2010/2011 season summary – Barcelona (Part 1)
The Catalan Giants won a European double after they managed to win the Spanish La Liga and the UEFA Champions League in a single season.
In June Barcelona took a fine start as the summer transfer window opened up and it took the Catalan Giants only three days to sign http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Valencia-c40863 for 40 million Euros. The Spanish Champions earned 444.5 million Euros in the 2009/2010 season and it really helped them pay off for the Spanish striker.
As July started, Barcelona decided to sell back http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Dmytro-Chygrynskiy-c11449 to Shakhtar Donetsk – the club where he was taken from. The agreed fee for the transfer was 15 million Euros. Later, the Ivorian midfielder Yaya Toure was also sold to the Premier League club Manchester City for 30 million Euros.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Thierry-Henry-c34918 was also released from Barcelona during the same month and the French striker signed a four and a half year deal with the MLS club New York Red Bulls. On the other hand, Josep Guardiola signed a one year extension with the Spanish club. The assistant coach Tito Vilanova also signed a contract extension in the same month.
With August starting, Barcelona had to face Sevilla in the Spanish Super Cup. However, seven of the first team Barcelona players were called up for the Spanish international team as they were to face http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Mexico-c2956 in a friendly game. With the Spanish Super Cup starting, Josep Guardiola decided to promote nine Barca B players to the first team.
The nine Barca B players travelled to Seville to play the first leg of the final match. However, only three of those nine players, Ruben Mino, Sergi Gomez and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Oriol-c28659 Romeu, made a debut in the game and played for full 90 minutes.
In the same month Barcelona also bought the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Javier-Mascherano-c18071 for 24 million Euros.
Soon, it was discovered that the Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and his agent Mino Raiola had some issues with the coach Josep Guardiola. Therefore, the board decided to loan out the Swedish striker who joined http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Inter-c39567 Milan in a player plus cash deal.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Zlatan-Ibrahimovic-c38029 left Barcelona in August and joined the Italian club AC Milan. The deal was agreed with the Italian Giants and Ibrahimovic was sold for 24 million Euros. However, the price was to be paid by the Italian club next year.
Soon, the season kicked off and Barcelona started to play in the Spanish La Liga. They received their first shock on September 11th when the newly promoted side Hercules managed to beat them 0-2 at the Nou Camp. It was a shock well received as it was the first home loss for the Catalan Giants in approximately one and a half year of league play.
In the same month, Barcelona also saw their best player http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296 getting injured. The Argentinean maestro was taken down by the Atletico Madrid defender Tomas Ujfalusi.
As the tackle was seen in the replays, many thought that Messi would have broken his ankle and he would be out for at least six months. However, the doctors soon told the press that the Argentine only suffered a sprain in his internal and external ankle ligaments.
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