Iniesta: 'No plan to leave Barcelona'

Andres Iniesta has insisted that he has never thought of leaving Barcelona for another club in the future.

The 28-year-old midfielder has been with the Catalan giants his entire career, having developed at the club's youth academy.



"I've always said that my dream and my ambition would be to hang up my boots at the club I've been with since I was 12, a club that's given me practically everything," he told Fifa.com.



"So obviously, leaving doesn't even cross my mind right now because I'm in the best place I could ever be.



"That said, it'll be my performances that decide how long I carry on. The day that I don't feel I can give 100% [I'll stop] because I wouldn't want to cheat the club. That's only logical."



Iniesta has won La Liga five times and the Champions League thrice with Barcelona so far.

Xavi pens new deal until June 2016.

Xavi Hernández will remain at Barcelona until 30th June 2016.

The midfielder signed a contract extension at the club's offices at Camp Nou this afternoon. Xavi was joined by club President Sandro Rosell, vice president Josep Maria Bartomeu and Technical Director of Professional Football, Andoni Zubizarreta.



The Terrassa-born playmaker, who turned 33 on Friday, adds an extra two years onto his previous arrangement with Barça which was due to end in June 2014. Xavi follows Carles Puyol who also penned a new deal last week to keep him at the club until 2016.


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Messi grabs four in Osasuna rout

Lionel Messi celebrated another goalscoring milestone with four more goals as Barcelona demolished 10-man Osasuna at the Nou Camp. The Argentinian went one better than great rival Cristiano Ronaldo's hat-trick earlier in the day as he was part of a Barça side who utterly outclassed Osasuna.

His second was his 200th goal in La Liga, another landmark in his ever-growing list of achievements. The fourth brought his total in the league this term to 33 and he is on track to match last season's barely-believable 50 strikes, with 17 more goals needed from as many games.



Pedro was also on target for the Catalans and even though Raoul Loe briefly levelled for Osasuna, Alejandro Arribas' sending-off after 27 minutes made their task an almost impossible one. The win preserved Barça's convincing lead over at the top of the Primera Division, while Osasuna remained in relegation danger.



Barcelona started quickly and Thiago Alcantara brought a fine parry out of goalkeeper Andres Fernandez after only four minutes. They went ahead seven minutes later through a predictable source. Xavi's exquisite pass from the left played in Messi and he rounded Fernandez to score.



The visitors levelled in the 23rd minute as a clearance fell to Loe on the edge of the area and his low shot with the outside of his left foot found the bottom-left corner, with keeper Victor Valdes perhaps unsighted. Parity lasted just five minutes, though.



Arribas conceded a penalty with a handball in the area and was sent off for a second yellow card before Messi stepped up to score low into the corner. And this time there was no way back for Osasuna.

Messi was denied a hat-trick by a post as his header from a Dani Alves cross came back off the frame of the goal, but Pedro had better luck five minutes before the break. Again Alves was the provider and his ball in from the right was swept home by the Spain forward.



But this match, yet again, was about Messi and he got his hat-trick in the 56th minute, running on to a pass from David Villa down the left of the area, rounding Fernandez and sliding the ball into the empty net.



Three became four two minutes later. Villa's pull-back from the left byline picked out Claro Adriano in the area and his pass across goal was flicked in by Messi.



The forward has scored five in one match before, against Bayer Leverkusen in the UEFA Champions League, but this time Osasuna, who defended desperately to the end, were spared further embarrassment.




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Wenger eyes Cesc return

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger insists that he can see former captain Cesc Fabregas playing for the club again.

Fabregas departed Barcelona aged 16 but then returned to the Nou Camp eight years later when he signed for them in 2011 after over 200 first-team appearances for Arsenal.



Wenger was loathed to lose Fabregas at the time, but he still believes that a return to North London is not out of the question.



"I'm not convinced that he won't come back here one day," Wenger insisted.



"He is really an Arsenal man. He loves Arsenal and watches every game of Arsenal.



