Exclusive: totalBarça’s pictures from the season

After being present at most of FC Barcelona’s home games this season, I’ve had the chance to take lots of photos. Here are some of my favorites from the season for you to enjoy.

AC Milan 4-0


At. Madrid 4-1

Levante 1-0


Málaga 4-1




Real Madrid 2-2


Real Madrid 1-3

Real Mallorca 5-0



Cordoba 5-0

Real Zaragoza 3-1

FC Barcelona B – Racing Santander 4-1

FC Barcelona Cadet B – Cornellà 3-1

Neymar, Barça’s 23rd Brazilian

Neymar Junior will be the 23rd Brazilian to make his debut for the FC Barcelona, following on from Alves, Thiago, Maxwell, Adriano and many more

The first was Lucidio Batista da Silva, between 1947 and 1949, and the winner of the most titles at the club has been Alves, who has 15 in five seasons and can still add to that tally

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  Neymar, Barça’s 23rd Brazilian

The other 10

Aside from the 22 players that have played official matches, there were another 10 Brazilians that for different reasons never played anything more than friendlies. The first three were Fausto Dos Santos, Jaguaré Becerra and Walter Machado da Silva, who could not play official matches because of the rules in force at the time. Cleo Inacio Hickmann only played one friendly in 1982, as did D’Marcellus Machado, who was in the B team in the 1996/97 season.
Marcelo Anderson da Silva and Luciano de Silva ‘Triguinho’ came on trial in 2001 and only played one friendly. A couple of years later, Tiago Calvano was in the reserve team but did play in a few friendlies for the first team. And then there were also Henrique Adriano and Keirrison da Souza. The former played in the 2009/10 preseason and the latter never played any official games for Barça.

“When I was young I watched a lot of Ronaldinho, and he played for Barça”, said Neymar on Monday at his first press conference after signing for FC Barcelona. A decade after his earliest memory of FCB, Neymar is about to become the 23rd player from his country to appear in an official match for Barcelona, the most recent examples being Alves, Thiago, Maxwell and Adriano.
The long association between Brazil and Barcelona goes all the way back to 1947, when Lucidio Batista da Silva became the first person from the South American country to play for the Catalan club. Da Silva was here for two seasons and won two Ligas, two Latin Cups and one Copa Eva Duarte. History has thrown up plenty of Brazilian trivia since then:
- Seven of the 22 Brazilians won the European Cup at Barça, and two won it twice. Sylvinho and Alves were the double winners, and Belletti, Edmilson, Maxwell and Thiago got one each. Silvio Modesto ‘Bio’, Aloisio Pires, Giovanni Silva and Ronaldo all won the Cup Winners Cup in a Barça shirt.
- The Brazilian to have won the most honours at FCB is Dani Alves, the current left back who has won 15 different titles. The only Brazilians to leave the club empty handed have been ‘Marinho’, Roberto ‘Dinamita’ Oliveira, Fabio Rochemback and Geovanni Deiberson.
- In terms of positions, nine of the Brazilians were strikers, six were midfielders, seven were defenders and none were goalkeepers. Da Silva (1947-1949) was the first Brazilian forward; Giovanni Silva (1996-1999) was the first midfielder and ‘Marinho’ (1974-1976) was the first defender.
- Barça’s first Brazilian ‘superstar’ was Evaristo de Macedo. The man from Rio de Janeiro scored a spectacular 0.8 goals a game between 1956 and 1962. It was his superb finish on November 23, 1960 that knocked Real Madrid out of the European Cup for the first time.
- Barça’s longest-serving Brazilians have been Evaristo (1956-1962), Rivaldo (1997-2002), Ronaldinho (2003-2008), Sylvinho (2004-2009) and Dani Alves (since 2008). The shortest spell was that of Roberto ‘Dinamita’ Oliveira, who only featured in 11 matches in 1980.
- Mário Peres ‘Marinho’ (1974-1976) and Giovanni Silva (1996-1999) are the only two players who, like Neymar, came from Santos. ‘Marinho’ played alongside both Pelé and Cruyff, two of the greatest players the game has ever known.
- Romário (1993-1995), Ronaldo (1996-1997), Rivaldo (1997-2002) and Ronaldinho (2003-2008) were four of the greatest strikers of the last two decades. All of them enjoyed massive success, for varying lengths, at Barcelona.
- The full list of Barça Brazilians is Lucidio Batista da Silva, Evaristo de Macedo, Mário Peres ‘Marinho’, Silvio Modesto ‘Bio’, Roberto ‘Dinamita’ Oliveira, Aloisio Pires, Romário da Souza, Giovanni Silva, Ronaldo Luiz Nazario, Sony Anderson, Rivaldo Vitor Borba, Thiago Motta, Fabio Rochemback, Geovanni Diberson, Ronaldinho Gaucho, Juliano Belletti, José Edmilson, Silvio Mendes ‘Silvinho’, Thiago Alcántara, Dani Alves, Maxwell and Adriano Correa

Thiago shines in Spain U-21 win

The Spanish Under-21 team started off its UEFA U-21 Championship with a 1-0 win over Russia in Jerusalem, after fielding four Barça players at the start – Bartra, Montoya, Tello and Thiago, who is the captain- while Muniesa watched from the bench.
The Russian team played as a defensive unit to limit the spaces for the Spanish side, and as a result limited their chances. However, all three of Montoya, Thiago, and Tello had very close scoring attempts in the first half. Montoya shot just wide of the goal on the 10th minute, while Thiago’s freekick was saved on the 18th minute, and Tello’s own shot was also just off the mark on the 37th minute.

