We are back to waiting until the day of the match for Pep Guardiola to announce the squad for the game. It should be announced within the next couple of hours after this morning's training session which has been set for 11.30. What is sure is there will be no Andres Iniesta, out for six to eight weeks, and no Eric Abidal who will be out now for probably at least another three weeks if he doesn't eventually need surgery on his knee.

Guardiola will probably choose between Thierry Henry and Alex Hleb to replace Iniesta on the left side of the attack, while at left back he will choose between Sylvinho and Carles Puyol. Seydou Keita has been declared fit again  and may be included in the squad, and Victor Valdés should make his 200th appearance for Barça in...

Barça's game next weekend in Huelva against Recreativo has been set for Sunday evening (November 16th) with a 9pm kick off time. Last season we only managed a 2-2 draw in the corresponding fixture. I was just looking back at this blog's report of the match and it is interesting to read the comments at the time. Last season's game was in April, just seven months ago, it shows how far we have come in a short time. Click here for the report and 100 comments on that game, it makes interesting reading. It is also worth checking the link to watch Samuel Eto'o's cracking 2nd goal.

Oh, and I believe I forgot to give the kick off time for the...

It's been officially confirmed on the club webpage that Andres Iniesta has a torn muscle in his right thigh and the time of recovery has been put at six to eight weeks. He will miss the games against Valladolid, Benidorm, Recreativo, Getafe, Sporting Lisbon, Sevilla, Valencia and Shakhtar. Unless he makes a miraculous recovery he will also miss the game with Real Madrid on 13/14th December and also the clash at Villarreal just before christmas.

There is never a good time to get injured but Iniesta would have been very important for the big games coming up in December. Let's hope he is back to full fitness as soon as possible.

Barça became the first team to qualify for the last sixteen of the Champions League after a disappointing home draw with Basle. It was a bad night for Barça and the worst of it was an injury to Andres Iniesta, first reports say he has torn a muscle in his right thigh and could be out for six weeks if not more.

Barça played as though they believed they would win just by stepping on the pitch, and it repeats an old leesen in football that it doesn't matter how much better your players are than the opposition you need to have the hunger to win to go with the talent. There was a big difference in the team attitude compared to Saturday's win at Malaga, and despite playing most of the...

Pep Guardiola will not announce the squad for tomorrow night's Champions League game with Basle until after tomorrow morning's training session. It seems to be Pep's way of keeping everybody on their toes and so far the idea has worked well. The only players who will definitely not play are the injured Seydou Keita, Eric Abidal and Gabi Milito. This morning the team changed plans and trained at 10.15 in order to all travel to Navarra for the funeral of goalkeeping coach Joan Carles Unzue's father.

Basle played their last game on Thursday and have therefore had a couple of extra days to prepare for the match. They arrived in Barcelona at lunchtime today and this evening trained at Camp Nou. They will be at full strength except for Argentinian defender Daniel...

The pouring rain and waterlogged pitch could not stop Barça winning their eleventh consecutive win in Malaga tonight. Two goals from Xavi Hernandez, one from Leo Messi and an own goal from Malaga defender Welligton send Barça to the top of the table for the time being with Valencia playing Racing Santander as I write. The game was conditioned by the conditions and Barça abondoned the usual patient possession game, even Victor Valdés kicked long instead of his normal throw out to a full back. Games like this often depend to a certain extent on luck but Barça were worthy winners especially after an excellent second half.

Captain Carles...

Pep Guardiola has named 18 players to travel today to Malaga for tomorrow evening's clash with Malaga in La Rosaleda (kick off 8pm). Eric Abidal is out injured, and despite being declared fit there is no place for either Eidur Gudjohnsen or Pedro. Sylvinho will most probably start in Abidal's place at left back and the rest of the team will probably be very similar to the team that beat Almeria 5-0 last Saturday.

Malaga were promoted after finishing 2nd in last season's second division but are proving to be worthy of their place in the top flight. Despite only picking up one point from their first four matches they have since won four on the trot and now sit in sixth place on 13 points and...

This was a difficult one this month. Having won six out of six in October there are many players in excellent form at the moment. The defence deserves credit for only conceding two goals, but at the other end we have scored twenty this month. In the end the October Player Of The Month goes to Leo Messi who saved us with two late goals against Shakhtar Donetsk and also scored against Atletico and Basle. Second place goes to September's winner Xavi Hernandez who continues to dazzle in midfield, while Samuel Eto'o is only third despite bagging six goals in four games; he would normally win hands down with such a record but it just goes to...

I don't know about you but I have to say I'm getting a bit fed up of so many Saturday night games. The LFP have announced that next week's game with Valladolid will take place at 10pm local time on Saturday night. Barça will start the game knowing the result of Real Madrid who play Malaga at the Bernabeu at 8pm. Last season Barça beat Valladolid 4-1 with two goals from Bojan Krkic in what was probably his best game for Barça. Click here for my report on last season's match.

Tests this afternoon have revealed that Eric Abidal has a cyst in the meniscus of his right knee. Abidal had to leave this morning's training session and the latest reports say he will miss the next two games against Malaga and Basle and if his condition does not improve he could need surgery on the knee. This is bad news for Barça as the French international has been returning to very good form in recent games, hopefully he will make a quick recovery.