"But of course Barcelona was his home town where he grew up and you have to accept that will come into it, especially with them having the best team in the world.



[Fabregas would not come back] in the next two, three years, certainly not, because he is linked with Barcelona. But maybe later."



Wenger admits he would love to find another top youngster like Fabregas.



"Fabregas is an exception that I would try again, a world-class player you don't easily find," he said.



When Fabregas left he was the latest in a long-line of high-profile departures from the club, but Wenger is now looking at a British spine with Jack Wilshere, Kieran Gibbs and Alex Oxlade‑Chamberlain all recently extending their deals and he feels it is easier to keep them.



"What you want is the players to grow up together and say, 'We will be successful together.' We had that before. We had the period where we kept our players together for eight, nine years, with Henry, Vieira. Now it is a bit easier to keep them if they are British," he added.

Villa unlikely to be on the move in January

David Villa's agent says his client's future rests in the hands of Barcelona, who have no intention of selling in January.

Barca came out over the weekend to rubbish reports suggesting they could be tempted to part with the World Cup winner when the transfer window re-opens.



A switch to the Premier League has been widely touted, with Chelsea strongly linked to a move in Wednesday's newspapers, while Arsenal are also said to be among those monitoring Villa'ssituation in Catalunya.



The prolific frontman still has over a year left to run on his contract at Camp Nou, but he is not considered be a guaranteed starter and has suffered serious injury in recent times.



Barca are not prepared to discuss a deal in the New Year, though, and Villa's agent says that that will mean the 31-year-old forward staying put.



"There is always speculation about David because he is a great forward, but his future is in the hands of Barcelona," Victor Onate told Sky Sports.



"They have a contract and it is important to always respect such documents."


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Friday's round up of the top transfer stories

- Juventus have emerged as candidates to land David Villa if he decides to exit Barcelona.



- Chelsea midfielder Yossi Benayoun's future at the club will be resolved next month.



- Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is prepared to make Radamel Falcao the club's top earner by offering the striker a staggering £10million-a-year contract.



- Rafa Benitez has confirmed that Chelsea ARE planning for life after Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole.



- Manchester United are ready to let Wilfried Zaha remain at Crystal Palace on loan until the end of the season in order to push through a January deal, according to the Daily Mail.



- Manchester City target Pedro Obiang will not be leaving Sampdoria in January, according to the club's sporting director.



- Nemanja Vidic says he is happy with life at Manchester United - but has refused to rule out a future switch to Italy.



- Manchester United striker Federico Macheda will not be joining Blackpool or Hull City in January and is instead likely to make a loan move to Spain or Germany.



- Liverpool target Arkadiusz Milik is now high on Torino's wishlist as the Polish youngster's stock continues to rise.



- Brendan Rodgers is trying to push through a quick solution to Raheem Sterling’s contract saga – as Liverpool fear they could lose him otherwise.



- Liverpool are close to signing Daniel Sturridge and Thomas Ince next month, increasing the chances of Joe Cole being shown the exit door at Anfield, according to the Daily Mirror.



- And Liverpool have stepped up their interest in Jack Butland, with Arsenal said to be ready to launch a bid for Pepe Reina, according to Goal.com.



- Arsene Wenger will launch a determined bid to sign a goalkeeper in January - with Pepe Reina top of his wish-list, according to Mirror.



- Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy will launch a January bid for Porto star Joao Moutinho - as Spurs mount a major challenge for the Champions League places.



- Everton boss David Moyes is preparing for some transfer window captures - but he insists this year he does not need to sell first.



- Chelsea are keen on Malaga starlet Isco, according to AS.



- Swansea City defender Neil Taylor has signed a new three-and-a-half-year deal with the Premier League club.



- West Ham manager Sam Allardyce has confirmed he will be looking to secure "one or two players" in the January transfer window.



- Southampton and Reading will battle it out to sign Birmingham defender Curtis Davies during the winter window.



- David Beckham is unlikely to continue his playing career in Australia, according to Perth Glory owner Tony Sage.



