Uncategorized

One was an unexpected hero on Wednesday night to send his team through

Barcelona will not be in the Champions League knock-out rounds. That doesn’t mean they don’t have representatives there though. Sergino Dest, at Milan, and Clement Lenglet, at Spurs, are on loan from Barca and through to the last 16.

Others linke to Barca who are through are Club Brugge’s Ferran Jutgla and Chelsea’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who were with the Catalans last season.

Lenglet played a crucial role in sending Spurs through.

Mbemba put Marseille ahead but the French defender bagged in the 54th minute to level. Hojberg scored a 95th minute winner to send Spurs through top and make Toni Juanmarti a rich man

In the last four games, he played all four from the start, earning his place in Antonio Conte’s plans and finding a good level of performance.

The Arsenal coach has been linked with the Barcelona job

rsenal coach has been linked with the Barcelona job

Barcelona know that Xavi Hernandez is the coach they want to take charge of this reconstruction process, and the board aren’t thinking about sacking him. They have bet on him for the years to come, and he’s just got the club’s best start to a league season in the last five years. They are paying attention, however, to what’s going on elsewhere in the world of football.

SPORT reported that they are interested in Mikel Arteta as a potential future Barca coach, and the Basque boss was asked about the Catalans.

“I think that Barca are on a very good path,” he said. “They have a phenomenal coach, a coach who has been an absolute legend at the club and he has lifted them up. You have to be very respectful with that

Arteta also said he was “proud and happy” as Arsenal manager.

It was decided that a number of seniors will be present in the European League, starting from the playoffs this season, after some of them were bid farewell to the Champions League.
The Champions League draw was not kind to Barcelona, as the Catalan club with its contract in recent years, Bayern Munich, along with the Italian league runners-up, Inter Milan, and the Czech Viktoria Plzen, fell into a group called the “group of death” by the press at the time.
Barcelona’s participation in the European League last year was miserable, as it was eliminated from the competition from the quarter-finals against Eintracht Frankfurt, after a 1-1 draw in Germany and a 2-3 defeat at Camp Nou in a match that witnessed the scandal of the Catalan fans selling their tickets to German fans.

Now, Xavi has announced that Barcelona’s new goal after bidding farewell to the Champions League is to be champions of the European League, but in order to achieve this end, the two blocs will have a long and difficult path, with the presence of a constellation of exceptional clubs in the tournament, both from the participants from the group stage. , Or relegated from the Champions League, such as Barca.
There is a possibility that Barcelona could fall in the way of Manchester United, which includes Portuguese legend Cristiano Ronaldo, if the latter fails to top his group.
What is the European League Supplement System?
The clubs that ranked second in the European League groups will meet with the clubs relegated from the European Champions League, with the first leg match being on the stadium of the clubs coming from “With the Ears”.
The system prevents two teams from the same country from meeting in the annex.
Who are the potential opponents of Barcelona in the European League?
The second seat in any of the eight groups of the European League has not been decided, and from the first group, Arsenal can fall to the runners-up or PSV Eindhoven, and this will be determined after the final round matches on Thursday

There are many big clubs that may be present in second place, such as Roma of Italy led by Jose Mourinho, Rennes of France or Fenerbahce of Turkey, Union Berlin of Germany or Sporting Braga of Portugal.
[Manchester United]
The biggest name that threatens Barcelona remains Manchester United, the English club, if it fails to beat Real Sociedad away in the last round, will be a potential opponent for the Blaugrana.

There is also Italy’s Lazio, Sturmgraz or Dutch Feyenoord, with a three-way competition for the second seat in the last group between Serbian Red Star, France’s Monaco, Turkey’s Trabzon, Germany’s Freiburg or the qualifiers from Nantes or Karabagh.

footballers have their presence assured at the Qatar event
Xavi could also lose five more members of the squad for more than a month.

Next November 14 is the deadline to know the final list of players who will play the World Cup in Qatar. Each team can summon 26 players and, for the moment, only the names that appear in the pre-lists, made up of 55 professionals, are being known. In the case of Spain, for example, names have been published that, supposedly, are in this first list made by Luis Enrique, who will make the call official on November 11

Barça will be one of the teams that contributes the most to La Roja, since up to six players have their place guaranteed, while another four opt, with more or less options, for it. The same goes for other selections.
The blaugrana that YES will be in Qatar

A total of six selections will have representation culé in Doha, included Spain. Luis Enrique, except for a major surprise, will continue to count, as he has done to date in the previous stops until reaching the World Cup, with Pedri, Busquets, Èric Garcia, Gavi, Ferran Torres and Jordi Alba, who has returned to the regular dynamic of the selection and that seems to have once again convinced the Asturian coach that his presence is necessary. In addition, Jules Kounde and Dembélé will represent Barça in Deschamps’ France, while the presence in the Netherlands is also twice, with the guaranteed call of Frenkie de Jong and Memphis Depay, who is still limping from an injury that is having too much time away from the team, but does not see his participation in Qatar in danger.

