Barcelona - NouCamp Faithful

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Barcelona 0 - 0 Real Madrid : Barcelona and Real Madrid settle for first goalless draw in last 50 Clasicos

Real Madrid outplayed Barcelona for large parts of Wednesday's La Liga clash but were unable to make their dominance count and the Clasico ended goalless to leave the Catalans top of the standings on goal difference.

Both sides had shots cleared off the line and Gareth Bale did put the ball in the net after the interval but his strike was narrowly ruled out for offside and the fixture ended scoreless for the first time since November, 2002.

The draw left Barca top on 36 points after 17 games with Real also on 36, five clear of third-placed Sevilla.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

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Barcelona 4 - 1 Alavés : Barcelona rout Alaves as Messi, Griezmann and Suarez net

Barcelona opened up a three-point lead over rivals Real Madrid at the top of La Liga on Saturday, defeating Alaves 4-1 thanks to goals from Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann, Luis Suarez and Arturo Vidal.

Barca, who drew 0-0 with Madrid at the Camp Nou in El Clasico on Wednesday, opened the scoring 14 minutes in as Griezmann scored his seventh league goal of the season.

The France international found the net with a first-time strike from the edge of the box.

The home side dominated possession throughout the first half as Alaves failed to produce a single shot on target, then doubled their lead on half-time through Chile international Vidal.

Alaves pulled one back shortly before the hour mark, with Pere Pons scoring for the visitors, but their fightback was cut short as Messi curled in his team's third from outside the box.

Messi's strike marked the sixth year in a row he has scored 50 goals in a calendar year.

Suarez completed the scoring with a penalty 15 minutes from time.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

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Espanyol 2 - 2 Barcelona : Wu Lei strikes late as Espanyol and Barcelona draw in Catalan derby

Chinese striker Wu Lei scored a late goal to earn Espanyol a 2-2 draw with Barcelona in an entertaining affair in the Catalan derby.

Barcelona were trying to move back to the top of La Liga after Real Madrid beat Getafe 3-0 earlier in the day, but they were down 1-0 inside of 25 minutes when David Lopez's glancing header from a free kick left Neto frozen footed in the visitor's goal.

Ivan Rakitic made way for Arturo Vidal at half-time and Barca got back on level terms five minutes after the restart when Luis Suarez beat Diego Lopez at the near post with a first-time shot from Jordi Alba's perfect ball into the penalty area.

Suarez then turned provider, crossing with the outside of his foot for Vidal to head home at the back post and put Barcelona in front 2-1.

Frenkie de Jong picked up a pair of yellow cards in just under 10 minutes and was sent off with a quarter of an hour to play, leaving Barcelona to finish the match shorthanded.

The booking would cost Barcelona as substitute Lei picked up a nice through ball from Matías Vargas, took one look at the goal and blasted a first-time shot past Neto to level the score and become the first Chinese player to score against Barcelona.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

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Barcelona 2 - 3 Atletico Madrid : Atletico Madrid beat Barcelona to set up Supercopa derby with Madrid

Atletico Madrid battled back to beat Barcelona 3-2 in the semifinals of the Spanish Supercopa in Saudi Arabia on Thursday night in a wildly entertaining match that featured five second-half goals.

Both teams fielded full-strength sides for the chance to play Real Madrid, who beat Valencia on Wednesday in the other semi, in the final of the first-ever four-team Super Cup competition.

Barcelona had by far the better of the opening 45 minutes, but were held scoreless by Atleti in the first half despite spending plenty of time in their opponent's penalty area.

Diego Simeone brought Koke on at half-time for Hector Herrera and seconds after the restart the Spain international had Atleti in front, slotting past Neto in the Barca net from a clever Angel Correa assist.

Barcelona hit right back through Lionel Messi, though, as the team's talisman bulldozed his way into the Atleti box and lashed home a shot past Jan Oblak to even the score minutes into the second half.

Messi produced more magic just before the hour mark, with another lovely goal ruled out after VAR showed the ball had bounced off the Barca No. 10's upper arm before he shot.

However, Barca's next goal counted, as Antoine Griezmann nodded in the rebound after a powerful Suarez header from Jordi Alba's inch-perfect, whipped in cross fell to him to make it 2-1.

