While we are all still basking in Saturday's thrashing of Atletico Madrid and the six-match winning streak in the belief that a new era is here at Camp Nou, it is worth remembering where we were one year ago. On the 7th October 2007 Barça played the last match before an international break at home to an in-form Atletico Madrid. Barça ran out comfortable 3-0 winners with goals from Deco, Messi and Xavi, which was Barça's sixth succesive victory having previously beaten Lyon (3-0), Sevilla (2-1), Zaragoza (4-1), Levante (1-4) and Stuttgart (0-2). We moved into second place in La Liga with 17 points (five wins and two draws) from 7 games, two points behind Real Madrid. After last season's game with Atletico I wrote on this blog...

The reactions to Saturday's violence at the Espanyol-Barça derby have come from all sides. However, as is so often the case everybody is blaming somebody else and nobody wants to take responsibility for what happened. Fortunately, nobody was seriously hurt or you could be sure that the accusations would be much greater.

Five fans were arrested for their part in the incidents and according to newspaper reports they could face sentences of up to four and a half years. While this might seem a bit harsh for what some might feel is just a bit of foolish fun, it should be remembered that this foolishness could end up with somebody losing their life, and hopefully if the sentences serve as a deterrent to the next knobhead who thinks this sort of behaviour can be justified in any...

With the transfer window now closed perhaps it is time to reflect on the summer signings, the preseason preparation and the possibilities of the first team for the season ahead. Of the new signings only Dani Alves started against Numancia and quite frankly he had a stinker. We did, however, see signs in preseason that the expected "best right side in the world" of Alves and Messi will give us plenty of joy in the future. My worry with Alves is that for all the extra attacking options he offers we will suffer defensively when he gets caught out of position, in this sense he reminds me a bit of Real Madrid's ex-left back Roberto Carlos. The difference is that Madrid, like Sevilla with Alves, played with a double pivot in midfield which offers more cover; hopefully...

So, now it turns out that Barça were correct to defend their interest in the Messi/Olympics saga. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) have ruled in favour of Barça, Werder Bremen and Schalke 04 to say these clubs are not obliged to release their players for the Olympic games, and the clubs can now legally recall their players for the Champions League qualifiers. The Argentinian camp have responded by declaring their intention to play Messi in tomorrow's opening game against Ivory Coast.

Putting to one side the arguments of whether or not Messi should play in the Olympics (we have already had that debate on the blog), I have to say that it is...