FC Barcelona News: 20 March 2012; After Recount Messi One Goal from César's Record, Barça Focus on Granada

Messi, one goal away from César's record | FC Barcelona
Leo Messi could draw level or break César Rodríguez’s all-time high goal record which stands at 232 goals. FC Barcelona’s Center of Documentation and Studies started an investigation, in collaboration with La Vanguardia, to verify the exact number of official goals scored by the Barça legend during his time at the Club in the early 1950s.

Guardiola: "Winning our remaining 11 matches is a 'titanic' job" | FC Barcelona
Despite Real Madrid’s slip up that allowed Barça to come within eight points of the top, Josep Guardiola hasn’t changed his opinion from the last time he gave a press conference: "I haven’t changed my opinion from two days ago. It will be very difficult for this [overturning Madrid’s advantage] to happen." The manager went on to say that Madrid is a very strong team that "loses very few matches."

The first team focuses on Granada | FC Barcelona
All 17 available first-team players, plus Afellay - who returned to training with the group after his injury - and Éric Abidal. Tello and Muniesa also trained with the first team. The last training session before the match against Granada will take place [today] at noon at the Camp Nou.

Ill-health puts Eric Abidal's career in doubt at Barcelona - The National
"It's clear that everything will go well and that he could play sport at a high level, but football is a contact sport and one of the things that you have to avoid after a transplant is trauma and blows in that area," said transplant specialist Rafael Matesanz. "He has to take a series of precautions for the rest of his life, including not getting hit in that area. He will have medical treatment for life and will have to have regular check-ups."

Messi tops rich list from Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo - Goal.com
Lionel Messi is the best-paid player in the world, with David Beckham second on football's rich list and Cristiano Ronaldo third. According to France Football, who released figures for the best paid players in the world on Tuesday, Barcelona forward Messi raked in €33 million last year from wages and sponsorship deals.

Barca 'seal Neymar move for 2014' - Yahoo! Sports
"According to several reliable sources Barca have already paid a quarter of the 58 million euros to Santos to guarantee the transfer of the player," Cadena SER claimed, adding that the date for his transfer was after the World Cup in Brazil in 2014. The report added that the decision to seal the deal was taken by the player and his father against the wishes of his agent Wagner Ribeiro.

Platini - No FFP backtracking | Sky Sports
Former France captain Platini said: "There's no lack of money. Clubs have never spent more. But it's bad financial management. We need to get rules in place... and there'll be no backtracking. "Governments are having to tighten their belts and it's not going down well in their countries. We (at UEFA) probably won't be popular but we have to do it, otherwise football will be destroyed."

Real Madrid sign prolific youngster Franco - Goal.com
Real Madrid have completed the transfer of promising youngster Jorge Franco from Diocesano for an undisclosed fee. The 18-year-old attacker has been in impressive form for his club's youth team and had also attracted the interest of clubs such as Barcelona, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United. Nevertheless, he has now opted to join Real Madrid instead, and is delighted to move to the Blancos at the end of the season.

Espanyol react to down 10-man Racing - Yahoo! Eurosport
Joan Verdu, Philippe Coutinho and Hector Moreno got the goals as Espanyol came from behind to beat 10-man Racing Santander 3-1 at the Estadio Cornella-El Prat. The victory moves the Barcelona club up to sixth and they are now just two points off the final Champions League space in fourth.

Villarreal's plight: an emergency board meeting in a dugout says it all | Sid Lowe | Football | guardian.co.uk
It was time, they decided, to sack their coach and get a new one: their third coach of the season. Villarreal will have been through as many managers in three months as they had in the previous seven years. First there was Juan Carlos Garrido, then José Molina and now … and now, frankly, whoever they can get. On Monday morning, it was confirmed that who they could get is Miguel-Ángel Lotina.

Spotlight on Granada | FC Barcelona
This is Granada’s 18th season in the top flight since they were founded in 1931, though it’s their first season back since 1976, since when they have hit the depths and now risen again to the heights of the Spanish game. Granada were relegated at the end of the 1975/76 season and then spent 25 years scratching round the second and third tiers of the Spanish League before in 2002 they were relegated down to the fourth tier.