On the other hand, Christensen will be with Denmark, while Lewandowski will play with Poland and Raphinha will be the only culé present in the Brazilian team

Five doubts for Qatar

Up to four Barça players may end up joining the six already mentioned in the Spanish team. This yes, exist very doubtful cases, like for example the one of Gerard Hammered. The center-back, according to some information, is on Luis Enrique’s pre-list, although it seems unlikely that, finally, he will end up being among the 26 chosen. Ansu Fati has more options, despite not having been in the last calls for the national team. The greater presence in the last Barça games can open the doors for him if what the coach is seeing convinces him. On the other hand, Marcos Alonso and Balde are also fighting to reach the World Cup

A separate case is that of Ronald Araujo, seriously injured during the match, precisely, of the Uruguayan team against Iran in Vienna. The center-back suffered a muscle tear that keeps him away from the usual dynamics of the first team, so his participation is not at all clear. Nobody wants to rule him out, especially from the Charrúa team, but everything will depend on his evolution. Time runs against him, although he will not remain

In the most obvious cases such as that of the goalkeepers Iñaki Peña and Arnau Tenas, for whom this World Cup comes too soon, there is also the case of Pablo Torre, who still has to take a few steps in the inferiors of Spain before taking the leap to the absolute. The case of the two right-handed sides of the first team, Héctor Bellerín and Sergi Roberto, is different. The first is playing slowly, while the second is currently recovering from an injury, so neither of them arrives with the necessary regularity for Luis Enrique to consider joining. For its part, Kessié’s Ivory Coast are not classified and, even if they were, the injury suffered in Plzen would have left them without a World Cup.

Spanish media revealed that Barcelona midfielder Frankie de Jong’s position with his club has been complicated, as the administration seeks to persuade him to reduce his salary or dispense with him if he continues to refuse the first option.

According to a report by the sports newspaper “Sport”, the Dutch player refused to leave the club next summer, despite his name being linked to offers from Manchester United and Chelsea, the English.

With Barcelona open to selling the player, who earns about 18 million euros annually, and his contract extends to 2026, de Jong is determined to stay in Catalonia, according to the newspaper

“Sport” said that Barcelona is still working to persuade the 25-year-old to reduce his salary during the remainder of his contract, like other stars in the team, but to no avail so far.

Barcelona joined De Jong in the summer of 2019 from Ajax Amsterdam for 75 million euros, before he plunged into a spiral of debt that led to his inability to retain his legend Lionel Messi at a later time

Team coach Xavi Hernandez and club president Juan Laporta had confirmed more than once their desire to keep the player, but the administration hopes that De Jong will agree to reduce his salary by nearly 50 percent.

The administration is currently seeking to set a salary ceiling for the team’s players that no one can exceed, which is 10 million euros per season.

Spanish coach Xavi Hernandez, coach of Barcelona, ​​​​changed his plan in the winter transfer market next January, due to what he sees as an urgent need to remedy a clear gap in his battalion at the Camp Nou.

The Spanish newspaper AS reported that Xavi would prefer to sign a new right-back player during Mercato in January, rather than entering the winter market to sign a new pivotal player.
Girona full back in Barcelona’s orbit

Xavi believes that the priority in the winter market for Barcelona should be to sign a right-back, because there is clearly a weakness in Barca in this field this season

In turn, the Spanish newspaper Sport confirmed that Barcelona has its eye on the right-back of its neighbor, Girona, Arnao Martinez, who was active in the La Masia academy before.

The player caught the attention of Barca after his good return in the last Real Madrid match, knowing that he is linked with the club with a contract that reaches the finish line in June 2025.

Sport explained that the player who signed a new contract with Girona last January, Barcelona can sign him by paying the penalty clause in his contract, which amounts to 20 million euros.

The duo have not featured in recent weeks due to injury problems
Xavi is still without the two injured players who are closest to returning. Neither Andreas Christensen nor Memphis Depay have finally entered the squad for the match against Viktoria Plzen, which Barça will play on Tuesday in the Czech Republic.

The Barça coach himself had already hinted, in the run-up to the match against Valencia, that he hoped to be able to count on both of them for the match against Almería, which will be played this Saturday. Their recoveries are taking a little longer than expected.
Christensen is recovering from a sprained left ankle suffered in the match against Inter Milan at the San Siro. Memphis, meanwhile, was one of the players who was injured with his country during the international break. The Dutchman hurt his left thigh.