The wide-open second half raged on and Vitolo, who had only just come off the bench, drew a penalty from Neto for tripping in the area and Alvaro Morata calmly stepped up and sent the Barca keeper the wrong way to get Atleti back on level terms.

Atleti, who hadn't beaten Barca since 2016, were denied a clear penalty for handball on Pique shortly after their equaliser, but they'd take the lead in the 86th minute when Correa got in behind the Barca defence and beat Neto to hand his team the win.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

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Barcelona 1 - 0 Granada : Messi gives new boss Quique Setien first win in charge at Barcelona

Barcelona may have a new coach but Lionel Messi remains their unquestionable talisman after guiding the Spanish champions to a nervy 1-0 win at home to Granada in La Liga on Sunday in Quique Setien's first game in charge of the club.

The Argentine struck the only goal in the 76th minute, firing into the bottom corner to complete a well crafted team move shortly after the visitors had defender German Sanchez sent off.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

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UD Ibiza 1 - 2 Barcelona : Barcelona squeak by tiny Ibiza with second-half Antoine Griezmann brace

Antoine Griezmann scored a second-half stoppage time goal for Barcelona as the narrowly beat third-tier minnows Ibiza 2-1 in the round of 32 of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday night.

The goal was Griezmann's second of the night as Barca avoided what would have been a humiliating defeat after trailing at half-time.

Barcelona's new boss Quique Setien rested some of his top players like Lionel Messi, Gerard Pique and Sergio Busquets and found his rotated side trailing before 10 minutes when Pep Caballe finished off a nice team move by the minnows from the Spanish archipelago.

Barca finally drew level in the 72nd minute thanks to Griezmann, who finished neatly from a Frenkie de Jong assist to make it 1-1 and set up a tense finish to the second half.

And with the match looking like it was headed to extra time, Griezmann popped up again to finish a quick-hitting counter-attack to send Barca through to the round of 16.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

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Valencia 2 - 0 Barcelona : Setien's Barcelona outclassed by Valencia as Maxi Gomez stars

Quique Setien's honeymoon period as Barcelona coach is officially over after a Jordi Alba own goal and a strike from Maxi Gomez helped Valencia to a 2-0 win over the La Liga leaders on Saturday.

Alba deflected home Gomez's shot at the beginning of the second half and the Uruguayan striker, who missed a first-half penalty, then finished off the game in the 77th minute as Valencia earned their first win over Barca at Mestalla since 2008. They have won at Camp Nou since then, mind, and also emerged victorious when the two sides met in last season's Copa del Rey final.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

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Barcelona 5 - 0 Leganes : Barcelona beat Leganes to reach Copa del Rey quarterfinals

A Lionel Messi-inspired Barcelona eased past Leganes 5-0 on Thursday to reach the Copa del Rey quarterfinals.

Last season's Copa runners-up went ahead after four minutes when Nelson Semedo raced onto Messi's through ball and squared for Antoine Griezmann to finish from close range.

Messi turned provider when Clement Lenglet nodded in from a corner to double the Catalan side's advantage.

The Argentine added a deflected third on the hour before rounding off the scoring in the final minute after substitute Arthur had netted the fourth.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

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Barcelona 2 - 1 Levante : Ansu Fati, 17, youngest to score brace in La Liga

Barcelona teenager Ansu Fati scored twice to lead his side to a 2-1 win at home to Levante on Sunday, finding the net in a league game for the first time in more than four months and becoming the youngest player to net a La Liga double.

Fati, 17, latched on to a superb crossfield ball from Lionel Messi and fired between the legs of Levante goalkeeper Aitor Fernandez to give Barca a deserved lead on the half-hour mark.

The Guinea-Bissau-born forward promptly linked up with Messi again to double Barca's lead two minutes later, getting some good fortune as the ball bobbled through the legs of Fernandez and into the net.

Levante, who beat Barca 3-1 at home earlier this campaign, got a consolation goal in added time through Ruben Rochina.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)[/QUOTE]

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Athletic Bilbao 1 - 0 Barcelona : Barcelona out of Copa del Rey by Athletic Bilbao on last-gasp strike

Record 30-times winners Barcelona were sent crashing out of the Copa del Rey in a 1-0 defeat at Athletic Bilbao on Thursday after a stoppage-time header from Inaki Williams.

