Barcelona's key first-team players - including Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar - have been given a three-day break following their exertions in the last-gasp win at Valencia on Saturday.
Barca is not in first-team action this week, although a squad of fringe players and B team regulars has been named for Tuesday's Catalunya Supercup clash with Espanyol.
And Luis Enrique has decided to give his key players a well-deserved break with Messi, Suarez and Neymar not expected back in training until Thursday, alongside Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Busquets, Javier Mascherano, Lucas Digne, Sergi Roberto and Samuel Umtiti.
Nine of the 10 started the 3-2 victory at Mestalla - Rakitic came on as a 14th-minute substitute for the injured Andres Iniesta - and played a part in the comeback that saw the defending La Liga champion snatch an injury-time triumph thanks to a Messi spot-kick.
Arda Turan has been included in the group to face Espanyol after overcoming an elbow injury but Aleix Vidal misses out after damaging his right adductor in training on Monday.
Barca's next La Liga game is on Saturday when Granada visit Camp Nou.
Centre-back thinks that Barça forward's gold win warrants the extra break provided
The FC Barcelona centre-back Gerard Pique has backed coach Luis Enrique after his decision to allow Neymar to stay in Brazil until after the international break.
He told 'Marca': "Neymar has earned this rest that they have given him. He has earned more days of holiday."
He believes that the clinching of a gold medal at the Olympics, and being decisive in the final under great pressure, means that the Brazil star can relax for a few extra days.
The defender made these comments at the European Poker Stars event.
Pique added: "At the Olympic Games, Neymar showed that he is one of the world's best players because, to be champions, he had to score the decisive penalty. He has won more holiday time."
He stated that his Barça teammate has had to show great mental strength after being heavily criticised after a poor start to the competition:
"It has not been easy for him because to play with the Brazil shirt implies a lot of pressure to win.
"For him and his teammates it has been a very tough tournament and the fact that he can now enjoy some more days of rest was a very good decision."
The Catalan player also spoke about France international, and fellow central defender, Samuel Umtiti:
"He is young, but is very good. He has arrived with a lot of enthusiasm.
"At the centre-back position, there are very good players and, knowing the manager, we will all play."
Regarding the second league game of the season, on Sunday at San Mames, Pique advised that the campaign "has only just begun" but "as always, we will go out to win."
He added that he watched the Athletic defeat to Sporting Gijon at the Molinon, and said that "they are lacking a little rhythm, but so are we. Nobody is at 100% right now."
The verdict arrived at in the second Neymar case by Judge Jose de la Mata has been roundly criticised by prosecutor Jose Perals who feels there was criminal wrongdoing and has asked for the verdict to be revisited.
No personal criminal culpability was assigned in the verdict issued in this case, although the club took responsibility and paid a small fine.
Perals alleges fraud on behalf of the club on the basis that they left the Brazilian sports investment fund DIS, who owned part of the player's rights, out of pocket.
He even goes so far as to say that Real Madrid topped the Catalan club's offer for the forward but that a €40 million payment to Neymar proved decisive and, as a result, the player's previous club Santos also lost out on a better price.
Perals went on to say the club 'patently' failed to abide by FIFA rules and criticised the judge's acceptance that €17.1m represented the market value for the player when Real Madrid had tabled an offer in excess of double that amount.
Criticising the opaque nature of the contracts involved in securing the deal, Perals highlighted one such detail with Santos to secure the future rights to three players and the organising of a friendly match between the two clubs.
A secret document kept by Barcelona - "intentionally hidden and casually found" - has also been suggested by the prosecutor as showing that DIS were swindled in the deal.
Judge de la Mata had previously ordered the case closed on the July 8 but it would appear that the headache is far from over as far as Barcelona are concerned.
Club agrees to pay €5 million to make up for tax fraud over player’s transfer, and execs get prison charges lifted.
The executive committee of Barcelona soccer club will meet at 2pm on Friday to ratify a deal between club lawyers and state prosecutors over the Neymar case.
Under the terms of the agreement, Barça would pay around €5 million for tax fraud in 2011 and 2013, when the club failed to pay more than €9 million in taxes by not declaring all the contracts involved in Neymar’s transfer from Santos.
Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, the club’s current and former chairmen, would be acquitted of all charges after prosecutors had asked for prison terms of two to three months for the former and over seven years for the latter.
Club sources said they also hope that the settlement will help resolve a second claim brought by DIS (Deportes e Organizaçao de Eventos), the company that held 40% of Neymar’s rights before the transfer from Santos to Barça. It was DIS that brought the original fraud lawsuit against Barça.
But the deal has already triggered criticism by those who feel that the club should not have to pay for the bad management of two individuals who themselves acted against former chairman Joan Laporta in 2010.
The Neymar case was one of the scandals that triggeredRosell’s departurefrom the club, especially after the price of the transfer escalated to nearly €100 million.
Roberto Moreno, executive director of DIS, the company that launched a corruption complaint against Barcelona star Neymar, says the Brazilian cannot be seen as a role model.
Moreno, who is in Madrid to begin the high court process against the Blaugrana forward, has heavily criticised the player, admitting that DIS feel 'betrayed' having worked with him from a young age when he played for Santos in his home country.
"Neymar cannot be an example for our children, he is not an icon when he is being investigated for fraud, tax evasion and corruption," Moreno began.
"We feel betrayed, cheated and swindled.
"We took care of him, we invested a lot of money in him despite the risk, there comes a time when we feel cheated."
Moreno says they [DIS] began to expect something was wrong four years ago, when money was paid for Neymar's transfer to the Camp Nou without them knowing, despite holding 40% of his rights.
"We found out in 2012," he continued.
"I was in Hamburg negotiating for Thiago Neves and it emerged in the annual balance that Barcelona had paid 50.8 million euros - the press announced that this corresponded to the signing of Neymar.
"I was surprised because my company had 40% of the rights and did not know anything."
Barcelona, Mar 30 (EFE).- Neymar is raring to go with the Clasico on the horizon next Saturday, as the Brazilian returned to Barcelona earlier than scheduled and had an extra rest before firing on all cylinders.
The forward failed to find the net for Brazil against Uruguay, and picked up a yellow card that ruled him out from the next game against Paraguay, which also allowed his early return to Spain.
According to Spanish newspaper Marca, there has been criticism in Brazil because the 24-year-old stayed behind to party in his homeland rather than heading straight back to Barcelona, but the club claims that the star did nothing wrong and was on time for training on Tuesday.
Neymar is positively eager for Saturday's match as he is always extra pumped up for the big games and particularly when it comes to taking on Real Madrid.
This much has been evident on the five occasions when he has faced Los Blancos since signing for Barca in June 2013.
He was on the score sheet in his very first Clasico, a 2-1 home triumph, and he was also heavily involved in the 4-3 victory at the Bernabeu later that season, winning the penalty which hat-trick hero Lionel Messi converted to make it 3-3.
IN a match-up pairing the league leaders against the defending champions who currently sit in 14th place, the 2015-16 season has so far brought six months of contrasting fortunes for these two London giants.
Arsenal currently holds a 19-point lead on Chelsea in the Premier League, the Gunners’ largest
advantage over their London neighbours in 22 years. Still, this has been a fairly one-sided rivalry in recent seasons, with Chelsea more or less having the wood over Arsene Wenger’s side.
The fact that Chelsea have won four Premier League titles since the Gunners’ last success in 2004 would no doubt be a sore spot for Wenger.
As the Gunners get set to host Guus Hiddink’s men at the Emirates this weekend, we take a look at five burning questions heading into the clash.
An astonishing statistic to start with — Arsenal’s last league goal against Chelsea came three years ago, in January 2013, when Theo Walcott netted in a 2-1 loss at Stamford Bridge.
And this is just one chapter of the shocking record Wenger and Arsenal have against Chelsea in
recent seasons.
Arsenal’s last win in this fixture? A 5-3 triumph at the Bridge in October 2011, where the matchwinner was Robin van Persie, who netted a hat-trick.
Arsenal’s last home win against the Blues? December 2010, and while the Gunners secured a 3-1
victory on that day, it broke a streak of five straight Chelsea wins, with the Blues scoring 13 and
conceding only two in those meetings.
With Arsenal top of the league and Chelsea languishing below mid-table, this might be Wenger’s
best chance for a win in years.
