by Teresa Melia R. G. Joeng

You said you were no one

Other than a man with

Hope and faith, and a little humor

And you said you were no romantic

Now what about

Every birthday card you designed

Specially for me

You said you could never arrange

One word and another in a poem

Every little thing you do for me

Leads to a beautiful poem unwritten

Many times you said that you were not

A perfect man

Unable to give me this and

Give me that

Except your heart, love, and care

No I don’t need you to be a perfect man

Every time you look into my eyes

Saying you love me

This is all I ever need

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Barça late show seals valuable point (2-2)

Jordi Clos

Barça managed to get a draw out of a game that was slipping away from them when Real Betis took a 2-0 first half lead in tonight’s match in Seville. Two goals from Eto’o, the second in the final minutes, were fair reward for a gritty performance.

Barça’s unbeaten run stretching back to the very first game of the league season almost came to an end this evening at the Ruiz de Lopera. Betis went 2-0 ahead, but the leaders, who started the game with all five of the 2008/09 signings in the side, never lost faith and managed to come out of a gripping game with a point from a 2-2 draw. However, the result does mean an end for Barça’s 10 match winning streak in the league, and also their streak of 9 straight wins on the road.

Betis go two up

It was evident from the start that this was going to be one of those games that could go either way. Oliveira had an excellent chance when the game was just three minutes old, and then Xavi drove a shot from outside the area onto the Betis post. The home side suffered a major setback when both of their centre backs, Juanito and Lima, had to leave the field with injuries, but then opened the scoring with an impeccably struck header from a corner by Melli in the 18th minute. Just six minutes later, Mark González lost his marker and to latch onto the end of a penetrating cross, and the Andalusians were two ahead.

Important goal on half time

Having gone two behind for the first time this season, Barça found renewed energy as they started the search for yet another amazing comeback. They took control of the ball and gradually started creating more and more pressure in the Betis half. Iniesta was causing all kinds of problems down the left, and it was he who was involved in an incident shortly before half time that resulted in a penalty in Barça’s favour. Eto’o was the taker, and although Ricardo managed to save his kick, the Cameroonian was quick to bury the rebound to make it 2-1.

Danger both ways

The second half was an engaging affair, with both sides enjoying a succession of chances. Oliveira saw a goal ruled out for an obvious offside, then Eto’o came close following a one on one with Betis keeper Ricardo. At the other end of the pitch there was an almost identical move, this time involving Emana and Valdés, the latter brilliantly preventing Betis’ third. Guardiola then took off Hleb and Keita and sent on Messi and Henry. Almost immediately after coming on, a cross from the French ace was almost turned by Ilic into his own net.

Barça pile on pressure

After a brave quarter of an hour, Betis seemed to be running out of steam, and the final minutes of the game were dominated by Barça. Xavi almost scored an equaliser with a long strike from outside the area in the 63rd minute, but it was turned away by a defender. It was constant pressure from Barça and fully deserved more compensation than they were getting, and there was a further chance in the 72nd minute that Ricardo saved, seconds before Oliveira was thwarted by Valdés at the other end.

Eto’o claims justice

The Betis keeper was having an extraordinary evening, and twice foiled Barça with saves from Henry in the 70th and Piqué in the 81st minute. It just didn’t look like this was going to be Barça’s day, but just in the nick of time Eto’o stepped up to brilliantly round two defenders and with a formable change of pace struck home past Ricardo to level things at two apiece. There could have been more, with Barça pushing on in search of the three points, but there was to be no further scoring and the impressive run of nine away wins finally came to an end.

My mind wanders
to where I’m standing now
a while ago
I was smiling then
holding the finest seed they gave
for me to plant and grow
but after some time
I began to wonder
if what I saw was
what they saw
since not even a single leaf
found its way up
through the ground
doubts
boredom
sang in my mind
half-heartedly
I gave little care of it
but then
before my eyes
small green leaves
welcomed the morning sun
and a tiny bud
led my thought
to a flowery garden
with beautiful roses and daisies
now these little lives
I’m staring at
have reminded me of the smile
I had on my face
a while ago

“You are the one, who can be amazed by me, and who can amaze me everyday, just by being who we are.” – mrg 08

“Tell me how to fall in love with you, tell me how to care for you as much as you care for me, tell me how to make you my everything as you make me so, because I see my most beautiful future in your eyes.” – mrg 08

“Father, You said, ‘Ask, and you shall be given’. I asked, but I wasn’t given. But now I’ve seen, that was because You were willing to give me something better, which will be the reason for an everlasting smile, instead of a season’s smile.” – mrg 09

Wishing everyone Happy Valentine!

news from www.fcbarcelona.com

Convincing leaders (3-1)

Jordi Clos

An inspired and hard-working Barça side have convincingly beaten Sporting Gijon and remain well in command at the top of the table. Their tenth win in a row came through goals by Eto’o (2) and Alves.

