FC Barcelona News: 15 April 2012; Barça Survive Levante Scare but Real Madrid's Lead Remains Four Points

Llevant - FC Barcelona: Confidence boosting fightback | FC Barcelona
The title race is still on as Barça chalked up yet another win to stay in touch with Real Madrid, who had earlier beaten Sporting 3-1, but it was hard work for Guardiola’s men, who had to come back from one down after Barkero had scored a first half penalty to give the hosts the lead.

Guardiola: "Levante are one of the worst teams to have to fight back against" | FC Barcelona
Barça won three valuable points at the Ciutat de València to keep their La Liga title hopes alive. The team was forced to fight back from a one goal deficit against one of the teams, according to Josep Guardiola, that are "one of the worst to fight back against." In the end, Barça managed to win the match 1-2, to which Guardiola said "it keeps us in it," in reference to the battle with Real Madrid for the top spot of La Liga.

Messi: "It was a very difficult ground to play in, but we managed to get a fantastic result" | FC Barcelona
Vital victory at the Ciutat de València (1-2) which allows Barça to maintain the four-point gap with Real Madrid at the top of the table. After the match, Lionel Messi, with two goals, said he was very happy to win the three points against this season’s surprise team. "We knew it was a difficult ground, Levante are having a fantastic season and we managed to get a great result," said Messi while walking off the pitch.

Messi, 201 goals with Guardiola | FC Barcelona
Leo Messi’s name tends to be on people’s lips before and after FC Barcelona play a match. Today is no exception. The Argentine genius has scored 201 goals with Josep Guardiola on the Barça bench. It took Messi only 4 seasons to accomplish this feat (210 official matches). Since Guardiola decided to position Messi closer to the opposition’s goal, the Argentine has turned into a veritable goal-scoring machine, averaging 0.96 goals per game.

Barcelona boss Guardiola visits Abidal in hospital - Goal.com
The Blaugrana trainer was recognised by the hospital staff, and it is believed that the coach imparted messages of support from the rest of the Barcelona playing and coaching staff. Guardiola spent twenty minutes with Abidal and his family, and wished the player a speedy recovery from his second life-threatening operation in as many years.

Pep Guardiola's preaching converts quiet man Mascherano to Barca style | The Guardian
Pep Guardiola looked his inquisitor in the eye and replied without hesitation: "I would never, ever sell him and I wouldn't swap him for anyone." Nothing unusual there, you might think, but Guardiola was not talking about Leo Messi, Andrés Iniesta or Xavi Hernández. He wasn't talking about Dani Alves or Sergio Busquets; he wasn't even talking about Cesc Fàbregas. He was talking about Javier Mascherano. And his words were not empty ones.

Guardiola spent the match putting pressure on the referee, says Levante's Valdo - Goal.com
Levante midfielder Valdo has slammed Pep Guardiola, saying that the Barcelona coach tried to influence the decisions of referee Teixeira Vitienes the Blaugrana's 2-1 defeat of the Valencia-based side on Saturday.

Chelsea - FC Barcelona: Same teams, different trajectories | FC Barcelona
A lot can happen in three years and the paths taken by FC Barcelona and Chelsea, rivals in this season’s Champions League semifinal, prove it. The English team have won four titles since Andrés Iniesta’s goal at Stamford Bridge in the return lef of the 2009 Champions League semifinal. Barça, on the other hand, have claimed 13 titles.

Real grind down Sporting as records fall - Yahoo! Eurosport
Ronaldo, one booking away from missing the Clasico, was disappointing for the most part but grabbed his 41st league goal of the season with 16 minutes remaining as Madrid overcame a scare, having trailed for seven minutes to a Miguel de las Cuevas penalty on the half hour.