But it was down to Thiago to swing in a superb cross from a freekick, off the right side, for Morata to head home on the 81st minute..
Here’s hoping that his excellent performance doesn’t attract more interest from unwanted suitors.

Key week for Fàbregas?

Cesc Fàbregas is believed to be heading to a meeting with FC Barcelona manager Tito Vilanova during the coming week to discuss the player’s future.
The midfielder is rumoured to be on the agendas of four different English Premier League clubs -Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal- and he hopes to be clearly told his role in the future at FC Barcelona.

Cesc has an ongoing contract with Barça and he wishes to complete this contract, but before that he wants to be clearly told the club’s plans for him, especially the manager’s intentions with respect to his role. Also, with Neymar’s arrival he wants to know who will he be competing with for a place in the starting eleven at Barça.

According to a report published in the Daily Mail, Cesc still has great value for Arsenal, but the manager there, Arsène Wenger, has put his sight on the player Lars Bender, the midfielder at Bayer Leverkusen whose signing would cost the English club much less.
Barça would only be willing to consider any offer for the Catalan player if it comes any range close to the sum the club had paid for his transfer to the Camp Nou (30 million euros). It is considered a large sum but something accessible for any of the four interested Premier League clubs.

Five FC Barcelona players pay tribute to Dani Jarque

Andrés Iniesta, Jordi Alba, Busquets, Xavi and Cesc Fàbregas all participated in the commemorative match dedicated to the late Dani Jarque

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  Andrés Iniesta and Raúl Tamudo / PHOTO: MIGUEL RUIZ - FCB

Andrés Iniesta, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Xavi Hernández and Cesc Fàbregas commemorated Dani Jarque on Monday as they participated in a tribute match to the late footballer. The match, which was held at Cornellà-El Prat, saw a team made up of Jarque’s ex-team-mates and Espanyol players face off against a team made of players from La Liga and foreign leagues. Andrés Iniesta led the Liga team, and the match ended in a 4-4 draw.

On 21 minutes – 21 was Jarque’s number when he played for Espanyol – the match was stopped and Jarque’s family came out onto the pitch to receive the crowd and Espanyol’s condolences.

Ovation for Iniesta

The Espanyol fans chanted Andrés Iniesta’s name throughout the match as a show of gratitude for the gesture the FC Barcelona made to his esteemed friend in the final of the South Africa World Cup. The Barça midfielder, after scoring the tournament-winning goal, ripped off his shirt to show the message hidden beneath, ‘Jarque, always with us.’

BEHIND THE SCENES PHOTOS OF NEYMAR

Close to Neymar

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   Neymar presented to the fans
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   Neymar greets the fans
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   Neymar in the locker room before presentation

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   Neymar signing his deal for Barcelona
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   Neymar after signing his deal... with Barca executives

   
   
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   Sandro Rosell, President of Barcelona with Neymar signing his deal
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   Neymar pose for picture

   
   
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   Neymar doing his Medicals
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   Neymar with a friend before his presentation

   
   
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   Neynar arrives Barcelona
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   Neymar before take off

All FC Barcelona’s 2012/13 league records

Barça finished the league campaign with a record 100 points and a record 15 point lead over the second placed team

Leagie leaders from the very first game, the team also beat their league goal scoring record with 115

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  Cesc and Iniesta celebrate one of the four goals against Malaga / FOTO: MIGUEL RUIZ-FCB

At the end of an unforgettable 2012/13 league campaign, we take a look atteh records the team have set this season.
100 points in the league: The team beat their previous best of 99 points from the 2009/10 season to equal the competition’s record set by Real Madrid last season.

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Biggest ever lead over second place team: Barça have never before won a league title by such a massive margin – their previous best in a three points for a win league was when they finished 13 points ahead of Madrid and Mallorca in the 1998/99 season. In leagues with two points for a win, the Club finished 10 points ahead in the 1984/85 and 1990/91 campaigns.

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Leaders all season long: This year was just the second in their history that Barça had led the table from start to finish – something they previously achieved in the 1984/5 season.

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Record number of goals: With 115 goals in 38 games, Barça beat the Club record set last season by a single goal and fell just six short of the competition’s all time record set by Real Madrid last season. Tito Vilanova’s side scored in every league game of the season.

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32 wins: The victory over Malaga was Barça’s 32nd of the competition this season and equalled the record set last year by Real Madrid.

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Most wins at home: With 18 wins and just one draw at the Camp Nou, the team equalled their 2009/10 record. 55 of their 100 points came at home.

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Best ever first half to a season: Barça achieved the best ever first half to a season, taking 55 from a possible 57 points in their first 19 games, leaving them 11 points ahead of Atletico Madrid and 18 in front of Real Madrid at the half way mark.