Spanish striker Williams glanced a cross into the bottom corner to spark jubilant scenes at a rocking San Mames stadium and recalled Aritz Aduriz's added-time goal in Athletic's 1-0 home win over Barca on the first day of the Liga season.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

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Real Betis 2 - 3 Barcelona : Lionel Messi leads Barcelona past Real Betis with a hat trick of assists

Lionel Messi had a trio of assists as Barcelona kept pace with La Liga leaders Real Madrid thanks to a 3-2 win over Real Betis in a match that saw both teams finish with 10 players.

Barcelona came into the match trailing Madrid by six points after the leaders beat Osasuna earlier on Sunday and found themselves trailing Betis early when Sergio Canales converted a penalty for hand ball on Clement Lenglet.

The visitors struck right back with an inspired goal to draw level as Frenkie de Jong settled a perfect Messi long ball with his chest and volleyed past Betis keeper Joel Robles with his second touch.

Barca looked ready to add to their lead, but a bad giveaway in midfield sprang the hosts on the counter-attack finished off with a sumptuous strike from Nabil Fekir to put Betis up 2-1.

Betis were seconds away from taking the lead into the dressing room until a free kick into the area fell to Sergio Busquets and he cooly settled it and beat Robles to again draw Barcelona level right before the referee blew the half-time whistle.

Robles came up with two big saves against Messi in the opening 15 minutes of the second half as Barcelona dominated possession but could not find the go-ahead goal.

Lenglet finally headed Barcelona into the lead shortly after the 70-minute mark, out jumping his defender to redirect a Messi cross into the back of the net to give his team a deserved lead.

Both teams were reduced to to 10 players shortly after the go-ahead goal for Barca, as Fekir was given his second yellow card for dissent and Lenglet also getting a second booking for a foul on Joaquin to set up a tense finish.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

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Barcelona 2 - 1 Getafe : Barcelona go level on points with Real Madrid after Getafe win

Barcelona went level on points with rivals Real Madrid at the top of La Liga on Saturday with a 2-1 win against Getafe at the Camp Nou.

Antoine Griezmann opened the scoring for Barca in the 33rd minute, stabbing the ball past goalkeeper David Soria with the outside of his boot after a deft first-time pass from Lionel Messi.

Sergi Roberto soon doubled the hosts' lead, firing past Soria after a well-worked team move.

Getafe pulled one back through Angel on 66 minutes, but Barca were able to see out the game for all three points.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

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Barcelona 5 - 0 Eibar : Messi nets four as Barcelona hammer Eibar after difficult week

Lionel Messi scored four goals as Barcelona eased to a 5-0 victory at home to Eibar on Saturday.

Messi showed his class with a stunning opener on 14 minutes as he bamboozled three defenders before showing incredible balance to dink the ball over onrushing goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic.

Messi added a second on 37 minutes when he ran onto Arturo Vidal's pass to smash the ball across Dmitrovic and into the far corner.

He completed his hat trick on 40 minutes as he took advantage of some lax defending. The Argentina forward attempted to tee up strike partner Antoine Griezmann, but the ball found its way back to Messi, who coolly slotted home.

New signing Martin Braithwaite came on for his debut with late on and had a hand in the fourth as his effort was saved into Messi's path, but the 32-year-old still took the opportunity to sit Dmitrovic down before passing into an empty net three minutes from time.

Artur added a fifth on 89 minutes as Barca returned to the top of the table.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

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Napoli 1 - 1 Barcelona : Barcelona problems grow in feisty Champions League draw with Napoli

(1st Leg)

Barcelona came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw with Napoli in the Champions League on Tuesday as Antoine Griezmann netted a vital away goal in the round-of-16 first leg.

On a difficult evening for Barca, Napoli took the lead on the half-hour mark when Dries Mertens curled a superb effort past Marc-Andre ter Stegen from outside the box.

The finish saw the Belgium international become the joint-highest scorer in Napoli history with 121 goals -- level with Marek Hamsik.

The home team frustrated Barca for much of the first half, but the visitors equalised on 57 minutes when Nelson Semedo crossed for Griezmann to finish a well-worked move in clinical fashion.

What had been a feisty affair ended with Barca's Arturo Vidal receiving two yellow cards at once to be dismissed and teammate Gerard Pique being substituted after sustaining an ankle injury.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

[PaulMerson]

Real Madrid taught Barcelona a lesson this morning.

Barcelona will not win this Champions League.