Lionel Messi formally signs two-year contract extension with Barcelona

Lionel Messi has signed his two-year contract extension with Barcelona.

The Argentina superstar put pen to paper on his new deal at the Nou Camp this afternoon and is now tied to the Catalan giants until June 30, 2018.

Messi follows in the footsteps of fellow club stalwarts Xavi and Carles Puyol, both of whom signed their extensions last month.

Barca announced in December they had agreed new contracts with the trio.

Barca defender Jordi Alba is delighted Messi, who will be 31 when his new deal expires, has committed his long-term future to the club.

"I can't imagine what Messi will be like in 2018, but it's great news for Barca fans that he's staying," said the Spain international today.

"He is the best player in the world and as long as nothing happens, he'll be the best ever. We'll try to make him feel as comfortable here as we can."

Messi, 25, came up through the youth ranks at Barca before making his competitive debut against Espanyol in 2004 at the age of 17.

Since then he has established himself as one of the best players in history, breaking numerous records in the process.

He won his fourth straight FIFA World Player of the Year award last month following a remarkable 2012 in which he scored 91 goals - smashing the world record of 85 in a calendar year set by Bayern Munich and West Germany striker Gerd Muller in 1972.

While setting that record, Messi became the first man to score five times in a Champions League game as Barca crushed Bayer Leverkusen 7-1 last March.

Three weeks after that he became Barca's all-time leading goalscorer after a brace against Granada moved him on to 233 official goals, one more than the previous record set by Cesar Rodriguez during the 1940s and 50s.

He has been in similarly stunning form in 2013 and his goal in Sunday's 1-1 draw at Valencia was a league-record 12th consecutive game in which he found the net.

During his time at the Nou Camp, Messi has also helped Barca win a host of silverware, including five Primera Division titles, three Champions Leagues, two Copa del Rey crowns and two FIFA Club World Cups.

Ronaldo is unfortunate to play in the Messi era, says Larsson

The Celtic legend has nothing but praise for the Portuguese, but feels the four-time Ballon d'Or winner is an even better player

Former Barcelona star Henrik Larsson feels Real Madrid attacker Cristiano Ronaldo is unfortunate to be playing in the same era as Lionel Messi.

Larsson has stressed that Ronaldo has a lot of quality as well, but believes he is no match for the Argentina internationa.

"I don't think there's too much difference between the two of them because they are both great players," Larsson told Xarxa.

"Cristiano is unlucky to be playing at the same time as Messi. Ronaldo is a very good player, but Messi is even better.

"Messi has won the Ballon d'Or in the past few years, four years in a row to be more precise. 

"He is from out of this world. He's so good that it's almost incredible. When you see him with the ball at his feet it's hard to believe that anybody else could do the same. He's a fantastic player to see."

Messi has already netted 34 goals in 22 Liga appearances for Barcelona this term and signed a new contract at Camp Nou until 2018 on Thursday.
 

Neymar-FC Barcelona, Villa-Arsenal FC, Bale-Bayern Munich - 5 deals to watch

 

Clubs already looking at possible summer transfer targets as the transfer speculation involving high-profile players continues to make headlines.

FootballTips.com writer Thomas Rooney looks at five transfer deals that could be on the cards this summer...

1. Neymar to BarcelonaNeymar may not have impressed many with his performance against England in midweek, but the Brazil international is a supreme talent. So much so that the top European clubs are chasing his signature. The No.1 contenders? Barcelona, who could make their move in the summer.

Chelsea, Juventus, Manchester City, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid have also shown interest in the 21-year-old.

2. Gareth Bale to Bayern MunichThis is just a hunch, but Bale's future is bound to be discussed this summer. If Tottenham fail to reach the Champions League, the Welsh winger will surely be on the move.

Pep Guardiola will take over at Bayern Munich in the summer of course and he could target Bale as one of his first recruits. You can see him excelling in the Bundesliga too and Guardiola will believe he can get the best out of him.

3. Thomas Ince to LiverpoolInce nearly moved to Liverpool in January, but his father, Paul, encouraged his son to stay at Blackpool and continue to play first team football.

Liverpool are likely to be back in for the England Under-21 man though and as Brendan Rodgers continues to build a young and exciting team, Ince could well be one of the first summer recruits.

4. Gary Hooper to NorwichThis move never materialised in January, but Norwich's four bids for the Celtic striker showed how interested they are in securing his signature.