- Former Sunderland defender John Mensah could be on the verge of rejoining Rennes after training with the French club.



- The agent of Arsenal's Johan Djourou has played down reports linking the defender with a move to Napoli.



- Maicon's agent has ruled out the possibility of the Manchester City defender returning to Inter Milan.



- Stevan Jovetic says he has no desire to leave Fiorentina for Manchester City.



- New Valencia boss Ernesto Valverde has no plans to allow reported Manchester City target Fernando Gago to leave in January.



- Borussia Dortmund have confirmed they have offered a new contract to Neven Subotic, who has been linked with a number of Premier League clubs throughout 2012.



- Rangers manager Ally McCoist insists he has no plans to make a January move for Aberdeen winger Ryan Fraser.



- Leeds have confirmed the club has given El-Hadji Diouf an 18-month contract after the striker's impressive start to the season.



- Santos are refusing to give up in their attempt to re-sign Robinho despite failing in an initial bid for AC Milan's Brazilian forward.

Wenger thinks Messi should win Ballon d'Or

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger does not like the Ballon d'Or in principle but admits he would vote for Lionel Messi if the award was decided on 'class'.

Barcelona's Argentine superstar is the runaway favourite to collect the accolade for a fourth consecutive year when it is announced on 7th January after an astonishing 2012.



Messi earlier in November surpassed Pele's 75-goal record of goals for club and country in a calendar year and is now on 82 to leave him just behind former West Germany and Bayern Munich striker Gerd Muller's 1972 record of 85.



But Wenger, who has always believed in praising the team ethic over the individual, thinks other the contenders - Messi's Barcelona team-mate, Spain international Andres Iniesta, and long-term rival, Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo - would also deserve the Ballon d'Or.



The Arsenal boss said: "It's very difficult. For the class, Messi. He's scored 76 goals in one year. It looks just outrageous to me. Therefore it would be one thing to reward something exceptional.



"Ronaldo, has always been there and he deserves it as well. He won the Spanish championship.



"Iniesta won the European Championship with the national team and therefore, you could reward him.



"I'm not a big fan of these things. If you judge purely the class, you judge Messi.



"If you want the achievement of the year, you would choose Ronaldo and maybe Iniesta in second. That's how I see it."

Messi back at top of AP rankings, Iniesta 3rd

Lionel Messi moved back to the top of the AP Global Soccer rankings, and Barcelona stayed No. 1 in the team poll after a 4-0 win over Levante in the Spanish league.



Messi earned 183 out of a possible 200 points from The Associated Press' panel of 20 global soccer journalists. Last week's winner, Paris Saint-Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, was second. Ibrahimovic topped the previous poll mainly for his four goals for Sweden against England.



Barcelona was voted the top club of the week after stretching its lead to three points over Atletico Madrid and 11 points over third-place Real Madrid.



Ibrahimovic had 124 points, while another Barcelona player, Andres Iniesta, moved into third place with 119.



"Two clinical finishes from Messi got Barca rolling towards a 4-0 win against Levante and followed his Champions League double against Spartak," panelist Will Tidey of the San Francisco-based Bleacher report said. "Gerd Mueller's record is just three goals away."



Mueller, a former Germany and Bayern Munich great, holds the record for most goals scored in a calendar year with 85.



The panel's two Italian voters, Paulo Condi of La Gazzetta Dello Sport and Aurelio Capaldi of Rai Sport, paid tribute to Iniesta.



"He made things easy for Barca as he twice set up Messi, scored a goal and allowed Cesc Fabregas to kill the game," Capaldi said.



Borussia Dortmund, which is giving Bayern Munich a fight in the Bundesliga, had two players in the top five. Striker Robert Lewandowski was fourth with 83 points and midfielder Mario Goetze, who played a key role in Lewandowski's two goals in Saturday's 2-1 victory over Mainz, was fifth with 63.



