Ronaldo Nothing Compared To Messi - Henry

In just over three weeks time, the announcement of European Footballer of the Year will be made, with Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo and Barça's Lionel Messi the front-runners competing for the prestigious Ballon D'Or prize.

Also in the running are Iker Casillas, Xavi and Fernando Torres, but the real battle for supremacy in being waged by the United and Blaugrana front-men.

Messi has claimed that either Xavi or Sergio Kun Aguero should take the award from the 30-man shortlist, while Ronaldo has plumped for himself as the most deserving nominee.

Now, Barcelona's French forward Thierry Henry has thrown his support behind his 21-year-old club colleague for the honour and hailed him as the 'best' player on the continent, and indeed, in the world.

The former Arsenal captain, who finished third in the Ballon D'Or pecking order in 2006 behind Italian duo Fabio Cannavaro and Gianluigi Buffon, told the press: "Messi is the best. What he does is from another world.

"He is exceptional.

"After watching Arsenal against Manchester United, I insist Cristiano Ronaldo is one thing and Messi is another.

"There is no comparison. Messi deserves to win the Ballon d'Or this year."

Peter Staunton

Best at the back as well

Jordi Clos

In addition to being the top goalscorers in the League, Barça is also with Seville the team that has conceded fewest. A record of just eight against in ten matches means the Catalans have one of the best defences in Europe.

The number of goals Barça has scored in recent games has rather put one of the other key factors in the team’s run of form into the shade: its defensive solidity. Barça has easily scored the most goals with 34 but it has also conceded fewest at 8 alongside Seville. That record is right up with the best defences in Europe.

Clean sheet

Even though Barça couldn’t keep a clean sheet until its seventh League outing, conceding just one in the last four make the side’s defence into the equal best in the League. In fact in the last 437 minutes only Malaga’s Duda has beaten Víctor Valdés in Barça’s 1-4 win at La Rosaleda. As for the rest, Athletic Club (0-1), Almeria (5-0) and Valladolid (6-0) have all failed to break their duck.

Pressure on opponents

Barça’s great stats are the result in part of the attack taking its chances and making it hard for opponents to begin their own attacks by putting them under pressure. A good example was the fifth goal against Valladolid when Henry stole the ball near the Valladolid box to set up Gudjohnsen who then chipped Asenjo.

As a result of this team effort, Barça’s goal difference is 26 (34-8), a figure that no other side in Europe’s major leagues can equal.

The best European defences

No team in Europe’s best leagues can match Barça’s 3.4 goals per game scored, and few have a defensive record better than the Catalans’ average of 0.8 goals conceded. Only Schalke 04 in the Bundesliga has similar figures (10 against in 12 fixtures); in France’s Ligue 1, Olympique Lyon has only let in 8 in 13 matches. Inter Milan and Juventus have the best defences in the Calcio, having conceded just 7 goals in 11 games (0.6 per match), while in the Premier League Chelsea have the best record in Europe of 4 goals against in 12 encounters.

Most effective striker in Europe

Marc Guillén

Barça forward Samuel Eto'o is setting new personal and European standards for goal scoring.

His four strikes against Valladolid have extended the Cameroon player’s fantastic start to the season.

Personal best

Eto’o has scored 13 times in 10 League fixtures, giving him an average of 1.3 goals per game at a strike rate of one every 58.5 minutes. These are his best figures ever for this stage of the season.

In 2005/06, for instance, Eto'o was top scorer in Spain with 26 strikes in 34 matches to average 0.76 per game. However, he ‘only’ found the net 9 times in Barça’s first 10 fixtures.

Stand out in Europe

No other striker has scored as many goals as Eto'o in Europe’s top leagues, and only two even come close. AZ Alkmaar’s Mounir El Hamdaoui has notched 13 in 10 like Eto'o, but unlike the Cameroonian has no European goals as Alkmaar haven’t qualified for any of the competitions.

The other player close behind Eto'o is Hoffenheim striker Vedad Ibisevic with 13 goals in the Bundesliga. However, his side has played 12 games, two more than Barça.

Messi Enjoying Pep's Attacking Mentality

Lionel Messi has spoken today about the attacking mentality of this current Barcelona side, saying that he enjoys it - and that he would never consider changing his style of play...

Lionel Messi reminded the world, as if he needed to, just why he is a prime candidate for the Balon D'Or this Saturday as he orchestrated Barcelona's 6-0 thrashing of Valladolid at the Camp Nou.

The Argentine was in sublime form, and in an interview with German magazine Kicker, he says that he is enjoying the way that the side are playing - and that he wouldn't change for anyone.

