Tag: Barcelona

Nigeria D’Tigers’ captain Chimezie Metu has signed a one-season contract with FC Barcelona, valid until 30 June 2025.

Metu, 27 years old and 2.08 meters tall, arrives from the Detroit Pistons where he finished the 2023/24 season with an average of 10.5 points, 6 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game.

He is Barça’s fourth new acquisition after Kevin Punter, Justin Anderson and Juan Núñez.

Metu is at his first European experience, having played in the NBA with Spurs, Kings and Suns.

All other things being equal, Metu is expected to make his debut on 29 September when Barcelona open their 2024/25 ACB campaign against Grenada.

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Last season in the NBA , Metu split his time between Phoenix Suns, where he produced 5 points and 3 rebounds on average, and Detroit Pistons.

He was part of Nigeria’s senior national team, D’Tigers, to the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China and 2020 Olympic Basketball Tournament in Japan.

Born in Los Angeles, USA, Metu spent the first years of his life in California before moving to Nigeria with his father at the age of six.

The following six years in Nigeria, he played soccer.

Barcelona sacked coach Xavi Hernandez on Friday after the Catalan giants failed to win a trophy this season but just weeks since he and club president Joan Laporta agreed he would stay in the post.
Xavi will take charge of the team’s final La Liga match on Sunday at Sevilla before departing.
“Barcelona president Joan Laporta has told Xavi Hernandez he will not continue as coach for the 2024-25 season,” said Barcelona in a statement.
Former Bayern Munich and Germany coach Hansi Flick is heavily tipped to replace Xavi.
In January, Xavi said he would leave at the end of the season but, after a run of strong form, in April he and president Laporta agreed the coach would stay for the next campaign, with his contract expiring in June 2025.

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However, the situation quickly changed with Spanish media reporting Laporta was angered by Xavi’s comments suggesting it was hard for the financially-hamstrung club to compete with Real Madrid and other elite European sides.
“Barcelona want to thank Xavi for his work as coach, which adds to his unmatchable career as a player and the captain of the first team, and wish him all the best in the future,” continued Barcelona’s statement.
“In the coming days, Barcelona will reveal the new coaching structure for the first team staff.”
Barcelona won La Liga last season but were not able to successfully defend the title in the current campaign.

Barcelona are determined to bring in a new winger this summer but Athletic Club star Nico Williams is not an option.

Williams has been linked  a long term option for La Blaugrana but his immediate future is in Bilbao.

The Spanish international has signed contract extension in Basque Country and his release clause is rumoured to be at least €60m.

Barcelona’s financial situation dictates they cannot afford that and will look elsewhere to bolster their attack.

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As per the latest update from Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona are considering a move for Porto’s left winger Pepe, after he impressed against them in the Champions League group stages earlier this season.

The 27-year-old is valued at around €25m, and would be a more viable target than Williams, after racking up eight goals and ten assists so far in 2023/24.

Williams’ Spain international teammate Dani Olmo is also an option but he is unconvinced over a return to his boyhood club from RB Leipzig.

Andreas Christensen came off the bench to head in the winning goal as Barcelona won 3-2 away to Paris Saint-Germain in a remarkable first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie.

Raphinha had earlier scored twice for the Catalans at the Parc des Princes, slotting in the opener late in the first half and then volleying in an equaliser to make it 2-2 just after the hour mark.

In between, PSG had turned the game around as they awoke from a poor first-half display by starting in electrifying fashion after the restart with two goals in six minutes, neither coming from Kylian Mbappe.

Ousmane Dembele struck against his old club, and Vitinha briefly put the French giants in front, only for Barcelona to recover in stunning fashion to take control of the tie.

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Christensen’s goal, which came just after he had been introduced as a substitute on his 28th birthday, ended PSG’s 27-game unbeaten run and gives Barca a lead to defend at home in the return next Tuesday.

That second leg will be played at Montjuic, the Catalan club’s temporary home, rather than the Camp Nou, the scene of Barcelona’s incredible 6-1 win over PSG in 2017 and of a lethal Mbappe hat-trick in a 2021 meeting of the teams.

The Parisians were widely seen as the favourites coming into this tie, in large part thanks to the presence of Mbappe and Dembele in attack.

Security measures were reinforced at all of this week’s quarter-finals after the Islamic State group made threats against stadiums.

But the story of this game ended up partly being about the selection decisions of PSG coach Luis Enrique, who was missing the banned Achraf Hakimi but also omitted teenage prodigy Warren Zaire-Emery and gave Marco Asensio a surprise start.

The importance of the occasion for PSG, back in the quarter-finals having been eliminated in the last 16 in five of the previous seven seasons, was clear with Ronaldinho -– a former star for both clubs –- doing a lap of honour ahead of the game and home fans putting on a Star Wars display as the teams came out.