"Mario Goetze is currently in superb form," Christian Schaetzle of website derfussballblogger.de said. "He was the outstanding player in both Dortmund's Champions League win in Amsterdam and in his side's important away win at Mainz in the Bundesliga, involved in nearly all the goals."



Several panelists thought Philippe Mexes' overhead kick in AC Milan's 3-1 Champions League victory at Anderlecht was even better than Ibrahimovic's dramatic goal against England a week earlier.



"His goal was more beautiful than that of Ibrahimovic, because he controlled the ball first with the chest and there was a goalkeeper between the posts," Francois Colin of Belgium's De Standaard said. "Most of all this was a game that mattered."



For Filip Bondy of the New York Daily News, it was a "prettier goal in many ways than the bicycle kick from Ibrahimovic."



Mexes' efforts brought him into sixth place.



With Barcelona seemingly glued into the top team position, Bayern and Dortmund were second and third in the AP poll, with no English team in the top five for the first time since the survey began.



Barcelona had 176 points, well ahead of Bayern with 129 and Dortmund with 105. Real Madrid, which lost to Real Betis on Sunday, plunged to 24th.



"There's a team in Europe nobody expected anything from before this Champions League season," Schaetzle said. "Borussia Dortmund won Group D, the Group of Death (with opponents Real Madrid, Manchester City, Ajax), with its phenomenal 4-1 win at Ajax to reach the Round of 16."



AC Milan was rewarded for its 1-0 victory over Serie A leader Juventus and the victory over Anderlecht by being voted into fourth by the panel, which gives 10 points to their top choice down to one point for 10th.



Unglamorous English team West Bromwich Albion, which has slipped almost unnoticed into third place in the Premier League, was in the top 10 for the second straight week, coming in eighth, a few points behind Manchester United.



Newly-crowned J-League champion Sanfrecce Hiroshima was voted into 10th after clinching the title with one round still to play.



John Duerden, of website www.kickoffasia.com, paid tribute to J-League top scorer Hisato Sato.



"He has had his critics over the years but his goals have given a first title to Hiroshima," Duerden said.

Dani Alves out for 15-20 days

Barcelona's defender, Dani Alves, will be out for between 15 and 20 days with a hamstring injury to his right leg, which he suffered in the Levante game at the Ciutat de València stadium.



A medical test he underwent this Monday confirmed the Brazilian full-back's condition. This is the fourth time Dani Alves has been injured this season, with all of them being muscular injuries.



Martín Montoya came on to replace him against Levante, which made history because it meant that, for the first time ever, every one of the eleven men on the pitch for Tito's team were players that came through the youth ranks at Barcelona.



During the spell that Alves is predicted to be out for, Barça will play five games: Alavés, Athletic Club de Bilbao, Benfica, Betis and Atlético de Madrid. This will more than likely extend to six games, since Barça will be defending a 3-0 advantage that it notched up in Vitoria for the return leg of the cup game against Alavés this Wednesday and will likely go through to the last 16 of the Spanish cup to be played on 12th December.



Alves actually had exactly the same injury recently, although it was to his left leg. This prior injury happened in the game against Real Madrid, when he was also substituted for Montoya. Alves has now joined Bartra, Muniesa, Villa, Cuenca, Alexis Sánchez and Abidal on Barcelona's injury list.

Neymar move to Barcelona ´impossible´

Santos president Luis Alvaro Ribeiro says striker Neymar joining Barcelona before 2014 is 'impossible'.







The Brazilian has scored 83 goals for Santos in just 144 domestic appearances, form that has seen him become a regular for his country.



And the 20-year-old hit the headlines again for his impressive performances at the London Olympics, in which he has netted two goals in three matches for Brazil.



Despite the fact that Barcelona have publicly expressed their desire to lure the prodigy to the Nou Camp, Ribeiro says any pursuit of the contracted star will be fruitless, at least for the time being.



"Neymar is a phenomenon and I'm sure that given his performances at the Olympics, this year he will be ranked among the top three players in the world - and we will not be selling him," Ribeiro told Mundo Deportivo.



