The case of Thomas Vermaelen

Thomas Vermaelen signed for Barcelona in August this year from Arsenal and this move raised a few of eyebrows, not for the ability of the player but because the player was struggling with and injury when hi signed the papers and the club doctors where against it.

Supposedly he had the all clear to play in September, but now entering the mid-way of November the Belgian has still to play a match in his new team.

It’s difficult to understand why a club that needs all his player fit and ready to play will risk to sign with a player that hasn’t been the full 90 minutes in the pitch in over a year. Even worse when Barcelona will not be able to sign another player until January 2016 when the ban will end.

The first and only time that we saw Vermaelen with the new colors was in a friendly match of Barcelona B against the U19 Indonesian team.

The situation is starting also to annoy Luis Enrique, when at a press conference he said to the reporters that his situation is the same and there is no news.

Probably this is the best time for the player to break into the side, with Gerar Pique not enjoying the best form of his career, and the Belgian will most likely be welcomed alongside Marc Bartra, Jeremy Mathieu or Javier Mascherano offering power at the back.

He will also solve one of the most notable problems in the current Barcelona squad, aerial presence, something that needs to be solved despite the acquisition of two six-foot players.

Anyway, Vermaelen is still some weeks away from the first match with Barcelona and this should be a concern to anyone that was behind the deal, with a €19 million transfer fee that seems small on today’s standards but difficult to overcome with the current state of the player.

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Messi and Neymar shine in friendlies

Two barcelona players shine in their respective international friendly games, with wins for Brazil with Neymar and Argentina with Lionel Messi.

Brazil defeated Turkey in istambul with an easy 4-0, this marks the fifth consecutive win for coach Dunga after taking the hotseat following the traumatic World Cup where they lost against Germany in semi-finals with a 1-7 final score.

This is the sixth match lost for Turkey played in front of a packed Sukru Saracoglu.

The first goal came from Neymar just 19 minutes after the start of the match after picking a cross from Fernandinho. Five minutes later, Turkish defender Suat Kaya scored in his own net under pressure from Luiz Adriano.

Just before the halftime, Willian scored the third thanks to a Neymar cross. Neymar scored his second one in the 60th minute with a neat on-two with Willian.

Argentina won Croatia in London with a score of 2-1 and with Carlos Tevez having ended his three-year international exile. The last match played by Tevez for argentina was at 2011 Copa America, and he made his comeback after being recalled by the new Argentinian coach Gerardo Martino.

Lionel Messi scored the winner in a penalty at 57th minute after an early opener for Croatia just 11 minutes after the start and and an equalizer from Ansaldi just 30 minutes later.

The last four matches of Argentina have ended with three victories and one defeat after the 1-0 loss against Germany in the last World Cup final.

This was also the first defeat for Croatia in the last five games, but it was mitigated by the fact that Croatian coach Niko Kovac had left the first XI in Zagreb to prepare for the encounter with Group H rivals Milan, thus playing with the B team.

In other friendlies, Netherlands lost 3-2 to Mexico prior to the crucial Euro 2016 match against Latvia, Belgium beat Iceland with a 3-2 and Estonia won his match against Norway with a score of 1-0.

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Messi seeks another record

After the match against Ajax on Wednesday where he equaled Raul’s 71 goals in European League, Messi has another scoring record in sight with the next la Liga fixture against Almería on Saturday, looking also to bounce back from the last two consecutive lost matches in this competition.

After scoring 71 goals in Champions League in the 2-0 win, the Argentinian is looking again to the scoring milestone in La Liga, a record now hold by Telmo Zarra in 1955, with Messi just one goal short from this feat.

On the other hand, Cristiano Ronaldo will try to keep his club-record run, where he scored in all the last eight matches, and he will try to continue this run against Rayo Vallecano.

In the current La Liga table, Madrid is the current leader, with Valencia and Atletico Madrid in second and third place just one point behind, Barcelona is now two points behind the leader with the same points as Sevilla.

In Barcelona, Luis Suarez is also looking into score the first goal for Barcelona. Suarez was unable to score against his former team Ajax and he is now without a goal in the three games he has played since returning from his four month ban.

Suarez will have most likely another opportunity against an Almería that has lost the last three games in La Liga.

Other important matches this weekend are the Atletico visit to Real Sociedad without a replacement for coach Jagoba Arrasate fired just three days ago.

Sevilla will face Levante after winning four home games in La Liga. Sevilla has the most versatile attack line with Denis Suarez, Aleix Vida and Gerrar Deulofeu helped on the side by Carlos Bacca and will face Levante, tied with Granada for the fewest goals scored of all teams in La Liga with just six.

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Barcelona 0 - Celta Vigo 1

Barcelona was in search of a winning against Celta Vigo, and Lionel Messi trying to make history at Camp Nou; but Sergio Alvarez, Vigo’s excellent goolkeeper, helped his team to leave Camp Nou with a victory and Barcelona surrender their lead at the top of the La Liga.

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The first half of the match ended without goals, even having several opportunities that were either missed or blocked but the goolkeepers in both ends of the pitch. 

Neymar was the first to try to score at minute 8 when heading straight to Vigo’s net, but his rocket from 23 meters hit the crossbar, he also had another opportunity just before the end of the first half.

Messi had three chances in just four minutes to break Telmo Zarra’s La Liga scoring record, but was unable to find the net, first at 30th minute with a give-and-go with Neymar but was blocked by Alvarez, just two minutes later Neymar again fed Messi, but the shot was blocked by defender Jonathan Castro. 

The last one in the 34th minute came after a beautiful pass from Suarez but again Messi could not finish it.

With Celta aggressive defense able to connect Barça front line, they tried to increment their scoring board, but thy only had a chance when Nolito shoot high on a free kick.

The second half started like the first one, with Neymar hitting the bar again, but this time Celta a couple of minutes later was able to score after innocent goal kick ended in Nolito feed who passed backwards with his heel to Joaquín Larrivey. This put the final score of 0-1 lead and silenced Camp Nou crowd.

After this goal, Celta kept all his men back to protect the lead, with Barcelona in control of the ball during the rest of the match. Suarez had an opportunity midway through the half, but the shot went directly in the hands of Alvarez.

With the clock winding down and Barça closing to the rivals net, Celta had and opportunity to increase the lead, but Nolito kick was saved by Claudio rave.

In the last minutes of the game, Messi again sent a free kick that hit the bar near the upper right corner and at 84th minute, Suarez had the best opportunity for Barcelona in the match, with a rocket that was blocked by the flying Celta keeper and preserve the final score