Barcelona ready for domestic success

When Luis Enrique was appointed as coach of Barcelona last may, he had to deal with a group of players that had a huge disappointment during last season and not fulfilling the expectations that a team like Barcelona has, une of the roles of this disaster was “Tata” Martino, last years coach, in both the domestic and international decline. 

The tactics that he imposed and the management upset all the squad and both big tournaments where won by league rivals.

This season however, Luis Enrique, returned to the well known philosophy of play with an attractive and effective football that fans have been accustomed to see over the years; with a dominant possession all over the field and a big attacking play has been seen in the first matches of this season.

One of the surprises was the inability of the other teams to score a goal through all the matches, with Barcelona having scored 18 goals, an historical problem in defense that seemed to be solved under Luis Enrique. 

But everything ended last Tuesday when Barcelona fell against Paris Saint-Germain with a 3-2 score in their Group F Champions League encounter.

Two seasons ago, Bayern Munich won Barcelona in the semi-finals for a total score in two matches of 7-0, but the Bundesliga team won this same year the national title, the champions Leage and the DFB-Pokal.

This summer the retirement of Carles Puyol forced the club to find a replacement for the central defense line and a goal keeper to substitute Victor Valdes. 

Barcelona was able to sign with two centre backs, Thomas Vermaelen and Jeremy Mathieu, and added two new goal keepers, Marc Andre ted Stegen and Clauio Bravo.

And this probably made a good defensive line for the La Liga title, but wasn’t clearly enough for the run on the Champions League. 

Also the ban for Barcelona will make them unable to sign with new players during the January transfer window; a ban that will last until the January 2016 transfer window. Barcelona options are between the first team, the B team and La Masia youth academy.

Luis suarez to play for Uruguay squad

The suspended Barcelona forward that was suspended for four months and nine international matches during the World Cup where he was found guilty of bitting Italy defender Giorgio Chielline.

 The striker has played just two friendly matches since he joined Barcelona, once against Mexican Leon and the other one against Indonesian sub 19 with Barcelona B as teammates.

He was unable to play in the Uruguay national squad against  Japan and South Korea, but the current Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez included him in the preliminary 29-man squad to play against Saudi Arabia on October 10 and against Oman just three days later.

The competitive debut in Barcelona will come on Octuber 25 against the Real Madrid in El Clasico at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The games with the Uruguay national squad will probably help Luis Suarez to regain his fitness and be in a perfect shape for all the La Liga matches left after the ban.

Although still banned for the next eight international competitive games, he hopes to survive the cut when the coach selects the final squad. 

The Court of Arbitration for Sport removed the clause that banned him from any football activity, so remains the ability to play friendly matches either with Barcelona or the national squad.

Barcelona vs levante preview

This year Levante manager Jose Luis Mendilibar believes that the current year Barcelona, under the hands of Luis Enrique in his first season as coach at Nou Camp, is playing a similar game employed by his fellow friend Pep Guardiola.

Luis Enrique, taking over the previous head coach Gerardo Martino in May, has had a great and immediate effect on the Barcelona, and Medilibar was very praiseful to the new Barça ahead of their match at Estadi Ciutat de Valencia. 

The Levante coach sees a lot of similarities between the most successful team in Barça history lead by Guardiola and the game that the current Barça team is playing.

“Barcelona is much more aggressive, with quick recovers of the ball after loosing it and not letting the other team have any chance to score, just like first Guardiola season”, said Medilibar to the press. 

He also noted that “Luis Enrique is not picking players by the names of his favorites. 

He also is not afraid of using youngster from the FC Barcelona training camp, La Masia, and not does not care what the press is suggesting to play.

With Barcelona sitting currently at the top of the La Liga table and with three victories in his first three matches without conceding a goal, have had a perfect start during this season also beating Apoel Nicosia 1-0 on Wednesday.

On the other hand, Levante has just one point in his first three La Liga matches, point scored in the first match and with no goals scored. 

But Mendilibar told his players that the should play without fear against their next rival on Sunday.

Last season, the first encounter in Nou Camp left a 7-0 score for Barcelona and had a draw in Levante’s Ciutat de Valencia with a final 1-1. Also, 

Barcelona, since 1965 have not lost any match when visiting Levante, wining his 2005 and 2011 titles in the same field.

Remembering Tito Vilanova

Tito Vilanova was first known in August 2011, when Jose Mourinho in a El Clásico match against Real Madrid poked the Barcelona Assistant Manager in the eye unprovoked. But he already had spend 3 years helping the club to become one of the best teams ever.

In march 2011 the club announced that one of their players, Eric Abidal, was diagnosed for life threatening disease, and eight months later, Tito was diagnosed with throat cancer.

Pepe Guardiola was worried, questioning if all the tension, stress, wins, trophies, the challenge of being the best, … was worth it, especially when two people in your team are fighting for their lives.

The club used all their resources to ensure the best medical treatment for both of them. Abidal survived and was able to lift a Champions League trophy, in an emotive gesture from the team, and played for the best clubs in France and Greece.