The Canaries could go back in for Hooper too. In the summer, he will only have one year remaining on his contract and he is definitely going to be keen to move to the Premier League.

If Norwich are willing to spend around £7million on him - the amount they bid in January - they could get their man.

5. David Villa to ArsenalThis is another move that was much discussed in January and everything seems set up nicely to go ahead on the summer.

Although the player was keen to move to England, Barcelona didn't want to sell him halfway through the season. With time to recruit a placement though, this could change in the summer.

There will be competition for Arsenal, but Arsene Wenger could ensure first-team football and sell the club as a whole to Villa.

40 million of fans on FC Barcelona's Facebook

Callejon not told the truth

After the first semi match King's Cup between Real Madrid and Barcelona (1-1), Barcelona defender Jordi Alba, said that Lionel Messi is a very quiet and modest and does not offend any of the RealMadrid. According Madrid player Callejon, "Flea" was in the parking lot of the stadium "Santiago Bernabeu" and blasphemed Arbeloan idiot and Karankën called "Mourinho doll."
"This is not an issue to break the codes of ethics or football. This situation only they saw. Neither I nor any of the other players not noticed anything like that," said the Catalans.
While said player too happy with the fact of the renewal of the contract by the Argentine until 2018.
Barcelona plays Saturday at 12:00 against Getafe, but for counsel time is not a concern.

Barcelona: Valdes’ decision causes mixed reaction

Last month the Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes announced that he would not be renewing his contract with the club that ends in June 2014. He has been the first choice goalkeeper since 2003/4 and has won a staggering 19 titles with his beloved Barcelona.

There has been a fairly mixed reaction to the news that the Catalan club now need to find a replacement goalkeeper. Some feel that it is greed and that he has possibly already negotiated a better deal elsewhere. Others feel that he owes the club everything and should be more loyal, whilst some feel that he has dedicated a significant period of his career to the club and should be celebrated rather than berated.

Ever since becoming number one at Barcelona there are very few players who have divided opinion as much as Valdes. Many see him as being the weak point of the side; someone who makes too many errors and a player some see as not good enough to warrant the role he has enjoyed at the club for the last 10 seasons.

Others, this writer included, feel that he is a highly underrated keeper who has, at times kept Barcelona in games when they didn’t deserve to be so (away at the Mestalla last weekend against Valencia for example).

One thing in particular stands out about Valdes’ keeping ability which is his ability at one on one shot stopping. There are few goalkeepers in the world who are quite as accomplished when dealing with an on coming striker. Perhaps the constant training with the likes of Iniesta, Messi, Ronaldinho and Villa have given him an insight into the striker’s mind. Somehow he always manages to get a touch on everything and protect the goal.

Most people forget that being a goalkeeper in a side such as Barca’s is actually quite a tough job. For long periods of the game you can have nothing to do as your side is controlling the possession but at any time you could be called into action and focus needs to be applied. It is actually when your star performers are not quite at their best when you find out how good your goalkeeper is, and Valdes has proved that time and again during his career.

The list of attributes needed to replace Valdes would make interesting reading. Firstly they will have to be a good commanding keeper capable of organising a defence.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, they will have to be good in possession as much of Barca’s distribution from the defence is made along the ground. There have been several names touted around at the moment and that will be commented upon at length over the coming months.

Whatever the feeling is about Valdes’ decision it is one that has been made and the future is now the important thing. It is almost inconceivable to think it will affect the player’s dedication to the cause and could actually inspire him towards one last push.

He has been a great servant for the club and has at least allowed them plenty of time to find his replacement.

Barcelona's Lionel Messi signs 2-year contract extension

Lionel Messi has signed a two-year contract extension with Barcelona, linking him to the Spanish club until June 2018.

The 25-year-old Argentina forward joined Barcelona when he was 13, and debuted with the first team three years later. He has gone on to become Barcelona's all-time leading scorer en route to winning four FIFA world player of the year awards.

Barcelona first announced in December that Messi, along with midfielder Xavi Hernandez and defender Carles Puyol, had agreed to extend their contracts.

Barcelona defender Jordi Alba says Messi's renewal "is great news for Barcelona."

Does FC Barcelona Miss Coach Tito Vilanova?

With first-year manager Tito Vilanova in the United States receiving treatment for cancer, his second-in-command, Jordi Roura, has taken over the reigns, at least to an extent. In Vilanova's absence, Barcelona have put in some underwhelming performances. Does the Blaugrana miss his guidance, or is it just an excuse?

