Champions League draw

[Peter Doherty (AGAIG)]

It appears Iniesta has 'unfollowed' Messi on one of these social media site thingies. Hopefully this means there are ongoing ructions in the Barcelona dressing-room and that they last until at least our games against them. Also appears that Messi has basically got the manager sacked. What a twat (if true).

[Lev Bronstein]

Has the manager been sacked? Missed that one.

I noticed that Carles Puyol has left Barca. Now there is a man who bleeds the club's colours. So yes, they do seem in turmoil at the moment. Xavi and Iniesta have been the players that made them tick and now that they are on the decline they don't seem to have class replacements.

Still think that they'll be formidable opponents though.

[Peter Doherty (AGAIG)]

Has the manager been sacked? Missed that one.

I noticed that Carles Puyol has left Barca. Now there is a man who bleeds the club's colours. So yes, they do seem in turmoil at the moment. Xavi and Iniesta have been the players that made them tick and now that they are on the decline they don't seem to have class replacements.

Still think that they'll be formidable opponents though.

No, the manager hasn't been sacked, but the Spanish media reckon it'll happen this week and are pinning the blame on Messi, unsurprisingly.

[Ted Hughes]

The football they played the other night, had none of the Barca trademark about it & the Xavi/Iniesta partnership, looked like the 'good but nothing special' pairing it used to be pre Pep. They looked very mortal.

Interesting if they return to the previous style, with a new manager or whether from now on, they are just a team with quality players, plus Messi, playing the same kind of football as anyone else. Maybe Pep is as special as Txiki thinks he is.

There was nothing especially 'Barca' about the way they played the other night. Could just as easily have been Arsenal.

[Peter Doherty (AGAIG)]

The football they played the other night, had none of the Barca trademark about it & the Xavi/Iniesta partnership, looked like the 'good but nothing special' pairing it used to be pre Pep. They looked very mortal.

Interesting if they return to the previous style, with a new manager or whether from now on, they are just a team with quality players, plus Messi, playing the same kind of football as anyone else. Maybe Pep is as special as Txiki thinks he is.

There was nothing especially 'Barca' about the way they played the other night. Could just as easily have been Arsenal.

That anaemic? Christ. No wonder Lionel has thrown his tax-dodging toys out of the pram.

[Slim]

I don't know about you lot, but I am really looking forward to this. I don't want to play Basel or Monaco, I want Real, Barca, PSG and Juve. Remember losing to Brighton in the league cup? Anyone think then we'd one day be defending English champions playing Barca in the knockout stages of the Champions League?

No-one will remember(except us) if we lose, but if we win it'll be one for the ages. Remember when we knocked out Lionel Messi's Barcelona in the Champion's League? Okay, Mangala kicked him in the back and injured him two minutes in, but it was still a great night.

[kinkylola]

heard that a lot of the problems started when Tata Martinez was brought in, barca started playing more direct and winning quite well ... but they fans / press had a lot of complaints saying that he had "abandoned the barca way" and almost over night they reverted to passing the ball around. It was not the same at all however, and they hit a bit of a slump, still winning, but usually because of individual brilliance. They have a lot of issues to resolve right now and it is not a team in a good way. Perfect time to play them, tbh ... can't come quick enough.

[Green & Blue]

How they let Sanchez and Fabregas leave the club is quite a head scratcher.Letting Fabregas go to Chelsea made no sense at all especially with Xavi looking well past his best.

[City64]

We should have had these over last season but we froze / fucked up at the Etihad plus a bent as fuck ref ! Really fancy us to beat them over 2 legs this time around albeit a whole lot depends on the standard and bollocks of the officials sadly in this competition .

[iwasthere2012]

heard that a lot of the problems started when Tata Martinez was brought in, barca started playing more direct and winning quite well ... but they fans / press had a lot of complaints saying that he had "abandoned the barca way" and almost over night they reverted to passing the ball around. It was not the same at all however, and they hit a bit of a slump, still winning, but usually because of individual brilliance. They have a lot of issues to resolve right now and it is not a team in a good way. Perfect time to play them, tbh ... can't come quick enough.

I was listening to the Matt Cooper Show on Today FM. It's an Irish Radio station and usually pretty good. Yesterday he was talking to their Spanish Football correspondent. I didn't catch his name. They were mainly talking about Chelsea's reported interest in Ronaldo. There are rumours doing the rounds over there.
Most of the questions were about Chelsea/Ronaldo and the likelihood of this happening.
But the bit that caught my interest was that, unprompted, the guy said he was surprised that we are not talking more about Messi leaving for the premiership. He said Barcelona are in turmoil internally and that Messi is not happy. (No big surprises there.) It was pretty much the reasoning that has been pointed out by others on here. He said there is talk of him wanting to go to the premiership and the reporter said that he would not necessarily think it would be Chelsea that he would go to. He didn't mention City by name, but it was obvious what he was inferring.

Whether or not there is any chance of him coming here in the summer I don't know, but one things for sure, things are not right over there. I think if we get Sergio and Vinny fully fit and firing on all cylinders, we have a great chance in beating them. Whether EUFA let us, is another thing.

[City64]

Breaking News on SSN ......

Barcelona president Bartomeu has just called for an early presidential election .

Giem Ballague suggesting Messi looking to buy out his contract at Barca as no other football club can potentially afford to buy him !

[DoomMerchant]

 : 

Breaking News on SSN ......

Barcelona president Bartomeu has just called for an early presidential election .

Giem Ballague suggesting Messi looking to buy out his contract at Barca as no other football club can potentially afford to buy him !

Despite the friendship with Kun, I think Messi is more likely to go to the Rags than us. He's that kind of cunt in my book.

I'd rather have The Tranny all day long.

Cheers

[City64]

 : 

Breaking News on SSN ......

Barcelona president Bartomeu has just called for an early presidential election .

Giem Ballague suggesting Messi looking to buy out his contract at Barca as no other football club can potentially afford to buy him !

Despite the friendship with Kun, I think Messi is more likely to go to the Rags than us. He's that kind of cunt in my book.

I'd rather have The Tranny all day long.

Cheers

Ballague very much " in the know " all things Spanish football .......... very interesting developments indeedy !