FC Barcelona News: 20 November 2011; Barça Win, Pele Speaks, Valencia Unlucky

FC Barcelona - Zaragoza: Stunning show (4-0) | FC Barcelona
The international break certainly hasn't knocked Barça off their stride, as Guardiola's team got back into La Liga action with a convincing 4-0 win over Zaragoza at the Camp Nou, with some exquisite football, particularly in the first 45 minutes. With first half goals from Piqué and Messi, the game was pretty much sorted at the break and Puyol's third and a fourth from Villa rounded off another stunning show of authority.

Guardiola: "After the games with their national teams, the players were eager to play" | FC Barcelona
The Barça manager attributes the players' attitudes for scoring 30 goals in the Camp Nou without conceding any. "After the beating they take with their national teams, they come back to Barcelona and run like no other," said Guardiola.

Cuenca: "The manager has confidence in me" | FC Barcelona
Once again the youth squad striker, Isaac Cuenca, was in tonight’s starting line up and once again, he didn’t fail to meet expectations. After the match the Reus native thanked Pep Guardiola: "The míster (manager) showed that he trusts me, and if things work out well, all the better."

Stats from a comfortable victory | FC Barcelona
In the first twelve matches, Barça have scored 38 goals (3.2 goals per game) and only conceded 6 (0.5 per game).

Camp Nou without nets, smoke | FC Barcelona
"The petition to remove the nets was made to the Board of Directors, which we analyzed afterwards with the security team," explained Vice President, Jordi Cardoner. The giant nets were installed during the 2003/04 season. The current Board decided to withdraw the nets after receiving multiple petitions from Club members, saying that the nets impeded an acceptable view of the pitch.

Tottenham confident of keeping Gareth Bale out of Barcelona's grasp | Football News | ESPN.co.uk
Tottenham fought off interest from Chelsea in Luka Modric in the summer and manager Harry Redknapp's assistant, Jordan, feels Spurs could do the same with Bale despite the player admitting to being flattered by the links with Barca.

My Santos team was better than Barcelona claims Pelé | A Different League
Brazilian legend Pelé, considered by some to be the greatest footballer of all time, believes his Santos team of the 1960’s and early 1970’s was better than the Barcelona team of today, reports Sport.es. "I take my hat off to Barcelona but my Santos team was something else," said the 71-year-old.

A 'bigger' and 'better' Champions League - how clubs like Barcelona & Bayern Munich could spearhead a breakaway competition in the near future - Goal.com
The trouble with the Champions League is that it is not big enough, there are not enough matches for the big clubs and there are not enough . . . big clubs.But the one common factor down the years in all the negotiations about the size, shape and format of the European Champion Clubs Cup, turned Champions League, is that that big clubs have always been pushing, pushing, pushing at the door labelled: "More cash."

Mother of Diego Maradona, Dona Tota, dies aged 81 - Goal.com
The mother of Argentina legend Diego Maradona has died at the age of 81, after previously suffering from cardiac-related problems. Dalma Salvadora Franco, better known as Dona Tota, had been held in intensive care since Friday at Los Arcos Hospital in Buenos Aires.

Report: Valencia v Real Madrid - ESPN Soccernet
Real Madrid quickly regained a three-point advantage at the top of the Primera Division with an exhilarating and bad-tempered 3-2 victory at Valencia. It was a reasonably quiet first half, with Jose Mourinho's team ahead thanks to a splendid Karim Benzema strike. But it kicked off in the second half with a flurry of yellow cards, off-the-ball confrontations and four goals as Valencia kept fighting back.

Valencia's Unai Emery after 3-2 defeat to Real Madrid: A point would have done us justice - Goal.com
Valencia boss Unai Emery feels his side were unlucky to have come away from their 3-2 defeat to La Liga rivals Real Madrid without a point. "We could have drawn via a penalty near the end, and a point would have done us justice," Emery said after the game according to AS.

La Liga - Valero condemns Betis to defeat - Yahoo! Eurosport
Villarreal - who had managed only one win in their past seven Liga outings - were without Giuseppe Rossi, Cani, Nilmar and Cristian Zapata, but struck the decisive goal when Valero broke free from Marco Ruben's pass to hoist the ball over visiting keeper Casto for a fine winner on 21 minutes.