game against Madrid on April 15th.

From then on until the end of the season, Guardiola used Puyol carefully – he played in both the Champions League semi finals, but only came on for the last 3 minutes at Wembley. He was operated on by Doctor Ramon Cugat on June 1st, when a piece of cartilage was removed from his left knee.