FC Barcelona News: 9 November 2011; Copa del Rey Begins

Tradition and the individual talent | TheFCF
Strip away the tactics, chalkboards and diagrams and football is essentially about nothing more than goals. Yet while goals ultimately win matches, they cannot decide a debate; they can inform it, colour it, sway it, but they cannot settle it for good. A popular but overly simplistic line of thought dictates that goals equal success and no goals equal failure.

Winds of change | Sky Sports
Barcelona have been world class over the last few years but psychologically things are beginning to change. Pep Guardiola in his 125 La Liga games has never been three points behind Real Madrid, and more and more people are backing Los Blancos to finish ahead of Barcelona.

L'Hospitalet-FC Barcelona: Barça open cup bid | FC Barcelona
Being the start of a FIFA break, Barcelona are missing six players that have already left on international duty, namely Messi, Mascherano, Alves, Adriano, Alexis and Thiago. The eight players that have been called up by Spain, plus, Abidal (France) and Keita (Mali) will not be joining their own national teams until after the cup tie.

L'Hospitalet sniff Barca Copa upset - Yahoo! Eurosport UK
Most of the millions of tourists who visit Barcelona won't even realise that they've seen L'Hospitalet. They pass through the densely-populated maze 250,000 call home on the way from the airport to the city centre by road or rail, but few have any reason to stop.

With Guardiola, unpleasant surprises against Second Division B sides are not frequent | FC Barcelona
Over the past decade Barça was made to drink from the poisoned ‘Cup’ of elimination by Gramenet, Novelda, and Figueres. It’s been three seasons without any Copa surprises for Barça and the memories of previous frustrated runs ending at the hands of a Second Division B side have faded into distant history.

Guardiola wants Liga reduction - Yahoo! Eurosport
Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola agrees with his club president that La Liga should be reduced to 16 clubs. After Sandro Rosell called for Spain’s top flight to be reduced first to 18 and then 16 clubs, Guardiola - who played in La Liga for Barcelona - said such a move would make the division more competitive.

Barcelona will never be for sale, says club president Sandro Rosell | The Guardian
"Barcelona is not a business, it is a feeling. We are not owned by anybody, we are an association; we do not have 'clients'. I will never put a game on at 12 noon for the Chinese audience. We do want to open up our market but not to forget our roots. While I am the president, Barcelona will never, ever be for sale."

Liverpool in contact with agents of Barcelona striker David Villa | tribalfootball.com
Cadena Ser says Liverpool's owners want to buy Villa after seeing their top four hopes threatened in recent weeks over poor form in front of goal. For the moment, Villa has indicated he is prepared to 'tough it out' at the Nou Camp, though things could change closer to the January transfer window.

Barcelona's Andoni Zubizarreta: Gerard Deulofeu has to learn that he can't take on three men at once like Lionel Messi - Goal.com
Deulofeu has been tipped for stardom by several greats in the football world, but Zubizarreta has refused to get carried away. "We have to teach him to make the best decision. He can't go out and try to take on three opponents at once like Lionel Messi," he was quoted as saying by Sport.

Spurs eye Barca starlets | | Sky Sports
Tottenham could be set to raid Barcelona for up to three of their defensive starlets. Spurs have already been linked with Martin Montoya and Marc Batra, but skysports.com understands they are also in the market for left-back Carles Planas.

Perotti returns to training | LFP
Sevilla midfielder Diego Perotto trained with his team-mates again on Tuesday for the first time in several weeks: "I've had plenty of time to get bored, what you want to do is get out there and train, it's really not much fun not been able to touch the ball for a long time. But I've got this week and next to get back into things and I'm hoping to avoid injuries now for the rest of the season".

Lopez out for three weeks after knee op - Yahoo! Eurosport
Atletico Madrid captain Antonio Lopez has undergone an investigative knee operation that will keep him out for around three weeks. Lopez, 30, had a problem with his left knee that required keyhole surgery and, after clearing away the offending cartilage, no permanent damage was found.