Pep: not Chelsea, but Bayern Munich
MUNICH, Germany ● German giants Bayern Munich won the battle to secure the most sought after coach in football when former Barcelona handler Pep Guardiola agreed to take over as head coach for the 2013/14 season. The 41-year-old Spaniard – who last week said he was ready to return to coaching after a brief sabbatical [...]
Benitez back in the limelight and enjoying it
LONDON, England ● Rafael Benitez said he was focused on the job in hand, rather than worrying about being a stop-gap appointment, after being presented to the media as Chelsea’s new interim manager on Thursday. The former Liverpool coach, 52, is under contract until the end of the current season and replaces Roberto Di Matteo, [...]
Guardiola wanted to get rid of Fabregas, Villa, Pique and Alves
BARCELONA, Spain ● Former Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola would still be in charge of the Catalan club if he was allowed to sell four big name players, according to one Fifa agent. Francois Gallardo has claimed that Guardiola wanted to push Cesc Fabregas, David Villa, Gerard Pique and Dani Alves out of the exit door [...]
Messi hits 50 as Pep says adios to fans
BARCELONA, Spain ● Barcelona star Lionel Messi scored all four goals in a 4-0 rout of Espanyol to bring up his half century in La Liga and take his total goals tally for the season to a record-breaking 72 on Saturday. In what was Pep Guardiola’s last home match in charge at the Nou Camp, [...]
Real sight La Liga title, Barca hit seven
MADRID, Spain ● Real Madrid edged closer to their first league title in four years with a 3-0 win over Sevilla on Sunday, but Barcelona ensured their celebrations were put on hold with a 7-0 mauling of Rayo Vallecano. Karim Benzema struck a second half brace after Cristiano Ronaldo had given Real the lead to [...]
Messi scores and scores
BARCELONA, Spain ● Lionel Messi scored his 59th and 60th goals of the season to fuel Barcelona’s fightback for a 4-1 win at 10-man Zaragoza as the defending champions stayed in the chase for a fourth straight Spanish league title on Saturday. Barcelona’s ninth consecutive league victory provisionally reduced league leader Real Madrid’s [...]
Barca invincible
BARCELONA, Spain — A double by three-time world footballer of the year Lionel Messi inspired holders Barcelona to a fifth successive appearance in the Champions League semi-finals after a 3-1 win over AC Milan here on Tuesday in their quarter-final second leg clash and win by the same scoreline on aggregate. Messi’s brace of first-half [...]
Simply the best
BARCELONA, Spain – Lionel Messi’s stunning hat-trick set a Barcelona scoring record of 234 goals as the La Liga champions won an action-packed home game against Granada 5-3 to close within five points of La Liga leaders Real Madrid on Tuesday. With his sixth league treble of the season, the Argentine World Player of the [...]
