Fabregas has an itch - can Arsenal scratch it and retain him?

Many players seem to reach a point when they want to move on - and when the good ones want to move there are only so many viable destinations. High profile recent examples of players who wanted moves include Cristiano Ronaldo who got his dream move to Real Madrid last summer and Thierry Henry who g...

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Get on side and sport your colours for Shelter this World Cup

In celebration of this years FIFA World Cup, housing and homelessness charity Shelter are teaming up with Nationwide Building Society, Official England Team sponsor, to launch their fantastic footy fundraiser, Strip4Shelter. Shelter is asking people across the country to replace their regular work ...

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Messi- Where Will He Rank In The All-Time Greats?

The debate has been rumbling along for a year or more - in fact, some observers have been tipping it since he was a teenager- but now its on in earnest. How great is Lionel Messi and will he be ranked as an all-time legend? Theres a hierarchy in these things which almost every football fan accepts....

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Champions' League turns back into the European Cup

Given the dominance of English teams in recent years, and in their turn the Spanish teams and Italian teams before them, the Champions' League has been a curious competition for a few years. It has become less about which is the strongest team, it has been more about which team from the strongest l...

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Arsenal v Barcelona- The History

Memories of the 2006 Champions League Final are still fresh in the memory. Arsenal lost keeper Jens Lehmann early on and battled away with ten men for most of the contest before Barcelona and some cunning from Henrik Larsson sealed their fate. The two clubs have hardly ever met in Europe. In pre-Ch...

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Transfer Speculation: Yaya Toure (Barcelona) to Chelsea/Man United

It's a kind of unwritten rule that European footballers who want a pay hike talk to their agents who drop little hints that their man want to come to Arsenal/Chelsea/Man United/Liverpool (delete as applicable). But it is rarer for agents to give the hurry-up simply to get their boy a game! Today T...

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Will the summer swapsies of Eto'o for Ibrahimovic bite Barcelona tonight?

There is always a group of death. Pick a series of at least 4 mini-leagues using the fairest system you can dream up (that simultaneously helps all the richest clubs from the richest footballing leagues) and one will always look nasty. But enough of Group A, where Bayern Munich look likely to be e...

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Squarefootball's fantasy football challenge

Do you see yourself as the next Sir Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger? Do you think you can pick a better team than Harry Redknapp or Rafa Benitez? Brilliant, then why don’t you join us in competing for the coveted Squarefootball fantasy league crown? For the past few years we at Squarefootball towers...

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Sir Bobby Robson - A tribute to a true gentleman

The world of football lost one of its most famous sons yesterday. Sir Bobby Robson, the former Ipswich Town, Newcastle United, Barcelona and England manager, passed away aged 76 following a long battle with lung cancer. Fans, players, pundits and managers have been paying their respect to Robson wit...

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Real Madrid: A case for defence?

Barcelona won La Liga in May this year by scoring 105 goals, conceding 35, and losing only five games. Real Madrid, meanwhile, won only two games less than Barcelona, but lost twice as many. Third-placed Sevilla notched a very similar win-draw-lose ratio to that of runners-up Real Madrid, but Manolo...

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A Combined Manchester United/Barcelona Eleven

Pick a team from the squads at Manchester United and Barcelona. Sounds like a reasonable exercise until you begin and then realise that you could pick two teams from these clubs and still have star-sudded line ups. Here is an eleven for what its worth but I dont expect anyone to agree with it (whic...

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Prediction Panel: Chelsea vs Barcelona - First goal wins?

After Manchester United dominated both legs of the first semi-final we can savour the second game in what is proving to be an altogether tighter tie. Chelsea probably has a marginal advantage, but a Barcelona team that scored six away to Real Madrid four days ago will not expect another goal-less n...

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Barcelona vs Chelsea: Messi or Drogba

Much of the pre-match comment has centred on the mercurial Lionel Messi, who seems something of a shoo-in to replace Cristiano as World and European Player of the Year this season - but Barcelona has a defence that can be exploited by the power of Didier Drogba and I would not rule out a goal for th...

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Barcelona v Chelsea - The History

Barcelona- Chelsea is a tie that has become a familiar one in these days when the same teams return to the Champions League each season. When the clubs meet in this years semi-final it will be the fourth time in five seasons that they have met-usuallyin the knockout rounds. It will be the sixth me...

