FC Barcelona

FC Barcelona

"I don't know, it will be the club's decision. Marc shows every week that he is 100% committed to Crystal Palace. There's no need to think about it,"

On 12 August, the president of CENAFE sent a written request to the CSD and its president, Jose Manuel Rodriguez Uribes, in which he asked to: "Impose on Mr Javier Tebas Medrano, president of LaLiga, for the commission of 5 very serious offences under article 76.2.a) of Law 10/1990 of 15 October on Sport for breach of the duty of neutrality, the sanction of removal from office".

Frenkie de Jong will not be available after picking up two yellow cards in the clash with Celta Vigo, forcing him to serve his suspension tomorrow. To add to that, Pedri is still not fit enough to feature, leaving Flick with a familiar dilemma. It is a situation the German coach has already experienced before, almost identical, in fact, to the one he faced during his early days at the club.

The 22-year-old has been pushing hard to return ahead of schedule, but the latest assessment suggests that a comeback against Chelsea is unlikely. Instead, the club now believes his more realistic return date will be during the fixtures against Alaves or Atletico Madrid. Pedri has spent weeks battling his way back from a tear in his left hamstring, suffered during the El Clasico on 26 October.

Font argued that the financial levers later pulled with Sixth Street proved that retaining Messi was always a possibility, had there been a plan. "Barça had the potential to retain Messi in 2021, but we got to June promising that he would be renewed at a barbecue... The moment for the signing to be made official arrived, and it didn't happen," Font explained.

Given his exploits at Barcelona and past experience in the Premier League, Raphinha has become the main target of English champions Liverpool for 2026, reports . Indeed, the Reds have Raphinha on their radar and would be willing to offer close to €100 million to sign him in the next summer transfer window. Liverpool want the Barcelona winger as a potential replacement for Mohamed Salah, who could leave after a dip in form and due to significant offers from Saudi Arabia.

Joan Laporta and Deco, at this point, are perhaps Barcelona's two most important figures in terms of the club's football project. The club president, after all, has been working to no end to ensure the Catalans can recover from the financial muddle they were in, while the sporting director has done a decent job in recent transfer windows to work with the limited finances.

He's a very good player. Very modest and humble, which is a gift. He's not an egocentric striker; he plays for the team. I like that: he's hard-working, he draws attention so others can take advantage of the space. He played one game with us and did well, even though he didn't score,

It seemed to be because of a technical fault in the stadium. The delay lasted eight minutes, the two teams keeping warm on the pitch in the freezing temperatures. Come the second-half it was more of the same, and Chelsea thought they'd got the lead only for Catarina Macario's goal to be ruled out for the tightest of offsides. Carpenter then had an incredible opportunity to put Chelsea ahead in the 80th minute only to fire wide.

"For me, Lamine is a great player and will be a player who will mark an era at Barça, I think, but well, in the end he spoke in a certain way, he heated up the game a bit and obviously the press jumped on him," Courtois noted. "Carva or Huijsen are in the national team and I think there's zero problem with Lamine. It's something that stays on the field and there's nothing going on off it," he further added.

I'm happy. I think I'm continuing to grow. I finished last season this way, and I'm continuing in the same vein this season. I'm very satisfied with the confidence the manager is showing in me and with the matches I'm playing and will play. There's still a long way to go. There's been some noise from outside, some doubts because of a few bad matches we've had.