Barcelona

It feels like it was just yesterday that each of Europe's football leagues was were playing their first games of the 2015 2016 season. However, we're nearing the end of November, which means that we are just about a month away from the mid-season transfer window. Such football clubs (ahemÂ…Chelsea) need all the help they can get with this winter signing period while at least one other (Barcelona) will be getting back into the market for new players after this past summer's transfer ban. Needless to say, January should make for an exciting month in the soccer world. And so far, Paris Saint Germain forward Ezequiel Lavezzi looks like he will be at the center of it all.

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An Imminent Departure?

Lavezzi is 30 years old and has always been dependably solid as a forward and winger at PSG. Since co

Guest Post by Karl Matchett.

Barcelona's treble success of last season was as spectacular as it was deserved, but the way the current season began it seemed as though getting anywhere near to repeating the trick would be a near-impossible juggling act.

Injuries, suspensions and the registration ban on new players meant a severely depleted squad for Luis Enrique to deal with in the first three months of the campaign and it is only now that he is beginning to have players return, with Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Ivan Rakitic all coming back in the past two or three matches.

Those last couple of games have shown exactly why Barcelona remain the team to beat, particularly the awe-inspiring front line of Leo Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar.

A 4-0 win in

Coming into the first El Clasico match of the 2015 2016 season, most soccer fans and pundits alike were expecting to see a fairly competitive game. Games between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid tend to bring the excitement, and the November 21^st fixture had numerous different interesting narrative angles to consider. As it turned out Barcelona crush Real Madrid and confirm their position atop the La Liga table, but what happened during the match?

Heading into the game, no one knew quite what to expect. Barca were leading the La Liga table, but Real would have the home field advantage. New Vikings manager Rafael Benitez would be facing Barcelona for the first time in his tenure. Lionel Messi, rumors indicated, he might be back on the pitch after a lengthy injury spell. And the top five most expensive players in the history of football-Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Suarez, Neymar, and James Rodriguez-were all set to be on the pitch at the same time, for the first time

Guest Post by Karl Matchett.

Barcelona head into El Clasico in the rare and envious position of being a club facing a win-win situation, as they look to take on Real Madrid in the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday afternoon.

Sitting first in the table by three points, the Catalan side know that at worst, even defeat will still leave them level on points at the top of La Liga-and an away defeat to Real Madrid is hardly cause for embarrassment. Instead, the pressure and the expectation will all be on the home side, as the home side, to do the chasing.

It's a fine starting point for Barça-but that's not all they'll want it to be. Instead, they'll be looking to maximise the opportunity they have given themselves to extend the lead at the top of La Liga and head off to the Club World Cup in December w

El Clasico, the name given to any fixture played between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, has always been one of the most-anticipated rivalry matches in Spanish football. This season, though, El Clasico 2015 might be the biggest rivalry game and the most anticipated football contest in the entire sport. Not only are Barca and Real Madrid fierce La Liga rivals with a score to settle-Barca only beat the Vikings to the title by two points last season-but they are also the last two Champions League winners. Real Madrid won a landmark 10^th Champions League title in 2014 while Barcelona won the UCL last season as part of their second-ever treble victory.

Needless to say, all eyes will be on the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on Sunday, November 21^st, when the 2015 2016 season sees its first incarnation of the El Clasico rivalry match. Which team will win? Which club will take the bragging rights? Who will score the most goals? All of these questions are on the table as the

In July, Josep Maria Bartomeu was officially re-elected as the President of FC Barcelona, with more than half the votes (54.6 percent, to be exact) tallied in his favor. Now, the President has outlined his six-year vision for Barca football club.

Information about Bartomeu's six-year plan was posted on Barca's official website on Saturday, October 25^th. In his speech about his vision for Barcelona's future, Bartomeu expressed his belief that the soccer club is currently "in fantastic shape." Those comments were backed up by Barca's winning performance on October 25^th, which saw Luis Suarez scoring a hat trick to give the team a 3-1 win against Eibar. The win put Barcelona in second place in the 2015 2016, separated from Real Madrid's point leaders by nothing but goal difference.

The Spanish tax office could have riots and uprisings on their hands if they continue to pursue Lionel Messi for tax fraud. Messi and his father are both facing three counts of tax fraud and will have to stand trial to refute the charges in court. The supposed tax fraud allegedly took place between 2007 and 2009, with Lionel and his father accused of defrauding Spanish tax authorities of $4.5 million in unpaid taxes. If Leo is found guilty, at least one state attorney for the Spanish tax office wants to put him behind bars for 22 months. So could Messi be forced out of Barcelona? And which club would benefit from the Spanish tax authorities allegations.

Messi and his father have been facing these accusations for years now, and the process has grown increasingly murky and convoluted in that time. For instance, just days before news broke that Spanish authorities would seek a prison sentence for Messi, Barcelona prosecutors cleared the Argentine soccer of all wrongdoing in the case.

FC Barcelona found the magic formula last season by combining the offensive talents of Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Luis Suarez into an unstoppable vanguard. The football club won the treble (the La Liga, the Copa del Rey, and the Champions League), and the Messi-Neymar-Suarez trio was named by some soccer pundits as the best front three in Barcelona history.

This season, Barcelona have struggled to live up to the immense hype of their 2014 2015 season, though the deck has at times seemed stacked against them. Between a transfer ban that kept Barca from bringing in new players for the fall, and an injury for Lionel Messi, Barca haven't looked quite as unstoppable as they did a year ago. Still, though, it's difficult to count the team out of any competition, simply because they could easily reach their highest heights yet once Messi returns from injury.

While Barcelona's magic formula can't last forever, though-no unstoppable front three ever can-at least one star footballer could

In most of the football leagues throughout Europe, clear frontrunners have already emerged following the first eight or nine weeks of competitive play. In the English Premier League, Manchester City are two points up; in the German Bundesliga, Bayern Munich have already established a seven-point lead; and in the French Ligue 1, Paris Saint Germain are leading the way by five. But eight weeks into the 2015/16 La Liga the standings are not so clear-cut.

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A Three-Way Tie

In the Spanish La Liga not only is there no clear frontrunner at this point, but the standings posit the division as a three-way dead heat. FC Barcelona were expected to rule the roost for the 2015 2016 campaign, following an incredible treble-winning season in 2014 2015. But with the great Lionel Messi on the

It's been a tumultuous season at Camp Nou so far, but FC Barcelona regain traction following the International break. When Lionel Messi went down clutching his knee, 10 minutes into a September 26^th home match against Las Palmas, everyone in the stadium knew that the unthinkable had happened. Messi had dodged injury for nearly two years, ever since a hamstring injury that caused him to miss the last few months of 2013. The knee injury Messi suffered in the Las Palmas match shattered that streak and demanded that he take two months to rest and recover.

Needless to say, Messi's injury has put Barcelona's title hopes in doubt for the 2015 2016 season. Barca held things together to win the Las Palmas match but lost their next La Liga fixture, an October 3^rd away game at Sevilla. The loss cost Barca their spot at the top of the 2015 2016 La Liga table.

The good news is that Barcelona look to have regained their synergy following a two-week rest. The weekend