La Liga - Puyol to stay at Barca until 2013

Barcelona captain Carles Puyol has agreed a contract extension until 2013 with the European champions.

The 31-year-old Spain star's current deal was due to expire next June.

The defender, who sat out the Catalan giants' shock 2-1 home defeat to Russian minnows Rubin Kazan in the Champions League on Tuesday, will sign the new agreement in the coming days.

"Carles has been here for many years and is the heart and soul of the dressing room. For this reason, it is fantastic news," team-mate Xavi said.

Puyol joined the club's youth system in 1995 and made his first team debut on October 2, 1999 against Real Valladolid.

The shaggy-haired defender has gone on to make 451 appearances for Barca, the fourth highest for the club, helping them to win three Liga titles, two Champions League titles and a Copa del Rey.

Barca, top of La Liga on 19 points from seven matches, welcome Real Zaragoza to the Camp Nou on Sunday.

Reuters

La Liga - Barcelona pair to miss out

Injured Barcelona pair Andres Iniesta and Rafael Marquez have not made sufficient progress to be available for the champions' opening La Liga match against Sporting Gijon.

Spain midfielder Iniesta (pictured) is recovering from a thigh injury and Mexico defender Marquez has been out with a calf problem, although the club said both were able to train as normal on Sunday.

Barca will also be without Lionel Messi because the Argentina forward is on international duty and Iceland's Eidur Gudjohnsen has not been included in the squad while he seeks to resolve his future with the club, they added.

Coach Pep Guardiola told a news conference the players were feeling the strain after their exertions in Monaco where they beat Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0 in the European Super Cup on Friday.

Playing extra time in the heat and humidity and the heavy state of the pitch in the Louis II stadium had sapped their energy, he said.

"We have conducted tests individually to see how they are," he said. "The level of fatigue is very high."

Guardiola added that the imminent arrival of Shakhtar defender Dmytro Chygrynskiy meant the squad was "virtually complete" and denied media reports that said Barca were poised to sign Brazilian forward Robinho from Manchester City.

Reuters

Statistics: Higher attendances than last season

The average attendance at the Nou Camp so far this season has been 12,000 higher than last year, with an average of 75,000 at each game.

The average attendance at the stadium so far this season after six games is 74.254, 12.256 more than for the first six games of last season, when the average was 61.998.

This year’s figures are pretty much in line with those of 2004-05 (74.273 , 2005-06 (73.025 ) and 2006-07 (72.550 ), though still short of the numbers for2007-08 (82.002).

Laporta called Extremadura president an “imbecile”

According to Catalan press, FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta threatened the president of Extremadura and called him an “imbecile” during a phone call after being accused of using FC Barcelona as a stepping stone towards his political ambitions.

In his column in Spanish newspaper “Marca”, Guillermo Fernandez Vara asked Laporta to stop talking about Catalan independence. Vara explained that he was unhappy with Laporta making it all about Catalunya while there are millions of Barca fans living in other parts of Spain.

Reportedly, Laporta’s responded by phoning Fernandez Vara, and calling him an “imbecile” and “a terrible Barca fan”.
“Write about Barca, but don’t ever write about me again or I’ll show you”, were the alleged Laporta’s words.

Cultural Leonesa – first Barca opponent in Copa del Rey

Fans of Cultural Leonesa may look forward to hosting Copa del Rey champions – FC Barcelona. The draw for the knockout phase took place this morning in Madrid and Barca are scheduled to travel to Leon on 28th of October and will be hosting the minnows in return leg on 10th of November at Camp Nou.

Full draw:

Alcorcón – Real Madrid
Cultural Leonesa - FC Barcelona
Marbella – Atlético de Madrid
Atlético Ciudad – Sevilla
Alcoyano – Valencia
Puertollano – Villarreal
Rayo Vallecano – Athletic
Hércules – Almería
Salamanca – Racing
Celta – Tenerife
Recreativo – Sporting
Real Murcia – Deportivo
Xerez – Osasuna
Valladolid – Mallorca
Zaragoza – Málaga
Getafe - Espanyol

Laporta still to endorse his candidate

FC Barcelona president, Joan Laporta is still keeping cards close to his chest regarding the endorsement of presidential candidate that is to represent the current Barca board.

6 months ago, vice-president, Alfons Godall, looked as a possible candidate but after he gave up the run there was only 2 names that were left on the list. The eccentric economist Xavier Sala i Martin and vice-president Jaume Ferrer (on the pic).

Reports coming from Catalan press claim that Laporta only supported Sala i Martin as a counterbalance for a candidate he’s not being fond of – Jaume Ferrer.

Recently, polls have shown that Sala i Martin doesn’t face good odds if he is to run for a president so Laporta turned again to Alfons Godall.