Barça have reinforced their position as League leaders with another win, this time by 3 goals to 1 and with much of the brilliance their fans have come to expect. They were much superior to a game Sporting Gijon and effectively wrapped up the match with an excellent first half which saw Samuel Eto’o find the net twice. Pep Guardiola’s men then kept up the pressure in the second half and extended their lead with an Alves strike. Sporting Gijon scored a consolation goal later on but at no stage did they look like halting Barça’s impressive winning streak.

Best available side

Sporting came to Camp Nou with the reputation of being an attacking team which plays good football and Barça put out their best available side to greet them. Busquets, Iniesta, Xavi, Henry, Eto’o, Messi and co. whipped the ball around at high speed right from the whistle and a good move in the 11th minute between Iniesta, Alves and Henry was only just kept out by the visiting keeper.

Eto’o = goals

Barça would get their reward shortly afterwards. In the 23rd minute Iniesta began a counterattack which he started on the edge of his own box before laying it wide to Henry on the left on the edge of the Sporting box. The Frenchman’s first touch pass found Eto’o between two defenders and the Cameroon striker duly put it away for the 100th goal in competitive games this season.

Guardiola’s men dominated the game both before and after taking the lead with superb positional play and were a constant threat to Sporting’s goal. So it came as no real surprise when they scored again in the 40th minute as Messi slipped the ball to Eto’o inside the box who cut back inside before firing home Barça’s second.

Adulation for Alves

Barça stayed focussed with their 2-0 lead and they wanted more. Eto’o tried to curve the ball in for his hat-trick in the 60th minute and only Lafuente prevented what would have been another magnificent goal by Messi a minute later. Finally Alves smashed home a drive from eight yards out in the 65th minute to bring the crowd to its feet, chanting his name.

Ten wins

Sporting didn’t throw in the towel and got one back with a well-placed shot by Kike Mateo. Barça immediately bounced back as Eto’o hit the post and the Catalans reasserted their control over the game. They have now extended their winning streak to ten in a row in the League.

“Guardiola transmits his passion and is so enthusiastic. If he believes something is white and you think it is black, you will end up believing that it is white,” the Catalan midfielder said. “He is a very intelligent person and I think that that is his secret. It is how he convinces and motivates you and treats the best players in the team.”

Attention to detail

“We have all felt part of things since pre-season,” he continued. “We now battle back in games. Like against Racing, for example, last season we would have lost that for sure. But now the team has great professionalism and commitment. The work that we do without the ball and the studying of the opposition is necessary because nowadays you cannot just wait and see, because otherwise you will be caught out. There is also a lot of injury prevention treatment and the coaching staff are very strict about the diet. We have a physiologist and things are better than ever.”

Iniesta and Messi

Xavi then praised his team-mate Andrés Iniesta as he said: “He is the best Spanish player around. He and I both enjoy having the ball, but when he receives and moves away he has two or three metres that I had before. Andrés also has something extra and that means that he can play further forward or on the wings.”

Joining his other team-mates in their adulation of Lionel Messi, he added that “he is the best in the world and can make the difference in a game.” Xavi continued: “Anyone that does not see that is either blind or does not understand football.”

One player to make such comments was Gerard Piqué, who was sent off for the second time this season: “We never give in. Truth is there have been lots of games this season in which we’ve gone behind to the first goal but we just attack and attack until we get in front.”

Messi had a similar view of the game in Santander (1-2): “We had a very good team against us, and I think we controlled the game, but we didn’t get as many chances as other days”. But he felt Barça were fully deserving of the three points.

The following are some of the comments made by FC Barcelona players after the game.

Messi

“I’m keeping the ball that I scored goal 5000 with. It is for the club and the museum. The ball will go in the museum.”

“We always want to score goals, so we weren’t thinking especially about goal number 5000.”

“I didn’t know it was the 5000th goal, but I had heard something about it.”

“To make it 2-1, I wanted to keep on going. If I can, I always carry on, I never dive.”

“Everything went well for me today but other days they don’t. I am happy with the win.”

“It was an important win, because it was a difficult ground and Madrid had won and we were losing.”

Piqué

“We have shown that whoever plays, we can respond. The team’s playing well and we are confident that everything will work out right, despite all the suspensions, when we play Sporting.”

“It is a bonus to have Messi, a sheer pleasure. There aren’t enough adjectives to describe him.”

“Racing, once they had scored, attacked less and played it tight at the back.”

“Those that are waiting for us to lose will just have to keep waiting.”

Márquez

“It’s difficult these days, because players go down with the minimum contact. It isn’t easy for me to say whether it was a penalty or not.”

“We didn’t get the depth we have done on other days.”

“Leo coming on gave us more life and also the win.”

