Unbeaten home record
As of 9 May 2010, Mourinho is on a run of 136 home league matches unbeaten: 38 (W36–D2) with Porto, 60 (W46–D14) with Chelsea and 38 (W29–D9) with Internazionale.

His last and only home league defeat came when Porto were defeated 3–2 by Beira-Mar on 23 February 2002.^[62]

Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo will be sidelined for around three weeks due to an ankle injury, the Primera Division club have confirmed.

http://soccernet-assets.espn.go.com/design05/ images/2010/0121/cristianoronaldo20100121pain_275x155. jpgGettyImages

Cristiano Ronaldo was injured in Real Madrid's 0-0 draw with Real Mallorca

Ronaldo, 25, sustained the injury during Sunday's La Liga opener against Real Mallorca and tests on Monday revealed the extent of the injury.

With an estimated recovery time of approximately three weeks, Ronaldo is now set to miss Portugal's upcoming Euro 2012 qualifiers against Cyprus and Norway, as well as Real's next league match against Osasuna and first Champions League outing with Ajax.

Though losing Ronaldo is an undoubted blow to Los Blancos boss Jose Mourinho - he has an embarassment at riches at his disposal when it comes to bringing in a replacement, with both Karim Benzema and new signing Mesut Ozil available to step into the breach.

Barcelona hit the headlines across Planet Football by buying Javier Mascherano from Liverpool for 22 million euros (27.96 million dollars) and by attempting to sell Zlatan Ibrahimovic to AC Milan, for around 40 million euros.

The final details of the Ibrahimovic deal were due to be settled on Friday.

The two deals make the Spanish champions look like cool operators in the transfer market, particularly in comparison to historic rivals Real Madrid.

The Catalan media have traditionally scoffed at Real's high- spending policy, in comparison to Barca's allegedly more sensible approach to buying and selling.

Indeed, Catalan daily Sport claimed on Tuesday that Real have spent almost a billion euros on signings in the past decade - signings that have turned out to be flops, in most cases.

In the past few months the Catalan media have scoffed at Real having "wasted" 65 million euros on Kaka and 35 million on Karim Benzema, both of whom have flopped in Madrid since arriving in July 2009.

But has Barca's transfer policy really been much better than Real's in recent years?

It is true that they have spent much less on new signings than Real. But it is also true that most of their recent signings have turned out to be failures.

Miguel Rico, assistant director of Mundo Deportivo, on Friday wrote a penetrating critique of the club's dealings in the past few years, entitled "The Very Expensive Mistakes of Barca".

He pointed out that Barca have spent 263.5 million euros on 12 players since 2007, and that six of those players - Henrique, Martin Caceres, Alexander Hleb, Keirrison, Dmytro Chygrynskiy and Ibrahimovic - are no longer at the club, having been loaned out cheaply or sold on at a loss.

Rico pointed out that Barca are on course to lose around 30 million euros on Ibrahimovic alone, just one year after buying him so expensively from Inter Milan.

The total loss on the six unwanted players, according to Rico, is around 148 million euros.

Rico claimed that Henrique, Keirrison and Chygrynskiy were "predictable failures" because they did not have "the necessary level for Barcelona" and that Ibrahimovic's "conflictive" nature was well know before Barca signed him.

Rico puts the blame for this error-strewn policy on the "lack of understanding" between coach Pep Guardiola and former sporting director Txiki Begiristain.

Most of the players bought by Begiristain - particularly Keirrison, Henrique, Caceres and Hleb - were quickly rejected by Guardiola, who had little say in their purchase.

Rico also lays some blame on Guardiola, in particular for insisting on the club buying the unknown Chygrynskiy for 25 million euros, and for bringing in Ibrahimovic to replace Samuel Eto'o just because of a "lack of feeling" between the coach and the fiery Cameroon hitman.

Rafael Van der Vaart, Royston Drenthe and Mahamadou Diarra have not been included in the Real Madrid squad announced on Friday for the league debut away to Mallorca on Sunday.

Real are trying to sell off all three players before the end of the summer transfer window on August 31.

