And when the French Magazine, France Football decided to release the names of the 30 players shortlisted to be finally nominated the Ballon d’Or, or the European Footballer of the Year, Barcelona leads the way with 5 of its starting eleven from the last terms Triplete winning side featuring in it. And we have Zlatan too on the list whereas Samuel Eto’o features in it as an Inter player after being an instrumental player last year in our triumphs before his services were snapped with the majestic, lanky magician from Sweden.

Here we have an excerpt of all the player interviews after the game against Valencia as well the quotes of Pep Guardiola and Laporta.

So the buck stopped, Barca could not continue their winning march in La Liga, and should probably feel lucky not having lost the game at the Mestalla. Real Madrid won their game at home against Real Valladolid and have now come up to a point within us. Zlatan and King Henry did not start the game still nursing knocks they picked up on International duty with Swedenand France respectively, leaving the very tired looking Messiah, Iniesta and Pedro to do the work of scoring the goals. However that was never meant to be and Valencia threatned from time to time but were only able to secure a 0-0 draw.

After an extremely gruelling and mentally exhausting session of World Cup qualifiers, League action is back again. And what a way to begin it again! Away at the hostile environment of The Mestalla. Every Barça fans knows that the away trip to Valencia is always a tricky one. Historically, the game at Mestalla has been one of the toughest of the season. Plus add to this the fact that almost all of our starting eleven is coming from all corners of the world after playing 2 games in a matter of 4 days, only adds to the concern.

In the latest interview given by our most expensive signing in the history, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has talked about his previous clubs, Pep Guardiola and life in Barcelona. The full interview follows:

The transfer mill continues to run and churn out possible transfer targets for Barca during the January window. The latest names to have come in, in addition to Cesc Fabregas, Robinho (Together known as CR9!), Kompany; are Mohammed Sissoko from the Old Lady and Cicinho from Roma. This only adds to the list of Ex-Real Madrid players that Barca is reported to be vying for in the winter months. The continous rumours linking the blaugrana to Robinho refuses to die down. One new piece of news that came in was from the comments of Txiki, who said that Barca has ‘good’ relations with Bayern and if they ever decide to sell their star, Ribery, Barca will be the first to know.

The Defending Champions of the King’s Cup or the Copa Del Rey, Barcelona have drawn minnows Cultural Leonesa in the last 32 of the competition. It will be a 2 leg affair with the first game away in Leon on October 28th and the return leg on November 10 in the Camp Nou.

One of the most awaited La Liga fixtures till date this season between Barcelona and Valencia has been shifted to Saturday now with the kick off scheduled at 22:00 CET at the Mestalla.