“Leo is a fundamental part of the team. When he rests and comes on later, we gain in confidence. He’s yet another opportunity for us.”

source: www.fcbarcelona.com

Jordi Clos/Roger Bogunyà

Against Racing, Barça made it to 5000 goals in the history of the league championship. Leo Messi was the man to add his name the list of other legendary players that have scored the other landmark goals, namely Marco Aurelio, Zaballa, Quini and Amor.

Barça’s extraordinary goalscoring rate this season (54 goals in 18 league fixtures) has included the chance to celebrate goal 5000 in their Liga history. The 2-1 win on Sunday at the Nuevo Sardinero produced the long-awaited landmark goal, which has come after 2441 in 77 seasons of top flight football

Messi gets both

It was fitting enough that it should be such a talented player as Messi who will be honoured with goal number 5000. It was also the Argentine who got goal 4999, an opportunist strike in which he converted after the ball rebounded back into play off the crossbar That was in the 65th minute and goal 5000 came a quarter of an hour later, when Messi scored another wonderful goal to add to such delights as the ones he has scored against the likes of Madrid and Osasuna this season.

It was a goal to remember, not just for the historic connotations, but also for its beauty. He controlled the ball on his chest, added a dribble, avoided a tackle and slammed it home with his right foot. Unstoppable. “It was a great goal”, said Guardiola after the game.

1000: Marco Aurelio

On October 22, 1950, during the Barça-Lleida match (6-1), Marco Aurelio scored goal 1000 for Barça in the league. After just 30 seconds, the Argentinian latched onto a pass from Seguer, beat a defender and struck home past the keeper. Marco Aurelio Di Pablo was a tireless inside left who donned the Barça colours from 1948 to 1951. He scored 30 goals in 70 games.

2000: Pedro Zaballa

Goal 2000 was scored by Pedro Zaballa in the Barça-Valencia game (4-0) of January 12, 1964. In the 54th minute, the Cantabrian made the most of a poor clearance by the keeper to confidently strike home. Barça had signed the man from Racing Santander in 1961. He scored 58 goals in 229 during his six years at Barça.

3000: Quini

One of the other great goalscorers to have represented the club, Enrique Castro ‘Quini’, scored goal 3000 on January 24, 1982. It came in the 59th minute of a game with Castellón at the Camp Nou (4-3), when the Asturian Wizard scored following a terrific through ball from Landaburu. Quini was a veritable predator of the area, and was the only Barça player ever to finish as top goalscorer twice, in 1980 and 1984.

4000: Amor

Goal 4000 was the work of a product of the youth system. It was March 9, 1996, when Guillermo Amor scored Barça’s only goal in a disappointing visit to Mestalla (4-1). The man from Benidorm made it 3-1 in minute 69, converting an exquisite cross from the left by Roger García. Amor has always been one of the finest players the Barça youth system ever produced, and has played the third highest number of games for the club (550), only topped by Migueli and Rexach.

source: www.fcbarcelona.com

Messi’s 2nd goal, on 80th minute, is also Barca’s 5000th goal in La Liga!

news from www.fcbarcelona.com:

Comeback as Messi makes history (1-2)

Jordi Clos

A highly effective Barça have won a difficult game in Santander, where they were forced to come back from behind after a penalty committed against Pereira put Racing in command. But a brace from Messi included Barça’s 5,000th goal in Liga history.

It was never going to be easy at the Nuevo Sardinero, but with a 2-1 win, Barça have now collected three points from their last nine road trips. It was not a game that produced too many chances for either side, and it was from the penalty spot that Zigic finally put the home side in front. But Barça reacted in typically decisive style, with substitute Messi coming on to score twice, the second of which goes down in history as Barça’s 5,000th in the Spanish championship.

A tough wall to break

Barça came up against a tough opponent, with Racing’s famously solid defence proving hard to break down. The league’s top goalscoring team only managed three shots in the first half, which were all free kicks, from Alves (min 19), Márquez (min 28 ) and Xavi (min 41). None of them hit the target.

Pereira fires warnings

The best chance of the first 45 minutes fell to Racing’s Jonathan Pereira who had the Barça centre backs beaten for speed but saw his shot turned onto the post by the sharp-reflexed Valdés (min 11). The diminutive forward also came close shortly before half time after outwitting Márquez. But other than these two occasions, Barça generally had the better of Racing’s two main attacking weapons: Pereira’s speed and Zigic’s height.

But the league leaders were lacking their typical decisiveness up front. Henry was creating danger down the wing, but his crosses were failing to find anybody able to put them away.

Racing ahead

The second half started with more of the same. Barça looked in control but it was Racing that were coming closest when they found space to move forward. Then in the 55th minute, Márquez brought down Pereira in the area, and Zigic cunningly got the better of Valdés from the penalty spot. Immediately after going behind, Pep Guardiola decided it was time to send on Leo Messi for Busquets.

