The historic humiliation Barcelona want to inflict on Madrid | Sport
On an individual level, Lionel Messi wants to win the Pichichi prize for top scorer in the league and to finish the leading marksman in Europe. Marc-Andre ter Stegen also wants to win the Zamora prize for best goalkeeper (conceding the fewest goals) but that will be hard due to fierce competition from Atletico Madrid’s Jan Oblak.
On a collective level, Barcelona want to finish the season unbeaten and to “destroy” Real Madrid on Sunday like they did at the Santiago Bernabeu in December. If they beat Madrid they will go 18 points ahead.
Gremio don’t want Arthur to join Barcelona this summer | Marca
Andres Iniesta’s imminent departure will leave Barcelona with a major hole to fill in their squad, while the likely exits of Andre Gomes and Rafinha will leave the club even thinner in the midfield positions.
As such, Barcelona could decide to sign Arthur Melo from Gremio this summer, but the Brazilian club would rather wait until next winter to complete the transfer, one which has already been agreed. The Brazilian season runs in calendar years, so Gremio would prefer to have their star midfielder for the whole league campaign.
Who is responsible for Barcelona winning the Liga and Copa double? | The Barcelona Podcast
Your hosts also answer the following: Why has Barcelona won La Liga in such a commanding manner? What has Valverde added that was lacking in previous years? How has Messi dealt with the added responsibility after Neymar’s departure? Should Barcelona play La Masia youngsters in the Copa del Rey next season?
Henry said: “Andres is the guy who, first and foremost, does his talking with the ball. He’s not very vocal off the field, you won’t see a lot of interviews with him, but when he has the ball he can talk for days.
“I always think, when you look at him, if he walked past with a cap you wouldn’t even know it was him. Chilling, low key, not doing anything – you throw him a ball and he turns into Superman.”
“You can’t grab him, he’ll play one-twos to get past you, it’s annoying. But it’s all in his head. Look at him – did he have a little two-three step to get past you? Yeah. Was he quick? Not really. Was he strong? Not really.”
Kluivert: Champions League success for Madrid would be better than Barca’s double | Goal
Kluivert: “The Champions League is the biggest award any club can win but it is very hard, wining a double is good as well but winning the Champions League is better. I would prefer to play a UCL final and win it because if you lose it and you don’t have a double, it is not good either. Real Madrid are playing well and they always do what they have to do. The Champions League is the most important title, but if Real Madrid don’t win it, it will be much harder next season.”
“I don’t understand why Real Madrid won’t do the ‘pasillo’, they probably have their reasons but for a respect fact they should do it even if we must respect their reasons,” said Kluivert.
Douglas preparing for his return to Barcelona | Sport
Brazilian defender Douglas is poised to return to Barcelona this month to negotiate his professional future. The right-back, loaned by Benfica this season, has a contract with Barca until June 2019. However he is not needed by Ernesto Valverde and wants to seal an exit, though Benfica don’t seem to want him either. This weekend he could play his fourth league game of the season with Andre Almeida injured.
