How Messi, Mascherano and Bravo got to the Copa América Final

Leo Messi, Javier Mascherano and Claudio Bravo shared the Barca dressing room and celebrated the 2014/15 Treble together.But this Saturday the Barça three players face off in the final of the Copa América, and once the game is over, only twoArgentina players or one Chilean goalkeeper will celebrate a new title.
To reach the final, Argentina won their group by drawing 2–2 with Paraguay and beating both Jamaica and Uruguay 1–0. In the quarter-finals, the Argentines had to go to penalty kicks to win, while they routed Paraguay 6–1 in the semi-finals.

Chile also won their group after a 3–3 draw against Mexico, a 2–0 win over  Ecuador and a 5–0 rout of Bolivia. In the quarter-finals they slipped past Uruguay 1–0 and then defeated Peru, 2–1, in the semis.

Blaugrana keys

All three Barça stars have played key roles for their respective teams on the road to Saturday's Final. Mascherano only missed 13 minutes after being subbed out of the semi-finals to avoid a yellow card that would have left him out of the Final.
Messi, the Argentina captain, has just one goal, a penalty kick in the first match against Paraguay, but has taken 17 shots and has three assists.
Bravo is Chile's captain and has conceded just four goals, with three shutouts in five games, tied for tops in the tournament.

Here's a look at the stats from the three Barça players heading into the Copa América Final:

	Messi	Mascherano	Bravo
Games	5	5	5
Minutes	450	437	450
Goals	1	0	0
Shots on target	8	0	-
Shots off target	9	1	-
Scoring chances created	13	2	-
Assists	280	365	156
Passing percentage	83.6%	91.4%	39.5%
Interceptions	20	26	56
Tackles won	3	7	-
Tackles lost	0	1	-
Blocks	0	7	4
Fouls received	19	9	0
Fouls committed	1	5	0
Yellow cards	1	2	0

MESSI : Argentina in the Copa America

Leo Messi represents art and football while Javier Mascherano is about consistency and leadership. They have just won a famous treble with FC Barcelona and are now aiming to top a wonderful year by winning the Copa America in Chile.

Neither player has ever won a major international trophy, for it’s now 22 years since Argentina last won one, and that’s despite the team having won two World Cups (1978 and 1986), a Confederations Cup (1992) and 14 Copa Americas.

The last time the ‘albiceleste’ won a title was the Copa America in 1993. Now after a series of disappointments, criticisms and changes in search of a winning team, they are just two wins away from finally adding to their honours list. Alejandro Sabellacoached the team to the World Cup Final last year in Brazil, but now Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino is hoping to take them one step further and get their hands on a trophy.

Argentina in the Copa America

The team topped Group B ahead of Paraguay, Uruguay and Jamaica, and then beat Colombia on penalties in the quarter finals to earn a semi against Paraguay. History is in Argentina’s favour. In 22 meetings in this competition, they have won a massive 18 and drawn the other four, one of which was in the group stage of this very edition. 

Argentina has won the South American title a huge 14 times in 39 attempts (1921, 1925, 1927, 1929, 1937, 1941, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1991 and 1993). That record is only beaten by Uruguay, who have 15. Argentina have also finished runners-up 12 times (1916, 1917, 1920, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1935, 1942, 1959-II, 1967, 2004, 2007). So, a win in Chile would mean Argentina would tie with Uruguay as the nation with the most titles overall in the world’s longest-running international football competition.

Arda Turan hopes to reach agreement with Barcelona on Friday

Atletico Madrid midfielder Arda Turan hopes to reach an agreement with European champions Barcelona on Friday.

This is according to Barcelona-based newspaper Mundo Deportivo, who understand Arda has told people in his native Turkey that the Camp Nou is his preferred destination.

However the report is at odds with the Daily Mail’s story on Tuesday, which claimed the industrious winger had his heart set on a move to Chelsea, in order to work under Jose Mourinho

It was reported last week, again by Mundo Deportivo, that Barcelona would sign Arda if Josep María Bartomeu is re-elected as the club’s president later this summer.

The Turkey international has a £29 million release clause in his contract and is keen to leave the Vicente Calderon after four successful years with the 2013-14 La Liga champions.

Martin Montoya to Inter Imminent, Dani Alves Talks About Brazil Loss

According to Rai Sport Martin Montoya to Inter from Barcelona is imminent. Montoya will move to Inter on a one-year loan fixed at one million euro, with mandatory redemption to be exercised in a year to eight million. The signing is expected in the coming hours, meanwhile the medical has been set for Tuesday.
                              Copa America 2015 came to an end last night after Brazil were knocked out by Paraguay on penalties and the Barça wing back spoke to the media after the defeat: "we should have had more possession in the second half, we read the game wrong – we should have been able to control it. The defeat is own to the whole team not to any one player".
                                            FC Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen and his Germany U-21 national team will not be in the final of the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship being held in the Czech Republic after being eliminated in the semi-finals by Portugal.

Marc Bartra Snubs Manchester City, Spurs, Porto and Bayern Munich to Stay at FC Barcelona

It says: "No force will shoot down your dreams, because they gain strength from their own light. They feed on their own passion." It also has a red and blue emoji, used by Barça fans and players and social media. He's also, obviously, holding the Barcelona shield near his heart.

Many fans will be delighted to hear such a promising defender is not leaving on the cheap. Coach Luis Enrique may be among those happiest, as he pushed strongly to prevent his exit.

That being the case, several clubs such as Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Totten  barca at a reduced price.

Bartra,javior machrano Jeremy Mathieu and now vermalein who has returned from injury.

However, according to a report in Diario Sport, Bartra has let FC Barcelona know that he's going to stay and fight for a place in the team.

He also dropped a not-so-subtle hint on his Twitter feed this morning.

Nachbar calls for children's voices to be heard

The Slovenian spent the summer on a Unicef mission to Chad, and made this video explaining his experiences in Africa 

He is using the visit to show what like life is like for children in the country as part of the Voices of Children campaign 
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Bostjan Nachbar spent this summer in the region of Sahel, in Chad, as a member of a Unicef mission to show the world what life is like for the children under 5 in that country that are suffering from chronic malnutrition. The Voices of Children project tells the story of little Batrene, who weighed 5.6 kg when he was 8 months old and in three weeks, after visiting the Mao Mosque Medical Centre, weighed 6.2 kg. “His health is clearly improving and he is heading towards complete recovery”, says Nachbar in the video.
The Barça player is highly committed to charity, and was awestruck by the medical centre. “It’s good to know that there are medical centres like this one at Mao and in the region, where they are helping underfed children and also saving lives” he says. In this video summary of his visit, Nachbar describes his feelings and experiences.

Malaga – FC Barcelona: going for the fifth win

Ten o'clock tonight: Barça look for their fifth straight win against Malaga at La Rosaleda

Just 72 hours after recording their fourth straight league win against Levante, Barça travel to Malaga on Wednesday looking to stretch their 100% start to the campaign.Alves and Mathieu restedLuis Enrique has chosen to take 19 players for the game, resting Alves and Mathieu, but takingNeymar and Rakitic, who both picked up knocks against Levante, and B team strikers Munir andSandro. The injured Masip (finger), Rafinha (thigh) and Vermaelen (hamstring) all miss the trip.Malaga unbeaten at La RosaledaMalaga are sitting safe in the middle of the table  in eleventh, having won four of their five points so far at La Rosaleda, where they’ve beaten Athletic Bilbao 1-0 and drawn 0-0 with Levante.Malaga have yet to concede at home, whilst Barça of course, have kept clean sheets in all their games so far this year – which record will go tonight?