Just Barcelona News

There is certainly no love lost between FC Barcelona and Jose Mourinho, and there never has been. After getting away with all sorts of terrible behaviour in his first two seasons, the people at Real Madrid and the Spanish media have also woken up to his antics and he is now set to leave under a cloud in the summer.

His reputation as the `special one`, which he started himself, has taken a serious knock during his time at the Bernabeu. At the same time, he has caused significant damage to the reputation of Real Madrid and Spanish football in general. So much so that Carlos Vilarrubi, the vice-president of Barcelona, felt the need to comment.   .....Read more here.......

There were stories in the Spanish press today suggesting that Tito Vilanova may be about to resign as the manager of FC Barcelona. There has been nothing said by the club of the man himself about this, but it is the interpretation of events and Tito’s manner at the Nou Camp last night that have caused the stories.

After Barcelona beat Valladolid on a rain drenched night in Catalunya, they were presented with their 22nd La Liga trophy, which Vilanova and Abidal were handed by the club captain Carles Puyol to raise aloft. Puyol gave a little speech saying that the health of those two was more important than the trophy and Vilanova then said the line that has caused a stir of conjecture.   .....Read more here.......

It has been a long, hard season for FC Barcelona, with injuries hitting the squad hard throughout. La Liga is wrapped up and, although there is a chance to equal the 100 points record set by Real Madrid last season, Tito Vilanova is not too concerned with the result against Valladolid tonight.

The Camp Nou will be a place of celebration and Vilanova has hinted that he will rest a few of the players who are tired and give games to some of the second string whose chances have been limited. Valdes is expected to return in goal and Mascherano has recovered from injury and could play, but there may be starting places for the likes of Bartra, Montoya, Thiago and others.   .....Read more here.......

Barcelona are looking to make quite a few changes this summer in a bid to freshen up the team in the aftermath of the Chempions League exit at the hands of Bayern Munich. The most obvious area that needs strengthening is the defence, but there will probably be players coming and going all over the pitch.

With David Villa probably on his way out of the Nou Camp this summer, Barca definitely need some more attacking threat, because there is too much reliance on Lionel Messi. Nobody really gave a second thought to the Manchester United and England striker Wayne Rooney, but in the wake of Alex Ferguson announcing his retirement, it has emerged that Rooney wants to move on as well.   .....Read more here.......

It would not have been the best way to win the Spanish title if Barcelona had got it by default last night. That did not happen, though, because Real Madrid beat Malaga 6-2 at the Bernabeu. They still need to beat Espanyol on Saturday to have any hope of retaining the Spanish title, but that will disappear if Barca can win at the Vicente Calderon stadium on Sunday.   .....Read more here.......

Not too long ago, Barcelona were 16 points clear at the top of the Spanish Primera Liga table, but a poor run of form which has also seen an ignominious Champions League double defeat by Bayern Munich has seen that slip a bit. Real Madrid just managed to get the better of Valladolid in a seven goal thriller yesterday, so a win against Real Betis today would not be enough to confirm the title.   .....Read more here.......

It has not been a disastrous season by any means for FC Barcelona, but it certainly feels like it at the moment. The abject defeats both home and away to Bayern Munich have served to focus the attention of everyone concerned with the club and highlight the need for a serious overhaul of the squad.

The signs were there before, but Barcelona often covered up the shortcomings through the individual and collective brilliance of the attacking players such as Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta. It has been seen a few times this season, however, that if those two are not firing on all cylinders, the team can struggle.   .....Read more here.......

If Barcelona are on form, they have the ability to score goals, especially if Lionel Messi is back to being close to his best. That is not the main problem for Barca tonight, however. The failure to score an away goal at the Allianz Arena last week has left Tito Vilanova and his team with no margin for error.

If Bayern Munich can score just one goal at the Nou Camp tonight, it will leave Barca needing to score six to progress to the final at Wembley on May 25th. Even at full strength, Barca can be a little vulnerable at the back, but we are far from being at full strength at the moment.   .....Read more here.......