Barça have more players sidelined: Araujo and Sergi Roberto. The former underwent surgery at the end of September for an avulsion of the adductor longus tendon of the right thigh, while the latter is recovering from a dislocation of his left shoulder. In the case of the center-back, he is pushing to be at the World Cup. Sergi Roberto will not participate in any Barça match before the World Cup

Eric Garcia and Jules Kounde’s injuries are not serious and both should be available for Almeria.

The Catalan club want to strengthen in the middle with Busquets likely to leave next summer

A new and surprising candidate has emerged to replace Sergio Busquets at Barcelona. In England, there are reports that Barça are interested in signing Newcastle midfielder Bruno Guimaraes, a Brazilian international who came to the Premier from Lyon for around €40 million last January. ‘The Sun’ affirms that the Blaugrana have already asked to open negotiations.

Guimaraes is one of the most complete midfielders in the Premier League at the moment and is one of the keys behind Newcastle’s rise to fourth in the table. He is a pivot who is also creative and gets forward at times. He is a born organiser with international experience.

His representative is the well-known Brazilian Giovani Bertolucci, who has already carried out various operations with Barça and who this past summer forged the transfer of Philippe Coutinho and the departure of Neto. Bertolucci is a regular in the Blaugrana offices and could have offered the operation

Guimaraes was on Madrid’s agenda to occupy Casemiro’s position, too, but Los Blancos decided to move for Tchouameni as the sole pivot, paying around €80m. Newcastle have no intention of selling Guimaraes, though, who will soon leave for the World Cup in Qatar, but it will also be necessary to consider what the player, who has exploded as a total midfielder, wants.

l Barcelona ha terminado el encuentro con dos jugadores en la enfermería. Gavi se retiró a la media hora, pero solo es un golpe en le adductor, mientras que la luxación en el hombro izquierdo del catalán sí que es más seria y podría perderse algunas jornadas.

El andaluz recibió un duro golpe en la zona del adductor derecho tras un encontronazo fortuito con Dani García. En un primer momento, el jugador, tras ser atendido sobre el césped, decidió continuar, pero rápidamente se tiró al césped y pidió el cambio. Kessie ha entrado por él en el 33. El azulgrana se fue directamente al vestuario para ser examinado por los médicos y, según explicó el propio Xavi tras el encuentro, todo se ha quedado en un simple golpe.

El andaluz, además, encaró el túnel de vestuarios acompañados de Jordi Alba. El lateral, que ha perdido la vitola de titular, ejerce de capitán. ” Cuando no juegas, tienes que estar con los que juegan, apoyarles. Así ha sido por mi parte. Dar lo máximo a mis compañeros”, así explicaba el catalán hace unos días su nuevo rol en el equipo.
Sergi Roberto, con problemas en el hombro

El catalán preocupa. Sergi Roberto tuvo que abandonar el terreno de juego en la recta final del encuentro y dejar al equipo con uno menos por culpa de una luxación en el hombro tras tirarse al césped. El de Reus salió en camilla y con muchas muestras de dolor. El técnico confirmó que podría perderse algunas jornadas.

El Barcelona tiene ahora mismo, y a la espera de las exploraciones a Gavi y Sergi Roberto, a tres jugadores en la enfermería. Christensen, Memphis y Araujo siguen lesionados.

There will be no drastic decisions but demands at the club will be raised

Two miracles and none happened: Inter Milan beat Viktoria Plzen, while Barça succumbed to Bayern Munich. At the Catalan club, they had assumed elimination before the match against the Bavarians, although there was still minimal hope of the remarkable. As for the board of directors, the image of the team and the evident inferiority with respect to Bayern generated discomfort from minute one until the final whistle.

Discounting that it would probably be the last Champions League game at Camp Nou until 2024 at least, an image of maximum competitiveness was expected, remembering the first game played in Munich. A project based on the illusion and talent of young players is being built, but it is still very raw when facing stronger rivals.

It was a reality check to understand that the project is still under construction and not as advanced as believed. There are clear shortcomings. The discomfort is clear because the board understands that they did their job in the summer, complying with a large number of the demands from the sports area. Lots of improvements, big budget efforts with four levers/palances, and even personal endorsements to register players.
Setback

In the end, there is a feeling within the club of frustration at falling out of the Champions League group stage for the second year in a row and being relegated to the Europa League. However, no drastic measures are proposed, but a serious warning to raise the level of demand on the sporting side.

It is required that there be no more inexplicable setbacks in the league, which becomes the priority. In this sense, they want to add the nine points available before the 2022 Qatar World Cup to keep things calm. Once the World Cup is over, it is expected that there will be a more solid team with the capacity to compete for the four titles: LaLiga, Copa del Rey, Spanish Super Cup and Europa League
In any case, against Bayern it was revealed that there is still the need for more changes to the squad. There will be more lows and highs thinking that next season Barça must compete one on one against any rival from the first day of the Champions League.