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Bayern Munich vs Barcelona: Bayern must show pride - even in defeat

Barcelona all but sealed progression to the semi-final by winning the first leg 4-0; but pride insists that Bayern Munich produce something at home especially with some domestic difficulties as well. Not sure that Jurgen Klinsmann has much future at FC Hollywood, if he is giving the tie - if not th...

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Barcelona vs Bayern Munich: Glamour tie of the round promises goals

In many ways the glamour tie of the round with Bayern Munich who thumped Sporting 5-0 and 7-1 in two completely one-sided games in the last round against tournament favourites Barcelona. The winner could well come from this tie (obviously fans of four English clubs will have a different opinion). ...

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Exclusive: Spurs agree deal for Thierry Henry

Tottenham Hotspur are sensationally expected to announce later today the signing of former Arsenal legend Thierry Henry in a dealwhich is expected to send shockwaves around the world and highlightTottenhams ambition for the coming campaign. Henry, who is currently playing for the Catalan giants Ba...

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Barcelona v Bayern Munich-The History

Expecting a long article? Well not really because these two giants of the European game have only met twice before and this is the first time in a knockout round of the premier competition. Its an odd situation. In the past few years its been down to luck of the draw. Before the Champions League al...

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Champions League Draw Reaction - Man United vs Liverpool final?

The Champions' League draw for the remaining games in the competition was again dominated by thoughts of how to avoid the English steamroller - even for the English clubs. And unfortunately the draw has thrown up yet another bout of deja vu. The tie of the round for me is Barcelona vs Bayern Munic...

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Please can the English clubs avoid each other in The Champions' League?

One of the traditional delights of European football is to see players on English grounds that would ordinarily only be viewed at the major international tournaments like the World Cup. These days when so many of the games best players are now concentrated in England this is less of a problem. How...

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Liverpool look best Champions' League value

After the last sixteen round whittled down the competition to four English teams and four others who now offers the best value? For me Liverpool is set up so well for European games that a run to the final (where anything could happen) seems very possible. Of the eight contenders; Villarreal and P...

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Champions League Preview: Lyon v Barcelona

Lyon drew the short straw in the last 16 when they were paired with Pep Guardiolas free scoring Barcelona team. The French side are perennial qualifiers from the group stage but are yet to reach the semi-finals. Seven French titles in a row have provided Lyon with plenty of experience in the Champi...

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Lampard, Ronaldo, Arshavin and Adebayor Moves Could All Hit The Buffers

Maybe it was the intervention of Euro 2008- or possibly the unprecedented all-English Champions League Final- but summer 2008 began with a cascade of speculation about multi-million pound stellar moves. While we all enjoyed the Euro spectacle, the close of that competition has ended the 'phoney war...

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Transfer Speculation- Dimitar Berbatov to Barcelona

For some months now it hasn't been a question of 'if 'Dimitar Berbatov leaves Spurs but where to? The latest speculation has the striker heading for Barcelona. Barca have the money to buy Berbatov, like all the other clubs linked to him but they do have a trump card- Hristo Stoichkov. The glowering...

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Transfer Speculation: Samuel Eto'o to Tottenham Hotspur (£24m)

Fresh from helping Boris Johnson secure an unlikely mayoral victory, now the Evening Standard (19.05.2008) is now trying to strengthen the Spurs team. Though to be honest it will probably be easier to get Boris into number ten that it will to cajole Spurs to the Premier League title - and significan...

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Transfer speculation: Gerard Pique to Barcelona

Manchester United joined in the fun of picking off the potential stars from continental teams in the earlier part of this decade; and in 2004 the two big captures were Giuseppe Rossi and Gerard Pique. Rossi was acquired from Parma's reserve team and reluctantly sold on to Villarreal for £7m last sum...

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5542 Where Next For Ronaldinho?

by : Hugh Larkin Just before the 2006 World Cup any discussion about who the best player in the world was, would generally have been a short one. Barcelona’s Ronaldinho stood head and shoulders above the rest and won the World Player of the Year in 2004 and 2005 to prove it. Barca won the Champion...

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4627: Frank Rijkaard’s Jigsaw Puzzle

by : Hugh Larkin The capture of Thierry Henry has been a matter for great rejoicing among the fans of Barcelona FC but while they can dream about the galaxy of attacking talent at the club, it’s Frank Rijkaard who has to work out how to fit the pieces together. Barca were hardly short of goal powe...