Real coach Jose Mourinho said on Friday, in a clear message to the unwanted trio, that "I do not understand that a footballer with few chances to play wants to stay here just because he likes the city, the food or the climate."

He added that "those that are intelligent will see the situation...and make a decision."

Real will also be without injury victims Raul Albiol, Pepe and Fernando Gago in Palma.

Spanish football club Zaragoza announced on Thursday the signing of Adam Pinter from MTK Budapest, for an undisclosed fee.

Pinter, 22, is a tall defender who has played for Hungary at Under-21 level. He has signed a four-year contract with Zaragoza, who finished 14th in La Liga last season.

In other Spanish transfer moves, Sevilla are close to taking defender Martin Caceres on loan from champions Barcelona, who are also trying to offload Zlatan Ibrahimovic on AC Milan.

World Cup-winning left-back Joan Capdevila, meanwhile, is poised to leave Villarreal for Juventus, possibly in exchange for Fabio Grosso.

Bordeaux striker Fernando Cavenaghi admits he would consider a move to Sunderland if they make a bid.

The 26-year-old Argentinahttp://static.lingospot. com/spot/image/spacer.gif international has a year remaining on his contract with the French outfit, who he joined from Spartak Moscowhttp://static.lingospot.com/spot/ image/spacer.gif in a £6million switch back in 2007.

L'Equipe has reported the Black Cats have asked for information regarding the striker, who admits he would consider a move to the Stadium of Light.

"Why not? If a club wants to hire me, I have to think about it. That is part of a footballer's life," said Cavenaghi.http://static.lingospot. com/spot/image/spacer.gif

The striker endured a difficult time last season, when he was a regular substitute under Laurent Blanc.http://static.lingospot.com/spot/ image/spacer.gif

But with Blanc moving on to the France national job and Jean Tiganahttp://static.lingospot.com/spot/ image/spacer.gif coming in, he started the first two games of Ligue 1 for Les Girondins, but missed out on the victory against PSG on Sunday due to injury.

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho is insisting that the whites sign another striker, according to sports dailies AS and Marca on Friday.

Real have already spent around 80 million euros (102.63 million dollars) this summer on six players: Ricardo Carvalho, Sami Khedira, Pedro Leon, Sergio Canales, Angel Di Maria and Mesut Oezil.

As usual, the whites have been far and away the highest spenders in Spain, where most clubs have spent less than 10 million euros on new signings.

On Wednesday, when presenting Oezil to the media as a new Real player, the club's general director Jorge Valdano said that there would be no more signings this summer.

However, according to AS and Marca on Friday, Mourinho is now insisting that the club sign another forward, claiming that he only has two - Gonzalo Higuain and Karim Benzema.

According to AS, the candidates are Djibril Cisse of Panathinaikos, Fabio Quagliarella of Napoli, Emmanuel Adebayor of Manchester City and Bafetimbi Gomis of Lyon.

Marca, in contrast, claimed that the possible targets are Fernando Llorente of Athletic Bilbao, Didier Drogba of Chelsea, Romelu Lukaku of Anderlecht and Mario Gomez of Bayern Munich.

The two papers agree on whom Real would like to sell off before the end of August: Mahamadou Diarra, Fernando Gago, Royston Drenthe and Rafael Van der Vaart.

Real Madrid have been dealt a blow with the news that defender Raul Albiol could be out for up to five weeks with a sprained ankle.

The 24-year-old centre-half suffered the injury in Madrid's friendly draw against Belgian side Standard Liege on Tuesday.

Albiolhttp://static.lingospot.com/ spot/image/spacer.gif is now not expected to feature for Los Merengues for at least one month after an MRI scan revealed the extent of the damage.

New Madrid manager Jose Mourinhohttp://static.lingospot.com/ spot/image/spacer.gif is already without defenders Pepe (knee) and Ezequiel Garayhttp://static.lingospot.com/spot/ image/spacer.gif (dislocated kneecap), and this latest injury will further add to his selection problems.

