THE REAL BARCA FANS

FC Barcelona, which will participate between July 30th and August 6th have also announced that Turkish Airlines will be the main sponsor for the team’s US Tour.

The game against Mexico’s Chivas de Guadalajara will take place on August 3rd at 20.00 (local time) at Miami’s Sun Life Stadium. Club América will be Barça’s opponents three days later at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas at 16.00 (local time).

Barça will also star in a re-run of this year’s Champions League final when they take on Manchester United at the FedexField in Landover, MD at 19.00 on July 30th.

Tickets for the Herbalife World Football Challenge are available at WorldFootballChallenge.com .

About Turkish Airlines.

Turkish Airlines, FC Barcelona Official Airline and Turkey’s national flag carrier, was founded in Ankara on May 20, 1933. Turkish Airlines, with fleet consisted of 165 aircraft (passenger and cargo); organize flights to total 181 points including 139 in international and 42 domestic lines.

Turkish Airlines also won SkyTrax Award for the Best Airline in Southern Europe on April 2, 2009. Turkish Airlines achieved a great success by winning the “Skytrax World Aviation Award 2009” known as the Oscar of Aviation industry.Turkish Airlines wins SkyTrax Award for the “Best Airline in Southern Europe” as the airline achieved the same great success last year. The airline also marked its name on the 3th place in the best airline companies in all Europe countries.

About Major League Soccer

Headquartered in New York City, Major League Soccer is the top-flight professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. MLS features many stars from the U.S., Canada, and around the world. Major League Soccer’s 16th season will feature 18 clubs each playing 34 regular season matches. Those clubs include Chicago Fire; Chivas USA; 2010 MLS Cup champion Colorado Rapids; Columbus Crew; D.C. United; FC Dallas; Houston Dynamo; LA Galaxy; New York Red Bulls; New England Revolution; Philadelphia Union; Real Salt Lake; San Jose Earthquakes; Seattle Sounders FC; Sporting Kansas City; Toronto FC; and, in their inaugural seasons, Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps FC. An expansion team in Montreal will debut in 2012. For more information about MLS, log on to the League’s official website at www.MLSsoccer.com.

What is CAA Sports?

CAA Sports represents more than 650 of the world's best athletes in baseball, football, hockey, basketball, soccer, tennis, and golf, in addition to icons in individual sports, Olympians, coaches, broadcasters, and other sports personalities.

Beyond conventional athlete representation, CAA Sports provides unique opportunities for clients off the field, in areas including licensing, endorsements, speaking, philanthropy, video games, and the Internet. CAA Sports also works in the areas of broadcast rights, corporate marketing initiatives, and sports properties for sales/sponsorship opportunities.

CAA Sports is a division of Creative Artists Agency (CAA), the world's leading talent agency, representing many of the most creative and successful artists working in film, television, music, theatre, video games, and the Internet, and provides a range of strategic marketing services to corporate clients.

Rosell: “It’s important to be close to the fans”

To coincide with the announcement of the last two games on the North American tour, president Sandro Rosell has made a conference call to the main media in the cities where the team will be playing. Describing the tour, he made it clear that “it is very important for Barça. It is not just about generating income, but also getting personally closer to the fans and making our name bigger, both by playing and supporting charities”.

He also said that the tour would present an ideal opportunity “to meet football promoters with whom we can reach agreements to set up schools and academies”.

Thrilled at Miami debut

Rosell spoke about “soccer’s growth in the United States” and said he was especially excited that the game with Chivas “will be Barça’s first in Miami”. He also commented on the “quality and business level” of Mexican clubs and mentioned his affection for the other Mexican side FCB will be playing: “I have been fond of América since 2003, when I was vice president and we played a friendly at the Azteca. I’m looking forward to seeing my friends from América”.

Barça again lifted the European Cup at Wembley after a great performance whish saw the Club claim their fourth European Cup. The team repeated the success of 1992, when the Club took its first European Cup and with goals from the great trio of Messi, Villa and Pedro, they brushed aside the challenge of a competitive Manchester United to win 3-1.

The first half saw Barça dominate much more than the scoreline might suggest, with Rooney pegging back Pedro’s opener very much against the run of play. Even so, the first 10 minutes of the game recalled the 2006 final, with United coming out of the blocks the stronger, which Barça answered with some solid defending and a gradual development of their trademark possession football. Valdes showed his worth early on with a punch out when Rooney closed in on a Van der Saar clearance.

Messi-Xavi-Iniesta

After Valdes’ intervention, Barça really began to turn on the style as Xavi, Iniesta and Messi began to combine and there was nothing that Ferguson’s much vaunted tactics could do to stop the trio as they began to put Villa and Pedro into dangerous positions.

