Neymar will earn 865,000 euros (£775,477) a week when the Brazil forward completes his world record move from Barcelona to Paris St-Germain.
Ronald Koeman, Everton manager who is in his first season in charge having arrived from Southampton in the summer has frequently been linked with a return to his old club since Luis Enrique announced he was stepping down at the end of the season.
The former Netherlands defender, who spent six years at the Nou Camp between 1989 and 1995, Ronald Koeman admits he dreams of managing Barcelona.
“Everyone knows that I am from Barca, they know my love for a club where I grew up as a player and as a person,” he told Catalan newspaper Sport.
“In football, as in life, as in business, everything can be talked about and discussed.
“In my life as a professional coach I have two dreams to fulfil. One, coach my country, Holland [he was previously assistant to Guus Hiddink for the 1998 World Cup].
“My other wish, my other dream, is to one day coach Barca. That’s the truth.
“I now owe Everton. We have a very powerful and exciting project and we will reinforce our best to try to reach next season the Champions League.”
Messi has been described as unstoppable before now, but last night he took the meaning to a whole new level.
El Clasico, arguably the world biggest football match can get really messy. Footballing genius Lionel Messi was left bleeding during El Clasico when Real Madrid defender Marcelo accidentally caught him in the mouth with an elbow.
What followed was heart-breaking for every football fan as blood poured from Messi’s mouth. The footballer had to go off the pitch for treatment and returned in a while with a tissue in his mouth to stem the bleeding.
However, that didn’t stop him from scoring as he picked up the ball from Rakitic and scored a sweet goal after picking up a fine pass from Rakitic.
But Messi’s brilliance doesn’t end there, as it rarely does.
He scored the winning goal in the final moments of stoppage time, taking his team from a 2-2 draw after goals from team mate Ivan Rakitic followed later by Madrid’s James Rodriguez.
Last night was Special as Messi’s recorded his 500th goal for the club, a milestone fans have been congratulating him on reaching.
In the wake of Barcelona 3-0 loss to Juventus in their UEFA Champions League quarterfinal first-leg tie, Iniesta takes courage. In a statement on the Club’s website(www.fcbarcelona.com) saying “a comeback is not out of the question,”
Iniesta admits that Barcelona’s performance was poor in the first half and this cost them the game.
“We got things wrong especially in the first half for us, and in the Champions League you get punished as we did with two goals. The second half was a different story and we really deserved to get a goal back.”
“It’s not quite as bad as it was in Paris, but we do have another uphill struggle ahead of us. If we do what we have to do we can turn this tie around, but if we don’t then it’s going to be impossible, signs off the veteran midfielder.
Iniesta added “You can concede goals like that from corners and Juve are a good team, and if you don’t get it right against teams like that then you pay the penalty.”
“I think it would be better for us to speak among ourselves. We know first half wasn’t perfect, we need to lift our heads up and start planning for the next challenge.”
“I hope the fans will come out and support us for the second leg, but first we have to think about the league.”
“I know how tough this is for the fans, but now we have to think about getting some rest.”
However,Juventus legendary keeper Zoff has said that if Juventus had the same advantage has PSG had against Barcelona then they would never concede.That is a strong admission and absolute conviction in the ability of the team.
Barcelona will face Juventus next on the 20th of April.
Barcelona winger Neymar Jr. is set to miss the El Clasico after being handed a three game ban following his dismissal against Malaga in the weekend- a game Barca lost 2-0.
For the first time in his La Liga career, Neymar was given his marching orders for two bookable offences as Malaga gave their title a setback on saturday.
However, he was handed an extra two match suspension on top of an automatic one game ban for mockingly applauding the match officials as he went off. Barcelona are most likely to appeal the decision.
As well as missing a potential title decider Neymar will miss games against Real Sociedad and Osasuna.
Juventus go into the second leg of the quarter final of the champions league against Barcelona with a 3 goal advantage.