When you have someone fighting for his life, it's strange to even think about its implications on football. Unfortunately,Barcelona fans have been confronted with just those thoughts a lot recently.

Last season, they may have asked whether the team would have won the Champions League with the steady Eric Abidal patrolling the left flank, not fighting a liver tumor. This season, they wonder if the unimpressive results of the past few weeks are partly due to the absence of coach Tito Vilanova, who is receiving treatment from cancer.

Some of these results have included an acceptable but wholly unspectacular 1-1 in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinal against Real Madrid and a tepid draw with Valencia last week.

Jordi Roura has taken over in the interim, although Vilanova is in constant communication with all of the staff. Roura, a scout under Pep Guardiola's regime and in his first year as assistant manager, does not have such an impressive CV as manager.

His lone head coaching job was at CE L'Hospitalet, a team in the Spanish third division that fired him before being relegated into the fourth division.

But with Vilanova's life on the line, who cares about Barca's matches? Well, Tito himself does, for one.

It's been reported that Vilanova watches the games on the internet and sends his recommendations via mobile phone. It's probable that he has final say in team selection and strategy. So while Roura is the maximum authority on the field, it's still Vilanova's team.

Then, does it really make a difference? Would Vilanova really have made more subs in the game against Madrid or rotated the squad more against Valencia, both concepts the fans demanded after the results had come in?

Maybe, but probably not. Vilanova has made it a habit to make his subs late, and while some fans hoped to see David Villa subbed in against Madrid, Vilanova did no such thing in the previous meeting between the sides when he was on the field.

However, picking lineups and making subs is but a small part of the puzzle that entails being a manager. In fact, it's probably the easiest part. Here, I can pick a lineup: Valdes, Alves, Pique, Puyol, Busquets, Xavi, Cesc, Pedro, Messi, Iniesta. Sub in Villa, Thiago, and Alexis. Or whatever.

The behind-the-scenes is what really can make a manager, and something I probably can't replicate. It's the small adjustments, the observations in training, and even the halftime speeches. Sure, Vilanova sends his recommendations but it's not quite the same.

In-game, they arrive with a delay as the TV signal goes to the internet and travels to New York, and as he types his message, which travels back to Europe.

In training, Vilanova cannot observe how the players are doing first-hand. Any decisions he makes are filtered. It's not a huge handicap, but it's not ideal.

Any words he has for the team are filtered as well, by phone, written word, or video chat. It's just not quite the same.

While Roura is talented (again, he was a successful scout that studied other opponents under Guardiola and has done a good job given the circumstances), undoubtedly Vilanova is the better manager of the two.

So, is the team affected by their manager being away? Yes, but not by much. It's not an excuse, but it's only logical.

Barcelona will not rush things withAbidal, says Zubizarreta

The French defender has been out of action for nearly a year after undergoing a liver transplant, but he is slowly edging closer to his comeback

Barcelona sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta has stressed that the Catalans will not rushEric Abidal's return to action after a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

The French defender underwent a liver transplant in April 2012, and has not featured for theBlaugrana since, but was recently declared fit to make a comeback.

"The aim of the process is for Abidal to play again. We don’t want to rush things. We’ll take things one step at a time," Zubizarreta was quoted as saying on the official Barcelona website.

"Life has its moments and situations and it’s a long and difficult road, so we always have to stand by him. We have come here together."

Abidal resumed squad training again on Tuesday after spending a few days in hospital for routine checks.

Zubizarreta then went on to reveal that Barcelona are ready to open contract talks with promising youngsters Gerard Deulofeu and Rafinha.

"We’ll sit down with Deulofeu and talk about his staying on, the same goes for Rafinha."

Latest Pep Guardiola news: Bayern vs. Barcelona in July

Rarely will a meaningless July friendly in Europe drum up this much interest. But as this fall will be blooming with Pep Guardiola news, may as well start the Pep party early.

On July 24, Bayern Munich will host Barcelona at the Allianz Arena in Bavaria. That will happen about three weeks into Guardiola’s term as manager at Bayern. The two clubs announced the friendly this morning.

Guardiola, of course, is the highly successful former manager at Barcelona, where he won three La Liga crowns and two UEFA Champions League titles, among a raft of other trophies and honors during his time at the Camp Nou.

He took a year sabbatical at the end of Spain’s 2011–12 season (living in New York through the fall and winter) but last month was appointed to replace Jupp Heynckes at Bayern.