Chances aplenty

The chances were coming thick and thin now, with Messi tiptoeing through the sluggish United defence, Villa trying his luck from the edge of the box and finally, Pedro opening the scoring with a well struck shot after receiving a killer pass from Xavi – the Spanish forward’s fifth goal in the Champions League this campaign.

Equaliser spurs Barça on

Despite the Barça domination though, a quick move between Giggs and Rooney saw the England centre forward hit home an equaliser on 34 minutes. That goal just seemed to push the Barça players to even greater control and they had a number of chances to take the lead again before the break, including a great set piece move that nearly undid the English defence.

Two great strikes

If the first half was dominated by Barça, then the second was an even more one sided affair as two great goals on 53 and 69 minutes gave Guardiola’s team a well deserved 3-1 lead. Messi hit home a wonderful strike from outside the box to culminate a lovely team move for the second goal and Villa hit a beautiful curling shot home for the third. It wasn’t just those moments of magic that were doing for United though, it was the almost total control that Barça were showing that was silencing the Manchester fans and leaving their team helpless to respond to Guardiola’s men’s domination.

Back to Wembley and back for a win!

Koeman’s brilliant free kick gave Barça their first European Cup at Wembley in 1992, but it was the collective play of Guardiola’s team that brought the trophy back this time. The win puts a fantastic end to the double winning season and it was achieved with the team’s trademark domination based on their great understanding and control of possession. Make a space in the Museum –the fourth European Cup is on its way back home!

Pep Guardiola has played a leading role in three of Barça’s four European Cup/Champions League successes. He was part of the team that won the Club’s first at Wembley in 1992 and has now claimed the trophy twice as team manager, in Rome and the new Wembley.

Guardiola makes it three

The 21-year-old Pep Guardiola was a vital component of the Dream Team midfield that broke Barça’s European Cup jinx against Sampdoria in 1992. He was the third member of the team to hold up the trophy and made a long remembered speech on the team’s return to Barcelona.

Glory in Roma

Guardiola’s initial season in charge of the first team was a truly memorable one, as the Barça completed an historic treble. First came the Spanish Cup, then the league title and lastly the Champions League in Rome. Despite missing a number of important players in defence, he inspired his players with – among other things – a specially prepared video that they watched just moments before he led them out onto the pitch. His men responded marvellously and beat Manchester United 2-0.

Back to Wembley

Barca’s fourth success in the European Cup/Champions League, and the third in Guardiola’s personal tally, couldn’t have come in a more suitable and symbolic place. After clinching the Spanish league title, Barça have returned to the city where it all started in 1992, to lift the trophy once against Manchester United. On Sunday, we’ll have the CL Trophy back here once again in Barcelona.

“You don’t get to enjoy finals much. You have to compete and suffer a lot, and win through football. More than ever we have to show our football to the world”. Pep Guardiola was speaking in his press conference before tomorrow’s Champions League final, which marks FCB’s return to Wembley: “The ball should fly and try to break the players’ balance. I’d be happy for us to play the way we have over all this time”.

“We’re ready”

Guardiola has been happy with what his men have been doing since arriving in London on Tuesday. “They have transmitted good sensations to me. I’m proud of this team. Because of how they have behaved this week I feel a responsibility and duty to them … These days we have been focused on United, and on our physical and mental condition. We have only thought about the final, very calmly, and we’re ready to play the best game possible”.

Game of the decade

The Manchester United manager considers this to be the final of the decade. “I am full of pride to hear his words, but we both have to demonstrate that. We’ll try to play the best football possible and I think it’ll be a great final” said Guardiola. “When a team reaches three out of four finals and also three out of six, it’s because they have done things well, maybe a bit better. We have both had an extraordinary decade and whoever loses will feel hurt, but all that was achieved in recent years will still be there”.

More intense than Rome

He also said he has already decided on his line-up and bestowed praise upon praise on Saturday’s opponent. “It is one of the most complete teams I have ever seen. An example for all the world … They have many variants, we have tried to learn about the maximum number of them, their strong and weak points, and we’ll try to beat them”. He feels such respect for United that he even said “if we play like we did in Rome, we won’t win. Watching the final, I realise we played a lot worse than I thought. We have to change things, we must be quicker and more intense”.

A great season

Regardless of the Wembley scoreline, Guardiola believes that “for me it has been a very good season. We are extra happy to be here”. On what he told the fans after losing in the semis last year, he said “we have already paid them back more than well. It was a bit cheeky of me, but the people have really enjoyed themselves already”. And he is also glad the fans have finally been able to travel to London without trouble “because a final without your people would not be such a final”.