But Tito wasn’t so lucky, he went through surgery twice to get tumors removed; but it kept relapsing. He said in his las speech before resigning that he knew he was fighting a long battle, but he was not alone in this match, he formed part of a Club that was helping him to go through this process.

Tito finally died on April 25th 2014; one day before a shocked and unconvincing Barcelona team beat Villareal 0-2.

During his funeral with many of the Barcelona players and officials, Tito’s teen daughter Carlota read out a speech that brought tears in everyone when she was remembering his father and his love for the Club.

Luis Suarez confirmed for El Clásico

Barcelona has officially confirmed that the former Liverpool Striker Luis Suarez will be able to play in the first match against Real Madrid in el Clásico during this La Liga season, the game will took place on Saturday 25th October, and just one day before the ban against Suarez will be finished.

Suarez was banned for four months suspension when he was found guilty of bitting against Giorgio Chiellini, italian defender, during the summer World Cup; in a match the victory was for Uruguay by 1-0 against the European team Italy and allowed for them to progress from a group where England was also present.

The four month ban covered all the football activities during the ban period and also nine-game international suspension and FIFA imposed a   66255 fine in June. 

During the ban, Suarez was forced to train in Catalonia, in a hidden area and also unable to be officially presented to the fans after his signature.

Suarez lost the appeal in August, but that changed the ban to only cover official matches, and no longer all football-related activities, what allowed Luis Suarez to train with his team mates and this also allowed him to be presented to the fans in the Club León friendly match against Barça in the Camp Nou.

The ban covered eight league games and three Champions League matches in La Liga current season.

Now the official match debut for Suarez for the footballing giants will be against their eternal rival Real Madrid, in a dramatic match between the two most historical teams in Spain and with and historic and modern bad blood.

Players out of Barcelona this season

With Barcelona having recruited seven players this year, and for the next year due to the transfer ban from FIFA, 13 have departed from Nou Camp as weee, following is the analysis of some of these 13 players, where they are now and how will their departure affect the club.

Carles Pujol

Carles pujol with his retirement ends a career with some fitness problems plaguing his past year, so he decided to end his professional career despite having two more years in his contract.

As Barcelona’s leader and one of their best defender for years, his presence was already missed last year with only 12 appearances.

With no clear replacement for Pujol, Barcelona signed with Vermaelen and Mathieu, but as a short term solution, with young Bartra not ready yet and Pique underperforming for the last 18 moths.

Alexis Sanchez

With a transfer fee of €42.5 million euros to Arsenal, he arrived at Barcelona with Fabregas on summer of 2011, with both the same fate.

Sanchez florished as a striker in the italian club Udinese, but never really found his rhythm in Spain as a second fiddle to Messi and later shifted on the flanks by then manager Guardiola.

But against all, he had a good last season with 19 total goals in the league, but he was tired of his role and accepted the offer from Arsenal.

Victor Valdes

Victor Valdes ended this summer his contract with the La Liga giant. Looking for a fresh start, he was linked to the AS Monaco club, but with Valdes carrying an injury, the club called of the transfer.

Valdes was working for Barcelona during 12 seasons and he was a good servant to the club, a good shot-stopper and excellent in ball possession.

But it is unlikely to be missed, with a replacement like the prodigious Marc-Andre ted Stegen.

Cesc Fabregas

With a transfer of €33 million plus €3 variable, Fabregas has returned to the premier league with Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea.

With a harsh statement after his departure from club’s official statement, it was evident that Luis Enrique didn’t counted with him.

with only 8 goals for the past three seasons, Enrique wanted more pace and directness, something he will found on Rakitic after he became available at Sevilla.

Read more abouyt FC Barcelona kids soccer camps in Canada.

Luis Suarez ready

After a four month ban due to bitting with opponent Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cap on June this year for the third time.

Luis Suarez, who will not be able to play an official match until october 26, first El Clásico match this season, said in an interview for Barcelona web page about the scrutiny that he will face for the first match that he is calm because he already had a hard time in England and coped with it.

"People look at what you are doing and you have to get used to it, even more so now because I am part of the best team in the world so there will be a lot more eyes watching than before.

“I’m used to play with this kind of situations, not so much with pressure but with all the fans looking at me

Nevertheless, even without Suarez star on the first team, they managed to have a bright start with two victories against Villareal and Elche.

On thursday afternoon he and the teammates not called up for international duties, will play a match against Barcelona B, in order to boost banned player fitness.

Suarez made a 15 minutes appearance with Leo Messi on last months Joan Gamper Trophy, but with national teams playing this weekend, Luis Enrique will have another opportunity to test the player’s fitness.

Luis Enrique will have also the opportunity to see junior players from B team in action, players that could make their way to the first-team either this or next season, with the transfer ban for Barcelona from FIFA not affecting this movements.

With a total payed for Suarez of €86 million, Suarez is the most expensive purchase for Barcelona on this season

Read more about FC Barcelona Youth Soccer camps in Canada.