Barcelona have done the impossible as they upturned a 4-0 deficit to progress to the last eight of the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday.
Paris Saint Germain were the favourites to go through after their strong start in the first leg of the encounter, however MSN led the La Liga giants to achieve the impossible!
Barcelona manager Luis Enrique has admitted that the club would need to reinforce the defence in order to overcome the absence of Aleix Vidal for almost 5 months.
The left back has been a disappointment since joining from Sevilla in 2015. However, he has started performing well of late. A major setback for the player came in the form of a horror tackle, which has left him facing time on the sidelines for the next five months. Signed from Sevilla for around € 17 million, the player made only 14 appearances for the Catalan club in his first season.
Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola has recently stated that he is reaching the final stages of his coaching career and rumors started to emerge suggesting that Guardiola was interested or thinking about making a return to Barcelona but the Spanish manager has denied those rumors.
Fabio Capello was the first high-profile that ignited the rumors of Guardiola making a return to Barcelona but not as a coach and as a president instead but the 46 year old manager of Manchester City replied by saying:
Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta says that it is important to win in an attractive manner rather than just winning a football match.
After having come through the youth ranks at Barcelona, it is not surprising that Iniesta is the latest advocate for beautiful football. Barcelona have been criticised in recent weeks for overplaying in some of the matches. The club has been going through a poor run of form with just two wins in the last five matches of all competitions. As a result, they have slipped six points behind table leaders Real Madrid even before the season heads into the winter break.
Luis Enrique says that there is a good possibility of Barcelona being in the market for some couple of players during the January transfer window.
The club has been decimated by injuries in recent times, while the transfer window freeze upon the club has also affected their chances of improving the squad as they would have liked. Despite being the dominant in the league and Europe, Barcelona are aware that the team has issues with regard to squad strength. The club may struggle to have the same kind of results if they encounter a couple of injuries.
Barcelona star striker, Luis Suarez has said that a new contract with Barcelona is in the works and might be completed in no distant time.
Suarez is looking forward to a renewal of his contract with the Camp Nou dwellers and hopes to keep on playing with the El Classico giants for as long as possible. Suarez’s former deal with Barcelona was to expire by the middle of 2019, but with reports on ground, the striker might continue to stay on with the Luis Enrique's side for two or three more seasons.
It is reported that Lionel Messi will be signing a new deal with Spanish side Barcelona in the weeks to come.
This statement has been made by Barcelona’s sporting director, but he has refused to give a deadline. He said that there is no rush at the moment and that the priority at the moment is to make sure that the team is ready for the new season.
Luis Enrique is of the opinion that the current squad at Barcelona is the strongest in the club’s history.
The Spanish club has had some incredible moments since the turn of the millennium. They have won a whole host of titles to reduce the deficit between them and archrivals Real Madrid. This has been made possible only by the help of some incredible players like Ronaldinho and Lionel Messi. Recent squads, however, have been given the title as being the best in the club’s history, but Enrique feels that they could have been surpassed with the squad that he has assembled.