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4542: 20 Handy Facts About Samuel Et

by : Hugh Larkin The current Barcelona striker is the man most talked about as the target for Rafa Benitez and his ‘war chest’ provided by Liverpool’s American owners. Other teams (Manchester United for one) have also been in the frame, so who is the man attracting all this attention? 1. Eto’o is ...

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4192: Champions League Preview; Bar

by : Stephen Orford Wednesday night (February 21) sees the tie that much of Europe has been waiting for as Barcelona host Liverpool in the Champions League second round, first leg match-up at the Nou Camp. Both sides go into this one with their fair share of off-field problems, but both remain amo...

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4184: Champions League Scouting Repo

by : Hugh Larkin A long winter break has passed since the group stages of the Champions League were settled- Matchday 6 was settled on 6th December. Before the last 16 ties begin this week, it’s worth taking a look at the form of the five clubs standing in the way of British teams – Barcelona, PSV ...

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4177: Turmoil in Barcelona- Good for

by : Hugh Larkin Barcelona football club has just entered one of its periodic rounds of infighting which is characteristic of a club where the demands on players and coaching staff are extreme to say the least. The reactions provoked from the Premiership’s elite clubs are likely to be varied. Live...

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3910: Barcelona With Work To Do

by : Hugh Larkin When Barcelona breezed in to their Champions League campaign with a 5-0 dismissal of hapless Levski Sofia, there was no indication that the holders would be scrapping to stay in the competition by late November but that is the situation for Frank Rijkaard’s squad. Their position s...

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3834: Barcelona vs Chelsea: Barcelon

by : Antony Melvin On a night when Barcelona were meant to show how good they are, they looked at times second best against an efficient - but not exceptional Chelsea performance. For much of the second half Barca were grateful to hang on, but that they didn't was a fair reflection of the match. ...

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3829: Champions League Preview; Bar

by : Stephen Orford What is becoming one of the fiercest European rivalries is renewed this Tuesday night (October 31) when Barcelona entertain Chelsea at the Nou Camp in Champions League Group A. The two sides clashed a fortnight ago, and this meeting will be the sixth of its kind in the last thr...

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3159: Ronaldinwho? Defence has prove

by : Tom O'Flaherty The Champions League final between Arsenal and Barcelona has been billed by some as a clash of the titans: Ronaldinho v Thierry Henry, currently the world’s most striking talents. The personalities of the two managers accentuate the anticipation of an exciting game. Frank Rijkaa...

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2875: Champions League; A Bridge To

by : Stephen Orford There’s sure to be plenty of excitement, incident and controversy when Chelsea visit Barcelona for the second leg of their Champions League second round tie this Tuesday (March 7). The Catalans hold a 2-1 lead from the first leg at Stamford Bridge a fortnight ago, and must be h...

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1715: Champions League: Barcelona vs

by : Henry Knight So who was it going to be for Barcelona? Xavi, Ronaldinho, Eto’o? For all the talent Barcelona had at their command it required the golden haired Swede Anders Frisks mercurial skills of judgment to turn this game. Before the hour mark it was a cat and mouse match up; a game where...

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1709: Champions League: Chelsea v Ba

by : Henry Knight Arguably the biggest tie of the 1st Knockout rounds in the Champions League is Chelsea Vs Barcelona. Both teams look on course to win their respective leagues, they both have very different styles and unlike the other huge games of the round there are big links between these two c...

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1697: Champions League: Barcelona’s

by : Chris Sherrard Barcelona warmed up for their game with Chelsea at the Nou Camp on Wednesday boosted by regaining a seven-point lead at the head of La Liga on Saturday night. With Real Madrid crashing 2-0 at home to Athletic Bilbao, Barcelona took full advantage to beat Real Mallorca by the sa...

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1429: La Liga: Are Barcelona the new

by : Stuart Reid It’s a good time to be a Barcelona fan. Nine points clear at the top of La Liga and a massive twelve ahead of Real Madrid, they are also the bookies’ favourites for the Champions League. And who would bet against them? Inspired by the simply sublime Ronaldinho, some of the football...

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1099: LA LIGA: Barcelona expects

by : Matt Margrett An immense 120,000-seater stadium, the Nou Camp is one of the most renowned and awe-inspiring sights in modern football. It stands in the Les Corts area of Barcelona as a triumph of engineering, a shrine of footballing excellence and a symbol of Catalan pride. However, in recen...

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