"Sandro Rosell (Barcelona president) is a very intelligent man and has enough information available to him to avoid wasting time trying to talk with Neymar (about moving) now.



"Neymar leaving before 2014 is impossible."



Ribeiro also says he is happy to risk the striker leaving for free at the end of the contract, insisting that the exposure and potential for success would be worth it.



"What Neymar will generate for Santos in the next few years offsets the prospect of him leaving for nothing," he said.



"Besides, Neymar is happy here and we still have not lost hope of him continuing with us. Either way, Neymar will be free to decide his future in 2014."

New coach: Messi makes the difference

Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova hailed the impact of Lionel Messi in his first game of pre-season after the Catalans ran out 8-0 winners over Raja Casablanca in Tangier.



The Argentinian scored a first-half hat-trick and combined to set up Alexis Sanchez twice as Barça raced into a 5-0 lead at the break.



Dani Alves then added a sixth from the penalty spot before Vilanova withdrew his stars for a host of youngsters and was rewarded with further goals from Sergi Gomez and Gerard Deulofeu.



Vilanova told the club's website: "When you have the world's best player, who has this capacity to score goals, he usually makes the difference. He proved it once again.



"We were warned of Raja's quality after watching their match against Athletic Bilbao, but we were ready when we came into the match. The young players also always deliver and they played at a very high level."



One man who did not feature was David Villa as he continues his recovery from a broken fibia suffered in December 2011, but Vilanova believes he is making progress.



"We're talking about a serious and long injury," he added. "When he's ready to play, we'll welcome him with open arms. He's made a lot of progress in the last month."



Messi, meanwhile, has said that he feels much fresher at this stage of pre-season than he has for a few years. He told El Mundo Deportivo: "I haven't been able to do a good pre-season for a long time because I always arrived late. It has been very good to have such a long rest."



"The way of training has continued in the same way and we are working with the same people so we haven't noted any changes," the Argentinian added.



"We are in pre-season and so you notice the tiredness. They kept the ball well and made us run a lot but we will get better with every game. We are training very hard and we have to continue like that to arrive in the best shape possible for the important matches."

Barca sign Irish youngster

A nine-year-old schoolboy from the leafy suburb of Castleknock in Dublin has been signed by FC Barcelona.



Zak Gilsenan is set to join the FCBEscola football academy which has produced the likes of Xavi, Iniesta and Lionel Messi.



The schoolboy went on trial with the La Liga giants in May and after seeing off 400 other young hopefuls won a second trial with the Catalan club in June in which he excelled, scoring seven goals in a trial match.



Gilsenan was living in Australia with his family when he was spotted by Tottenham scouts after playing in a summer camp hosted by the club and he looked all set to sign for the north London outfit before a call from Barca led to his trial and the lure of the Camp Nou proved too much for the junior sensation to turn down.



Stephen Gilsenan, Zak's father, told the Sun: "We came home with the intention of letting Zak go to Spurs, but in the meantime we had a call from Barcelona. One of their former players saw him playing in Oz and recommended him to Barca.



"They offered Zak a trial in May and it was a great experience. It consisted of over 400 boys from all over the world. He was asked back in June when it was cut down to 90.



"Then in a match between the top 16 players, Zak just ran riot and scored seven goals. He was phenomenal. Then we heard back two weeks ago and they offered him a spot."



Gilsenan's family will now move to Spain to give the gifted youngster the best chance of making the grade at the famous academy.



"I know Zak is young to be doing this but kids are like a sponge at this age," his proud father said.



"People say we are mad but in Barcelona he will be educated in the best footballing techniques.



"All we can do is go and see how it develops. We know it’s ruthless over there. We don’t want him turned into a machine we just want him to enjoy it. It’s his dream to play for Ireland," he continued.



Gilsenan is the second Irish youngster to be signed by one of Spain’s big two after Mayo’s John Joe Patrick Finn was signed by El Clasico rival’s Real Madrid in May.