Andres Iniesta

Luis Suarez was recently given the all clear to make an appearance for Barcelona in the friendly matches and also to train with the team. However, he remains suspended until the end of October as a result of the four month ban he received from Fifa for biting into Italy defender Chiellini. It is highly anticipated that he will make his debut for his new team in the El Clasico against Real Madrid. Ahead of this match the expectations are that the striker will perform exceptionally well. However, there have also been some doubters who think that the 27-year-old will struggle to settle at the Camp Nou.

Manchester United has recently secured the services of a couple of exciting players in the form of Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera. The fans of the club are quite happy with these new signings and so are the other players of the team.

The two prominent players of the Red Devils’ squad i.e. Wayne Rooney and Ashley Young have given warm welcome to the above mentioned two guys.

Young wrote on a social networking site, “I am very happy with the arrival of the new boys Ander and Luke and I want to welcome them with open arms. Really, can’t wait to meet them.”

While, Rooney, who is recovering from a disastrous World Cup journey with England, wrote, “Luke Shaw comes to United. He’s a great bloke and a terrific player. Welcome boy.”

The Red Devils are rumoured to have spent a lot of bucks to bring Shaw and Herrera at Old Trafford.

Spanish midfielder Andres Iniesta has said the team is not likely to forget the humiliation they suffered at the hands of the Netherlands in their opening group game at the World Cup in a hurry and will look to make amends and secure progression into the next round.

Vicente del Bosque oversaw his side surrender a one goal lead to go down 5-1 to an energetic and hungry Dutch side with Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben grabbing two goals each as the reigning world champions suffered their biggest defeat since 1963.

The victory has been hailed by the Dutch media as a perfect payback for their 2010 World Cup final defeat at the hands of Spain while the Spanish media has slammed the team for being too casual in their approach to the game and being arrogant enough to not take the Dutch seriously enough.

Andres Iniesta has surprised everyone by stating that he feels that manager Gerardo Martino is the right fit for Barcelona despite rumours that he is set to depart at the end of the season after a very poor campaign. After winning the league title last season under Tito Vilanova, Barcelona were expected to push on to new heights under Martino. The Argentine was reportedly appointed after recommendation from Lionel Messi, but things have not gone the same way as he would have hoped.

Andres Iniesta’s Barcelona team will be preparing to face rivals Atletico Madrid in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, as they look to seal yet another semi-final place. Barcelona have appeared in all the Champions League semifinals since 2007.

Iniesta has been a major part of it and he is set to make his 500th appearance for the club in this encounter. He needs to be at his best in order to help the Catalan club get over Atletico, who have a 1-1 advantage from the first leg. The score may be level on aggregate, but the crucial away goal gives Diego Simeone’s team a vital advantage.

The second leg will be at the Vicente Calderon, where Atletico have been extremely strong this season.

Barcelona will be taking on Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu this weekend in what promises to be the title decider in Spain. Even though Atletico Madrid are also involved in the title race with only a handful of matches remaining, it is seen as a contest between Madrid and Barcelona.

Carlo Ancelotti’s men have taken the upper hand over the Catalan outfit in the last few weeks. Barcelona have been inconsistent against teams like Valencia and this has made them slip four points behind Real Madrid. Midfielder Andres Iniesta has admitted that the club will not be able to retain the title if they do not win the upcoming El Clasico.

Barcelona went through a very surprising 3-1 defeat when they faced off against Real Sociedad and this loss has allowed Real Madrid to step it up and be the new leaders of La Liga, for the 1st time in this entire season.

Andres Iniesta has always been considered as a leader not only inside the pitch but also outside of it as well. Following the conclusion of the match, the Spanish midfielder had a few words of encoragement to say about their recent defeat.

"Real Sociedad played really well. They were better than us; we were always trailing them," Iniesta told the official Barca website. "This defeat shouldn't make us give up. We have to work hard and turn this situation around. There are many points left, and we have games against direct rivals."

It has been made clear from Barcelona’s side that the injury that Andres Iniesta had suffered on his knees while being on the pitch against Atletico Madrid is not serious and the midfielder would not be missing games because of that.

Iniesta had discovered the injury in the first quarter of that match and his movement seemed to have hindered by that. Eventually, during the half time break, the Barcelona management decided that he wouldn’t take any further part in the match and when the second half action started, it was Lionel Messi who walked out with the team on the place of Iniesta.

Because of the fact that Iniesta wasn’t sent on to the ground in the second half, some people were assuming that his injury might be serious and he might be ruled out for a few days, but, according to Barcelona management, he was taken off just for precaution. He went for the tests later on and it was confirmed that there’s not anything to be concerned about.

Andres Iniesta has said that his Barcelona teammates shouldn’t panic despite a couple of defeats in the last few days.

Barcelona’s performance in their last couple of games has been disastrous. They have suffered competitive defeats against Ajax Amsterdam and Athletic Bilbao respectively.

One can understand Barcelona’s defeat against Ajax as the Dutch side has got some quality, but, very few people would have expected them to lose against Athletic Bilbao.

However, Iniesta reckons that everything is alright and panic shouldn’t creep in the Barcelona camp.

The Spaniard was talking to the reporters yesterday. When he was asked if the confidence level of his side has gone down because of those two defeats, he said, “No, I don’t think so. It was just a couple of bad days. We don’t need to start panicking because of that. The confidence level of the guys is still the same.”

Barcelona has been nothing short than fantastic in the last few years with Messi breaking records season in and season out and now with their recent signing Neymar, it seems as if there is nothing stopping them from ruling Europe once more.

With a signing fee of €57,000,000, the Brazilian youngster is expected to pair up alongside Lionel Messi and overcome everything that is thrown at them.
The start of this dominant however picked off with rather questionable decisions as Pep Guardiola is the man most people give credit for the astonishing success that the Spanish team went through since the moment he took charge back in 2008.

Ronaldinho, Deco, Zambrotta, Giovani dos Santos and Samuel Eto’o all were offloaded from the team as Guardiola did not have any plans for any of them.
It was a way for the youth products to step in the team and play a more vital role.