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Barcelona announced that they’ve invited Chapecoense to the Camp Nou to play in the 2017 Joan Gamper Trophy match. Associação Chapecoense de Futebol, a football club from Brazil, have been hit by the most devastating and depressing moment of this football season. As they were flying to Colombia to play in the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana final, their plane crashed. It left 76 people dead and most of them were players and coaches of the team. Their story is quite remarkable to say the least. They were dubbed the Brazilian version of Leicester City (by now you know their story). The club, from Chapeco in Santa Catarina, came to life in the 1970s. In 2007, they were playing in the country’s fourth tier of football. Chapecoense had been punching above their own weight dominating in Brazil while making it to a cup final. Now, football fans everywhere have been in mourning of the Brazilian club and the fans have really embraced the team. However, many good things have come to ...

A promising performance from the Catalans, but defensive issues took away the win at the end. Don Iniesta The heart of Barcelona is back, and it was obvious for all to see. The uplift in the atmosphere around the stadium when he came on was huge. This translated on to the field as well with some wonderful play which had Iniesta at the heart of it. This was not the result we were looking for, but the return of the little magician could be a pivotal moment in Barcelona’s season. He seems to bring balance to the team both offensively and defensively. The Catalans look a lot more fluid up front with him as well due to his beautiful link-up play and excellent decision-making. The exquisite pass he fired through, with precision, to Messi deserved a goal, and was good enough to secure the points in a game of such magnitude. However, it wasn’t to be, but it still serves as a tasty reminder of what the Don is capable of. His return takes some of the creative load off of Lion...

Manchester United have only just made  Anthony Martial  the most expensive teenager in history, but the sun  believes Real Madrid and Barcelona would be ready to offer the Red Devils a profit on their investment. The France international cost an initial £36 million, but with a further £8m arriving once he reaches 25 goals for Jose Mourinho's side and that same amount once he earns 25 caps for  Les Bleus , United's outlay is likely to be at least £52m before the end of next season. The report suggests the Spanish clubs would offer £60m, though United would surely be uninterested in a modest return at this stage of the player's development, but Madrid could include a player in return. Los Merengues  could offer  James Rodriguez  in a swap deal with Zinedine Zidane seemingly unwilling to accommodate the Colombian in his side.

Barcelona:  Sergio Ramos's stoppage-time equaliser maintained Real Madrid's six-point lead at the top of La Liga as the European champions salvaged a 1-1 draw at Barcelona in Saturday's El Clasico. Luis Suarez looked to have breathed new life into the title race when he headed home the opener from Neymar's free-kick eight minutes into the second half. Neymar and Lionel Messi then passed up huge chances to add to Barca's advantage, and the hosts were made to pay when Real captain Ramos met Luka Modric's free-kick with a powerful header to stretch Madrid's unbeaten run in all competitions to 33 games. Before kick-off both sides came together to pay homage to the 71 victims that wiped out almost the entirety of Brazilian side Chapecoense's squad in a plane crash in Colombia earlier in the week. However, once the action got underway old hostilities were renewed as Madrid screamed for a penalty less than two minutes in. Lucas Vazquez went d...

At 12:30pm, UK time, Antonio Conte will coach Chelsea in a giant Premier League match against Manchester City. After the game is over, he might catch a plane and coach Barcelona in  El Clásico . No, Luis Enrique has not been fired out of nowhere and the Italian will manage two teams; it's just that according to the latest reports coming out of Catalonia, Luis Enrique might surprise all of us by using Antonio Conte's scheme against Real Madrid. How would that work?  Can  it work? The change will be singular: Samuel Umtiti in the starting lineup, replacing Ivan Rakitic. With that change, Javier Mascherano will move from center-back to right-back, and Sergi Roberto would go from right-back to midfield. And then, with one change, Luis Enrique may introduce us to his version of Conte's 3-4-3 if necessary. Enrique has used three at the back this season, and it's not a coincidence that Barça had their best performances in  La Liga  with that formation (at Lega...

Barcelona (FCB).- El Clásico at the Camp Nou - kick off 4.15pm on Saturday! Luis Enrique’s team were held to a 1-1 draw last weekend at Real Sociedad, a result that leaves them six points behind leaders Real Madrid. Zinedine Zidane’s side recorded a sixth straight victory in the league on Saturday of last week with a 2-1 home win over Sporting Gijón. All in all, it could be an important moment in the battle for the league title; a victory for Barça would see them just three points behind the leaders, a win for Madrid would stretch their lead over the blaugranes to nine points. Jérémy Mathieu was ruled out this week for another two weeks at least with a recurrence of his calf injury. Fellow defender Jordi Alba is a doubt after picking up a knee and ankle injury in the draw in Anoeta last Sunday against the txuri-urdin. Better news for Luis Enrique came in the form of Andrés Iniesta’s recovery from a knee problem which has kept him out for the last six weeks. The Barça captain was...

The next Barcelona match is upon us! The biggest football match on Earth takes place on Saturday, as the  Blaugrana  face Real Madrid at Camp Nou for another edition of  El Clásico . And coach Luis Enrique has named a 21-player squad for the game: Goalkeepers : 1. Marc-André ter Stegen, 13. Jasper Cillessen Defenders : 3. Gerard Piqué, 14. Javier Mascherano, 18. Jordi Alba, 19. Lucas Digne, 20. Sergi Roberto, 23. Samuel Umtiti Midfielders : 4. Ivan Rakitic, 5. Sergio Busquets, 6. Denis Suárez, 7. Arda Turan, 8. Andrés Iniesta, 21. André Gomes. Forwards : 9. Luis Suárez, 10. Lionel Messi, 11. Neymar Jr., 17. Paco Alcácer. No surprises from Lucho, and good news: Piqué, Alba, Messi and the returning Iniesta will be in uniform and are probably starting. Jérémy Mathieu is injured, while Jordi Masip, Aleix Vidal and Rafinha Alcântara will watch the game from the stands. Projected starting lineup (4-3-3, right-left) : Ter Stegen | Mascherano, Piqué, Umtiti, Alba | ...