But Paris struggled to live up to it, with Mbappe for once unable to deliver in a big game.

Appearing in the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in four years and since the departure of Lionel Messi, Barcelona grew into this game and almost went ahead on 20 minutes.

Home goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma came to try to punch away a corner but Robert Lewandowski got there first, only for his header to be cleared off the line by Nuno Mendes.

That was the first wobble from Donnarumma, who did not cover himself in glory as Barcelona went ahead in the 37^th  minute.

Ousmane Dembele netted for PSG against his old club, but Kylian Mbappe was unable to get on the scoresheet

The Italian came out to meet a low ball in from the right by Lamine Yamal but only succeeded in helping it into the path of Raphinha, who gratefully fired into an unguarded net for his first ever goal in the competition.

PSG sent on Bradley Barcola at the break for Asensio, with the substitute going to the right wing and Dembele moving across to an inside-left role close to Mbappe.

The tactical change paid off at once, as PSG drew level three minutes after the restart when Ronald Araujo failed to properly clear Mbappe’s cutback from the byline, the ball dropping to Dembele who rifled a shot high into the net while slipping.

It was just his second PSG goal since moving to the French capital from Barcelona last August.

The home side then went ahead in the 51st minute, Barcola and Lee Kang-in combining on the right before Fabian Ruiz supplied Vitinha, who controlled and prodded in.

Xavi responded with a double change just past the hour mark, as Pedri and Joao Felix entered and Yamal and Sergi Roberto came off, with Raphinha now on the right.

Pedri’s first contribution saw him float a ball forward for Raphinha, who arrived in the middle to meet it first-time on the volley, his shot beating Donnarumma to make it 2-2.

It was breathless stuff, and Dembele almost scored again, sending a shot off the far post just before Barcelona won it.

Donnarumma stayed rooted to his line as Ilkay Gundogan delivered a corner and Christensen headed in.

Green shoots of hope have been few and far between for troubled Spanish champions Barcelona this season but the emergence of teenage starlet Lamine Yamal is the clearest.

The 16-year-old winger could prove crucial in the Champions League last 16 second-leg clash with Napoli on Tuesday at the club’s temporary Olympic Stadium home.

Yamal became the youngest player ever to feature in the Champions League knock-out stages as he impressed in the 1-1 first-leg draw in the south of Italy.

Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring but Barcelona were pegged back by Victor Osimhen, leaving the tie finely poised.

Off the pace in La Liga and out of the Copa del Rey, a deep run in Europe is the best Barca can hope for this season.

Yamal made the difference for them on Friday against Real Mallorca in La Liga, scoring a sensational goal out of nothing to snatch Barcelona, third, a 1-0 win.

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It led Mallorca coach Javier Aguirre to label the young Spain international a “rat” and a “scoundrel” – in the most positive sense possible.

The grizzled Mexican coach compared Yamal’s emergence to Barcelona’s best ever player and record goalscorer Lionel Messi.

 “The first time I saw Messi was with Barcelona’s youth team, I saw him for five minutes and he was a rat, he did not stop scoring goals,” said Aguirre. “Lamine looks like a rat too, the scoundrel.”

With veteran striker Lewandowski playing inconsistently and winger Ousmane Dembele departing for Paris Saint-Germain last summer, Yamal has become a vital source of goals and inspiration for Barcelona.

The forward has netted six goals and provided seven assists in 37 appearances across all competitions this season, many as a substitute.

In recent weeks he has become an essential component for coach Xavi Hernandez, starting in nine of his last 10 appearances.

Yamal hit a brace to rescue Barcelona a 3-3 draw against Granada in La Liga in February, coincidentally against the same side he netted in October to become the division’s youngest ever goalscorer.

The 16-year-old is Barcelona’s most dangerous player, fast and one of the few natural dribblers they have at their disposal.

At times in matches the Catalans already seem dependent on him – lacking creativity in other areas, Barcelona seek Yamal and ask him to make the difference.

That was the case with Messi too, although comparisons with arguably the greatest player of all time would be unfair on a player just beginning his career.

 “Comparisons don’t help him, because he is totally different, anyone who has been compared with Messi comes out losing,” Xavi told reporters Friday. “There are moments in which he has flashes of Messi, because he’s left footed playing on the right and comes inside, but the comparison with the best player in history is not good, because he will lose.”

Yamal became the youngest player to feature in a Clasico when facing Real Madrid in October, and also the youngest player to play for and to score for Spain in September.

With three of Barcelona’s key midfielders – Frenkie de Jong, Pedri, and Gavi – out injured, it heaps more pressure on Yamal to produce something special to take the team through. So far, Yamal has shown he can handle it.