FC Barcelona News: 7 May 2012; Roma Want to Send Bojan Krkić Back to Barcelona, Worldwide Press Praises Guardiola

Roma eager to send Bojan back to Barcelona - report - Goal.com
The 21-year-old joined the capital club from Barca for a fee of €12 million at the start of this season, but the Catalans have the option to re-sign him for €17m this summer, while they are obliged to re-purchase the forward in the summer of 2013 for €13m. Roma can block Barca from re-purchasing Bojan next year by paying an additional €28m, but they seem to have no intention to keep the youngster on a long-term basis.

#graciesPep, worldwide trending topic | FC Barcelona
Upon conclusion of the Barça-Espanyol match, the hashtag #graciesPep on Twitter trended worldwide; the hashtag was trending in Spain at the end of the first half. From 20:00 on, the number of tweets dedicated to Guardiola kept on growing: the amount of tweets tagged with #graciesPep started at 3,100 at 20:00, by 23:45 the number grew to 55,000 tweets.

Guardiola: Messi has helped me improve as a coach - Goal.com
"Leo has captured the limelight all season, I can’t be jealous. Expect him to keep on doing it in the future. I’ve tried to help him as much as I can, and he’s helped me improve and become a recognisable manager," Guardiola was quoted as saying on the club's official website.

The players of FC Barcelona have enjoyed more than 50% possession in all their matches for the last four years | FC Barcelona
The last time FC Barcelona held less than 50% of possession in a match was on 7th May 2008. It was in the Santiago Bernabeu, with the 2007/08 league title already decided, that Real Madrid clearly outplayed Frank Rijkaard’s Barça team to win 4-1. Since then, Barça have played 247 consecutive matches, the last two under Rijkaard and all those in the Guardiola era, enjoying superior possession of the ball.

Mascherano: "With Guardiola there’s a before and after in my career" | FC Barcelona
In an interview for Barça TV’s ‘El Marcador', [Mascherano] summed up the players’ feelings towards the outgoing manager. "Guardiola has taught me many things. He’s one of the coaches who has most influenced me. He changed my position and since then there’s been a before and after in my career".

Jonathan Dos Santos confident Vilanova will continue to promote youth at Barcelona - Goal.com
"Tito is the right-hand man of Pep and has always been with him," Dos Santos told EFE. "I think he has the same ideas [as Pep], which may benefit both me and the other young players. "Vilanova has worked well here in La Masia and, like Guardiola, I think he will only continue to rely heavily on the youth teams. "He has always supported and encouraged us and he knows a lot about football like Pep. I think he will bring us a lot next year."

Eccentric Bielsa targets final glory - Yahoo! Eurosport
Marcelo Bielsa's obsession with football runs so deep that the Athletic Bilbao coach has been known to turn up at weddings with a recording of his team's latest game under his arm. After being appointed by Athletic at the start of this season, he got to know his team by watching every match they had played the previous term, twice over, in their entirety.

Stylish Spanish sides to serve up classic - Yahoo! Eurosport
With potent attacking talent in abundance on both sides, Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao should serve up a Europa League final to remember on Wednesday and remind the continent that Spain is not just about Real Madrid or Barcelona.