Arsenal have the highest pass completion rate in the Premier League at 84.3 per cent, so Hiddink’s charges will need to disrupt the host’s tempo if they are to get a foothold in this match.
Whose injuries will have the biggest impact?
Both clubs are sweating on the fitness of key players heading into this clash.
Alexis Sanchez, who carried Arsenal at times last season, hasn’t featured for the Gunners since late November, missing 10 games in all competitions.
After playing 180 minutes of World Cup qualifiers against Colombia and Uruguay on a long-haul trip to South America, the Chilean picked up a slight knock in the Champions League against Dinamo Zagreb, which turned into a full blown hamstring injury against Norwich.
In Sanchez’ absence, assist-machine Mesut Ozil has stepped up to be the centrepiece of the Arsenal attack, but the German has only featured in one of Arsenal’s last three matches, rested against Sunderland in the FA Cup and missing from the 0-0 draw with Stoke City due to a slight knock.
After being accused of running Sanchez into the ground, perhaps Wenger is handling Ozil more carefully.
Midfielder Francis Coquelin, another missing since November, also trained fully this week and could be in line for a recall alongside Sanchez and Ozil.
As for Chelsea, striker Diego Costa picked up a shin injury against Everton, but after scoring five goals in as many games since Hiddink’s return, the star forward’s inclusion or absence could play a huge role here.
Striker Olivier Giroud has scored five goals in his last eight league games, often feeding off stellar service from Ozil.
The German’s Premier League-leading 16 assists are the result of creating an average of 4.4 chances per game, the most of any player in Europe’s big five leagues (England, Spain,
Germany, Italy and France).
As a combination, Giroud and Ozil are behind only Barcelona’s prolific pair of Neymar and Luis Suarez in terms of assist/goal pairings in Europe, having combined for seven goals so far this season.
This does not bode well for Chelsea, especially if Ozil is able to take his place in the side, considering the Blues have conceded 34 goals in 2015-16, already two more than they conceded all of last season.
It will be up to talented Chelsea ‘keeper Thibaut Courtois and the rest of the Blues defence to keep the shackles on Ozil and Giroud so the Gunners pair doesn’t add to this record.
The Blues are currently turning in the worst title defence in Premier League history, a record that
eventually cost Jose Mourinho his job. Freed from the spectre of ‘The Special One,’ Chelsea are
unbeaten in six Premier League matches, although they have only won two of those games — against relegation-threatened Sunderland and a fading Crystal Palace.
Still, since Hiddink took interim charge of Chelsea for the second time in his career, the Blues’
players look like they’re enjoying their football again, and its showing.
They have scored 13 goals in six matches since Mourinho’s departure, the same number of strikes as in the final 13 league games of the Portuguese’s recent reign.
The bottom line is that the champions are simply too talented to be languishing in their current league position and, with their imposing record against Arsenal, a win this weekend might be just the spark they need for a late-season surge.
Will this be another fiery encounter?
While not strictly a derby, Arsenal and Chelsea are the two biggest sides in London, and matches between the two have evolved into having that derby feel to them.
The animosity between Wenger and Mourinho over the years has fanned the flames of this rivalry even more so — think back to the infamous incident in October 2014, where Wenger shoved then-Chelsea manager Mourinho, later claiming he was “provoked.”
Things escalated again when the two sides met at Stamford Bridge earlier this season, with Costa, Chelsea’s pantomime villain at his disruptive best.
Chelsea won 2-0, ending the match with a two-goal advantage and also a two-man advantage, following some extreme provocation from Costa that led to Gunners defender Gabriel being sent off, while Santi Cazorla also received his marching orders late on thanks to two yellow cards.
Ahead of this clash, Wenger is keen to ensure his players focus on the match, and not get caught up with Costa again.
“We have to focus on our own performance and forget a little bit about Diego Costa,” Wenger said. “We have to be prepared for a battle because Costa gives you a fight. After that, it’s down to the referee.”
Short of actually winning the European Cup, Chelsea are all but guaranteed to miss qualification for next season’s Champions League, which essentially means all Hiddink’s side has to play for is denting the title chances of other teams, like Arsenal.
As such, the latest chapter in this rivalry could hold anything.