Messi decides it

With the Argentinian superstar on the field, it took just nine minutes for the visitors to conjure up a response. A pinpoint cross from Henry was turned onto the bar by Xavi but Messi was at hand to slam the rebound into the back of the net. But drawing was not enough for Barça, they wanted the win, and got what they wanted with yet another goal from Messi, who controlled the ball on his chest and struck it home with a right footed drive that left Toño with no chance. To add to the drama, this goal goes down in history as the 5,000th to be scored by the Blaugrana in La Liga history.

Racing were stunned to go behind after all their hard work, and with their strength knocked out of them it was down to Barça to provide all the football in the final minutes. Some of the sparkle was taken out the day by both Márquez and Piqué seeing red in the closing minutes, but it was nevertheless another tremendous away trip for Barcelona, and one that means they maintain their ten point lead on second placed Real Madrid.

Guardiola Talking about Messi

Bringing Leo Messi on in the 58th minute was, according to Guardiola intended to “make our play more vertical.” And he couldn’t deny that his entrance changed the course of the game. “Leo is a player in capital letters and in 10 or 15 minutes he’s the kind of player that can tip the balance.”

He also felt tat Argentinian’s second goal was pure brilliance, but did not want to forget the rest of his team, and the amazing effort they had put into the game.

*All time is local time (GMT+1)

source: www.fcbarcelona.com

Roger Bogunyà

Barça are through to the last four of the Copa for the third year in a row. They did that after winning a game that looked decided early in the second half.

But although three goals from Bojan (2) and Piqué had seen Barça into a clear lead, replies from Coro and Callejón meant there was suspense until the end.

It took more than 120 minutes of this tie for the first goal to come. But once Bojan had made it 1-0, there were plenty more thrills in store. Bojan then scored his second before Piqué saw Barça into a commanding 3-0 lead after 56 minutes. It looked like it was all over for Barça’s local rivals.

But then a lucky goal from Coro and a terrific long range strike from Callejón meant the last twenty minutes were going to be a roasting affair. In yet another memorable cup match at the Camp Nou, Barça held on to make it into the semi finals, where Mallorca are already waiting for them.

Barça in possession

The game began as expected. Barça kept the ball at their feet, while Espanyol kept it tight at the back. The slow pace of the game was just what the visitors had hoped for, and Barça only had one early chance, a Gudjohnsen goal that was ruled out for offside in the 17th minute. Seven minutes later, a golden opportunity fell to Espanyol on a counter attack when an unmarked Jonathan shot high into the stands. There was no doubt that Barça were not getting everything their way, and things needed to be sorted out.

1-0 by Bojan

Which they were. Xavi started moving around more, and Alves and Sylvinho began to make themselves more available down the wings. That was just what Barça needed, and it was precisely from a cross from the sidelines delivered by the Brazilian that Bojan was able to break the deadlock by pouncing on the ball as it slipped out of Cristian Álvarez’s hands (min 34). It was a pure opportunist’s goal, and from that moment on, Barça looked considerably more confident, to the extent that it was one way traffic for the rest of the half. At least four more chances fell Barça’s way, although there was no further scoring before the break.

Bojan and Piqué widen the gap

The game had barely restarted before it was 3-0. The first came off a splendid one-two involving Xavi and Bojan that ended with the latter subtly chipping the ball over and beyond the Espanyol keeper (min 48). That was Bojan’s second of the night, and shortly after there was more to come, this time from Piqué, who made it 3-0 with is first ever official goal for Barça, the assist in this case coming from the tireless Alves.

Espanyol don’t give up

It was time for the Camp Nou to start celebrating – it looked almost impossible for Espanyol to find a way back now. But then, just like against Numancia, Barça followed two early second half goals by conceding one at their own end. There was an element of luck involved, for the ball deflected off Puyol (who asked to be substituted shortly after), whereupon Coro was at hand to drive it home (min 58). Three goals in less than a quarter of an hour, but Barça had still come out best with a two-goal lead, and started trying to slow the pace of what was developing into a dangerously frenetic game. But, amazingly, the spirited Espanyol side scored again, this time from Callejón who surprised Pinto with a powerful effort from outside the box (min 68). All of a sudden the visitors were right back in it.

Iniesta the protagonist

Barça decided to do their best to wear down the clock with their trademark possession game, while Espanyol, now hungry for a miraculous third, pressed forward in search of more. At the other end, Barça had plenty of chances of their own to make it four. Iniesta was largely to thank for that, with no fewer than three near misses, while the attack was also fired up by the entry of Eto’o late in the game. Espanyol had resorted to desperate long balls by now, which Barça had little trouble dealing with, and gradually things wound up with a 3-2 win and a place in the semi finals for the third time in a row. Now only Mallorca stand between Barça and an appearance in the final.

source: www.fcbarcelona.com