"I have played like this since I was a boy and I would not not think about changing," stressed Messi.

"I like to play instinctively, and I am delighted with the way we are playing, it is a spectacle to watch."

Certainly Barça have been in impressive form under the guidance of new coach Pep Guardiola, whom Messi declared was like one of the players still. It seems that although the secret to the club's form might be the change of coach, Messi has discovered another helping hand, and that is his diet. Speaking to Kicker he affirmed that in a bid to halt the muscular injuries which plagued him at times last year, he has been following a stricter diet, including vegetables and fish, the latter of which he hails as a 'discovery.'

The Argentinian international also spoke about the appointment of Diego Maradona as the national team coach, and said there is "no pressure," but, "the time has arrived for Argentina to return as champions of the world."

Last but not least, Messi discussed the Balon D'Or, and said that while he would be delighted to be the first Argentine since Alfredo di Stefano and Omar Sivori to receive it, he thinks that Cristiano Ronaldo is the favourite.

HISTORY OF FC BARCELONA

On November 29, 1899, Hans Gamper founded Futbol Club Barcelona, along with eleven other enthusiasts of 'foot-ball', a game that was still largely unknown in this part of the world.

He could never have imagined the magnitude of what that initiative would eventually develop into. Over more than one hundred years of history, FC Barcelona has grown spectacularly in every area and has progressed into something much greater than a mere sports club, turning Barça’s ‘more than a club’ slogan into a reality.

Barça has become, for millions of people all around the world, a symbol of their identity, and not just in a sporting sense, but also in terms of society, politics and culture. Throughout the most difficult of times, Barça was the standard that represented Catalonia and the Catalan people's desire for freedom, a symbolism that has continued to be closely linked to the idiosyncrasy of the Club and its members to this day. Within the context of Spain, Barça is seen as an open and democratic club. And all around the world, Barça is identified with caring causes, and most especially children through its sponsorship agreement with Unicef.

For a whole century, FC Barcelona has passed through moments of glory and pain, periods of brilliance and other less successful ones, epic victories and humbling defeats. But all these different moments have helped define the personality of a Club that, due to its peculiar nature, is considered unique in the world.

With over one hundred years of history, there have naturally been many different periods, both in a social and a sporting sense. In the early years (1899-1922) , from the foundation of the club to the construction of Les Corts stadium, Barça was a club that had to distinguish itself from all the other football teams in Barcelona, to the point that it would come to be identified with the city as a whole. Barça soon became the leading club in Catalonia, and also associated itself with the increasingly growing sense of Catalan national identity.

From Les Corts to the Camp Nou (1922-1957), the club went through contrasting periods. Its membership reached 10,000 for the first time, while football developed into a mass phenomenon and turned professional, and these were the years of such legendary figures as Alcántara and Samitier. But due to material difficulties and the political troubles of the Spanish Civil War and post-war period, the club was forced to overcome several adverse circumstances, including the assassination of president Josep Sunyol in 1936, the very person who had propagated the slogan ‘sport and citizenship'. But the club survived, and a period of social and sporting recovery materialised in the form of the Camp Nou, coinciding with the arrival of the hugely influential Ladislau Kubala.

From the construction of the Camp Nou to the 75th anniversary (1957-1974) , Barça suffered mediocre results but was consolidated as an entity, with a constantly increasing membership and the slow but steady recovery, in the face of adversity, of its identity. A very clear sensation that was manifested for the first time ever in the words ‘Barça, more than a club’ proclaimed by president Narcís de Carreras. The board presided by Agustí Montal brought a player to Barcelona who would change the history of the club, Johan Cruyff.

From the 7th anniversary to the European Cup (1974-1992) the club saw the conversion of football clubs to democracy, the start of Josep Lluís Núñez’s long presidency, the extension of the Camp Nou on occasion of the 1982 World Cup and the Cup Winners Cup triumph in Basle (1979), a major success not just in a sporting sense but also in a social one, with an enormous and exemplary expedition of Barça supporters demonstrating to Europe the unity of the Barcelona and Catalan flags. Cruyff returned, this time as coach, and created what would come to be known as the 'Dream Team' (1990-1994), whose crowning glory was the conquest of the European Cup at Wembley (1992), thanks to Koeman’s famous goal.

From Wembley to Paris (1992-2006) was when the club’s most recent developments occurred in between its two greatest achievements, becoming champions of Europe. Josep Lluís Núñez’s long presidency came to and end, and the club displayed its finest potential during the celebrations of the club Centenary. Following on from Joan Gaspart (2000-2003), the June 2003 election brought Joan Laporta into office, and the start of new social expansion, reaching 150,000 members, and more successes on the pitch, including two league titles and the Champions League won in Paris.