A first half brace from striker Paulo Dybala and a third from defender Giorgio Chiellini before the half hour mark was enough to codemn the Catalans to a second loss in the space of 5 days.
The home side started the game brightly, seeing alot of possesion in the first five minutes with 57% ball possesion. Paulo dybala opened the scoring in the 7th minute after a Cuadrado ball picked the Argentine who ended up slotting the ball past Ter Stergen. Juventus began to threaten with Leo Messi the catalyst but an astute Juventus were quick to fend off the pressure and ended up with a counter that finished with Mario Mandzukic sending a cross into the box and Dybala finishing to give the home side a two goal cushion just before the half hour mark.
Sergio Busquets absence in the Barca midfield allowed Sami Khedira show his supremacy and bossed the middle effectively. The first half ended with Juventus’ lead intact. Just after the restart, Jeremy Mathieu was substituted for Andre Gomes in a tactical tweak by Luis Enrique. Andres Iniesta pushed the Juventus backline in search for a way to back into the game as Barcelona enjoyed more ball possession.
Giorgio Chiellini added the third goal from a corner with Pjanic providing the assist as the defender rose the highest to score.
Barcelona failed to score any away goal and face an uphill task to qualify to the next round of the competition. Neverthless, you can’t write them off as they completed one of if not the greatest comeback of the competition against PSG .
Barcelona missed the chance to move level on points with Real Madrid in LaLiga as the Catalans were shocked 2-0 by Malaga, with Neymar seeing red.
Neymar was sent off as Barcelona’s title hopes suffered a setback with a 2-0 defeat against Malaga in Saturday’s LaLiga encounter at La Rosaleda.
Luis Enrique’s men would have been levelled on points with Real Madrid with a win following a draw in the Madrid derby, but the Catalans endured an abysmal day at the job as they rather returned home empty-handed.
Barcelona had every reason to be confident heading into the encounter, having gone unbeaten at the Rosaleda in the league since 2003, but the scoreless draw from the reverse fixture was an indication that Malaga would not be a walk in the park.
Sandro dealt Barca chances of going top of the league a blow before the break when he made the most of the chances afforded him with some poor defending from Jeremy Mathieu.
And things went from bad to worse after the interval with a second booking for Neymar – his first red card in LaLiga – following a reckless foul on Diego Llorente near the corner flag.
Jony then added a second in stoppage time at the end of counter-attack as the champions chased a way back into the game that never materialised.
The result means Barcelona remain three points off the pace, while leaders Madrid still have a game in hand.
Barcelona were in charge right from the off and Luis Suarez came close to handing the Catalans the lead in the 16th minute. The Uruguay international did well to bring down Jordi Alba’s long ball after beating the offside trap, only to aim his shot straight at goalkeeper Carlos Kameni from inside the area.
Malaga slowly grew into the game from there on and went to win alongside some impressive defending.
Arsenal’s highest goalscorer this season, Alexis Sanchez wants to remain with the club if terms can be agreed, says manager Arsene Wenger.
Alexis Sanchez, 28, is contracted to the Gunners until the summer of 2018, with some newspapers claiming he would like to join Chelsea.
“I believe that he wants to stay at the club and it is about doing a deal with his agent,” said Wenger.
“The players have to see if they’re happy and find an agreement. Finances are also involved in that.”
Sanchez, who joined the gunners from catalan giant, Barcelona for a fee around the region of £35m in the summer of 2014, has scored 22 goals for the Gunners this season.
However, with Arsenal again failing to push for the Premier League title and going out of the Champions League at the last-16 stage, some reports have suggested that Sanchez could be looking to leave Emirates Stadium.
In March, Wenger denied that a training ground bust up was behind his decision to leave Sanchez on the bench for the defeat at Liverpool.
Wenger was speaking at a news conference in the build-up to Monday’s Premier League game at Crystal Palace, with the Frenchman once again refusing to elaborate on his future at the club.
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