Diego Maradona came to Camp Nou on Saturday to see Leo Messi play but sadly for him Messi was rested for the game against Mallorca. However, Maradona stayed in Spain and was fortunate enough to be present in the Vicente Calderon to see a display from Messi that he himself would have been proud of. Messi scored all three goals tonight in Barça's victory and he fully deserved the ovation from the opposing fans when he was substituted with eight minutes remaining. In the bar where I watched the game everyone also applauded and chanted Messi's name as he left the field.

Pep Guardiola made ten changes to the team that beat Mallorca with only Toure Yaya continuing in the team. Atletico began the game at a frenetic pace looking to catch Barça's defence off guard and twice in the first two...

Pep Guardiola will make several changes to the team that beat Mallorca for tomorrow night's Copa del Rey first leg game at Atletico Madrid. Carles Puyol, Rafa Marquez and Alex Hleb are all nursing injuries while Victor Valdés, Xavi Hernandez, Eidur Gudjohnsen and Samuel Eto'o have all been rested and will not travel. Coming into the 16 man squad are Albert Jorquera, Martin Caceres, Gerard Pique, Pedro Rodriguez and Leo Messi.

Atletico's coach Javier Aguirre has announced the team that will start against Barça and the surprise is that dangerman Kun Agüero will start on the bench. There...

Barça suffered more than expected to win a bad tempered game with Mallorca. Barça went a goal down early on before Thierry Henry equalized on the half hour. Then Andres Iniesta came on as a second half substitute after two months out injured to score the vital second goal with fifteen minutes remaining and then Toure Yaya scored one of the goals of the season in injury time to wrap things up. 

Pep Guardiola gave a place to Victor Sanchez at centre half which meant Carles Puyol moved to right back in place of Dani Alves who started on the bench. Alex Hleb came in for Leo Messi who was rested and watched the game from the directors box with the Argentinian team manager Diego Maradona who had flown in to watch Messi play.

The game was very slow...

La Liga is back this evening with the first game of the new year at home to Mallorca (kick off 8pm). Barça will be hoping to continue the excellent form shown in the last few months of 2008 with a victory which will put us 13 points clear at the top of the table. With the Copa del Rey games to be played midweek this month we can expect to see Pep Guardiola reverting to using more rotations again and seeing as players such as Messi and Alves have only just got back from their christmas break they may be rested for tonight's game.

The good news for Barça is the return of Andres Iniesta who has been out since getting injured against Basle on November 4th,...

Forgive me for the lack of posts this week, I'm still on holiday but I've found a gap in my busy schedule to bring you this year's end of the year awards. You may not agree with my choices so please send your comments and tell everyone what you would have decided, or maybe you have some new categories you would like to see introduced.

Best Player of 2008: Leo Messi - Shouldn't be too much discussion on this one, it's true that players such as Xavi, Toure, Iniesta, Eto'o and Puyol deserve credit for their performances over the past 12 months but Messi is really in a class of his own. His goalscoring and assists totals have been increasing and no matter how well the team are playing generally we still notice the difference when Messi is not in the starting line up. Cristiano Ronaldo...

Just to let you all know I'm off to London for a few days to spend christmas with the family so the blog may be a bit slow these days. I'll try to keep in touch with the news and post if there is any big news, and I'll be back before the first game of 2009 against Mallorca on January 3. Please feel free to post comments here on anything you like. I hope you all have a great christmas and that all your dreams come true in 2009.

There may be a touch of bias here of course but readers of this blog clearly believe that Leo Messi deserved to win this year's Ballon d'Or. With 256 votes (62%) the little Argentinian blew away his rivals. Xavi Hernandez was second with 39 votes pipping Cristiano Ronaldo into third place (37 votes) and Samuel Eto'o was fourth with 34 votes. Apart from the players listed on the poll there were also three votes each for Steven Gerrard and Ronaldinho, and there was also a vote each for "my girlfriend for her ball skills" and for "Nic for his hard work on this blog". Cheers!

I've stuck up another poll now to see who you think is most likely to stop Barça in this season's Champions...

As expected Sergio Busquets has arrived to an agreement which will see him remain a Barça player until June 2013. Busquets has been one of the biggest revelations this season with some commanding performances in midfield. The release clause in his contract has been set at €80 million.

December has been another great month for Barça with wins over Valencia, Madrid and Villarreal, only the defeat at home to Shakhtar spoilt it but then again that game didn't really count for anything. Having now checked the points totted up by each player you can imagine my surprise to find that the December player of the month is none other than Thierry Henry. Regular readers will know I have not been Henry's biggest fan since his arrival at Camp Nou but his improvement this season has been notable, he started this month with a hat-trick against Valencia and yesterday he grabbed the vital winner at Villarreal and was for many people the man of the match. In an interview last week...

Barça finished the year with a heroic 1-2 victory over Villareal which leaves takes us into the christmas break with a massive ten point lead at the top of the table. Goals from Seydou Keita and Thierry Henry turned the game in Barça's favour after Cani had given Villarreal the lead just after half time. Gerard Piqué was unfairly sent off for two yellow cards but Barça's ten men held on for the last twenty minues to clinch the three points. 

Pep Guardiola surprised by leaving Toure Yaya on the bench but Sergio Busquets did well in his place as Barça generally dominated in midfield. Keita came in for Eidur Gudjohnsen, and Gerard Piqué replaced the injured Rafa Marquez.

Barça had more control in the first...