The grandeur of Futbol Club Barcelona is explained, among many other factors, by its impressive honours list. Very few clubs anywhere in the world have won so many titles. The Intercontinental Cup is the only major football trophy that has never made its way into the club museum, where the club's greatest pride and joy remain the two European Cups won at Wembley (1992) and in Paris (2006).

These were Barça's finest hours on the continental stage, but the Club also has the honour of being the only one to have appeared in every single edition of European club competition since the tournaments were first created back in 1955. Barcelona's many achievements in Europe include being considered 'King of the Cup Winners Cup', having won that title a record four times.

In addition, FC Barcelona also won three Fairs Cups (the tournament now known as the UEFA Cup) in 1958, 1960 and 1966. In 1971, Barça won that trophy outright in a match played between themselves, as the first ever winners of the competition, and Leeds United, as the last. But Barça not only rules in Europe, but also in Spanish competitions, specifically in the national cup, the Copa del Rey, which they have won 24 times, more than any other club.

The Spanish League has traditionally been one of the competitions Barcelona has found the hardest to win, but especially thanks to some wonderful seasons in the 1990s, a decade when six championships were won, and two more championships in the last two years, Fútbol Club Barcelona has now won 18 Spanish League titles.

Cruyff: “It is a pleasure to see Guardiola on the bench”

Míriam Nadal / Vanessa Forns

Saturday marked half a year since Laporta announced that Guardiola would be the new first team manager. One of the men who managed Guardiola as a player, Cruyff, spoke about what a pleasure it is for him to see his former charge now on the bench.

Following the amazing 6-0 win over Valladolid at the Camp Nou, the former Barça manager spoke to Barça TV about Josep Guardiola’s first six months in charge of the club. “What he is doing is great, step by step he is getting things done the way he thinks they should be done. He is taking care of all the details, and tries to get the best out of every player”, said the man who had the same job between 1988 and 1996.

Taste for good football

Johan Cruyff, who feels highly fortunate to have worked “with people of such high quality as Guardiola, Laudrup and Rijkaard, among others”, highlighted the way they all liked to “play good football. They try to get the fans to enjoy the way they play, and that gives added value. It is not just about winning the game, it’s something more. And that is what makes you feel most proud” he said.

Faithful to philosophy

Joan Laporta referred to the role Guardiola is playing as first team manager. The Barça president explained that the decision to make the Catalan the boss was highly related to the need to “stay faithful to our playing philosophy”.

Laporta: “He was the right man”

“We think he was the right man because of the knowledge he has. He is a man who was born in Santpedor, a little town in Catalonia, and who had managed Barça Atlètic well, who played at every level of our youth system, and who was promoted to the first team under Johan Cruyff. He had the privilege of being coached by him and won four leagues and the Champions League at Wembley. He then stayed on under Robson and Van Gaal”, reminisced Laporta.

Making his own mark

The president also feels both FC Barcelona and Guardiola are “involved in a very nice story”. Joan Laporta believes his new manager “can take advantage of the good work done” by “making his own mark”, which he hopes will lead to a host of triumphs for the club.

http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/noticies/futbol/temporada08-09/11/n081109105951.html

Best goalscoring record for half a century

Roger Bogunyà

It is 49 seasons, since that of 1959/60, that any Spanish league team has scored 34 goals in the first ten league matches. Guardiola’s goalscoring machine is making history.

That average of 3.4 goals a game is the best any side has managed in the Spanish championship since Real Madrid’s start to the 1959/60 season. But even so, that Madrid team was still only second in the league table and had conceded three more goals (eleven) than the present day Barcelona, which has only let in eight.

Better record in 1958/59

The previous season, 1958/59, Real Madrid had scored 35 goals in their first ten matches, which was a better record than Barcelona have now. But with football results tending to be much lower in the modern era, mainly due to much more defence minded tactics, it looked highly unlikely that any team would come close to that record ever again.

Barça are also the highest scoring team in any of the major European leagues after ten games.

Unstoppable at home

When we single out just Barcelona’s home games, the results are even more frightening. Three of the last four games at the Camp Nou, against Betis, Atlético Madrid, Almería and Valladolid) have ended with Barça winning by high margins.

But they have scored hatfuls of goals on away trips to Gijón (1-6), Basel (0-5) and Malaga (1-4).

Three in five for Gudjohnsen

One of Barça’s best goalscorers this season has been Eidur Gudjohnsen, who scored the fifth against Valladolid (6-0). He has only played in five games this season, but has scored in three of them, which means he has now scored more goals this season than he managed in all 23 of his appearances last term.