The Spanish giants kick-off their Primera Division campaign away at Mallorca on Sunday, 29th August.

www.fcbarcelona.cat

http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/thumbnails/ 199_150/Imatges/2010-2011/club/noticies/agost/ IMG_0392.JPG


Number 185,508

Barça Beeckman is the first member of FC Barcelona to be named after the club and is now number 185,508. A Belgian couple have called their first son Barça and he has already become the first club member to have the name. The pair told the media they chose the moniker because "they liked it".

Taking inspiration from the verse "tinc un nom que el sap tothom, Barça, Barça, Barça" (I have a name that everyone knows, Barça, Barça, Barça) from the Blaugrana hymn the new arrival has the full name Barça Beeckman and he lives 60 kilometres outside of Brussels in Nieuwerkerk. Aged three the youngster was made a member of the Camp Nou club on July 19 by his father Wesley Beeckman, 23, an architecture student, and mother Anneke Maes, 24, a nurse.

Game on

http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/Imatges/ 2010-2011/club/noticies/agost/IMG_0400.JPG

During the pregnancy the couple could not reach an agreement for a name for the baby as they did not want to know the sex until he was born. In the end they settled on the name Lona if the baby was a girl.

With a decision about the name if it was a boy in full swing the pair were watching Pep Guardiola's team play when Anneke had a bright idea. "Suddenly, I said to my husband that if we had a boy then would he want to call him Barça," she explained. "He turned towards me and winked before saying 'yes, that is the name of my son'".

Surprise, surprise

On April 26 Anneke gave birth in Sint-Truiden and Barça came into the world. "We were convinced that it would be a girl," Anneke continued. "My family did not know what to say at the start and they were not keen, but now they are used to the name. People had to ask me twice what his name was early on and everyone has said it is the first time they have heard the name used." Wesley's relatives were happier. "My father liked it as soon as he heard it," he stated.

Firm fans

Despite the relatives' initial dismay the couple are "very proud that our son carries the name of the best football team in the world" Anneke commented. Anneke and Wesley are keen FC Barcelona fans and he plays for his local team VCT Terkoest Alken.

"We hope that when he grows up that he will like his name and understand why we gave it to him," Anneke added.

Pep Guardiola has handed Jonathan dos Santos a central midfield role in all of the team’s three pre-season friendlies and the young Mexican has responded with some good performances.

<br class="amaga"> Given that the young Mexican has been freed up from next week’s international game, he must be one of the favourites to start next weekend’s Super Cup game against Seville. Against Valerenga in Norway he was part of the starting eleven, wearing the number 4 shirt, which he repeated in the two games in Asia. Guardiola has again shown his trust in a youngster and has again been duly rewarded with an excellent response from Dos Santos.

Versatile

With Toure and Marquez no longer at the club, Guardiola has considerably less options in midfield and has clearly decided to try out the Mexican in the key role, explaining: “he can play in three different midfield roles. He’s a very disciplined player and he reads the game well. He can even play up front if we need him to”.

Whatever is needed

Although sitting in front of the back four isn’t one of his favourite positions, Dos Santos insists: “I feel comfortable there, though Keita can also play in that role. It’s not my natural position, but I’ve tried hard in these three games and if the boss wants me there, I’ll do it”.

Super Cup could be an opening

Dos Santos managed to get released from the Mexican squad and he’s eager to take the chance of playing in the first team next Saturday against Seville. With Xavi and Busquets having to play in Mexico on Wednesday and Iniesta not starting training till Monday, Dos Santos and Keita increasingly look like an option Guardiola could well turn to for the game in the Sanchez Pizjuan.

Uefa general secretary Gianni Infantino says Real Mallorca's Europa League ban could be a turning point in its efforts to curb overspending in clubs.

Infantino said on Friday the Primera Liga club's case demonstrates the effectiveness of Uefa's new campaign to control splurging on players, after introducing new financial fair play rules and an expert panel to monitor teams.

The general secretary accepted that Mallorcahttp://static.lingospot. com/spot/image/spacer.gif supporters were upset because their club has been excluded from European competitions after going into financial administration at the end of last term.

But he believes the decision displays to fans throughout Europe that Uefa are fair to clubs that abide by the regulations.

Mallorca's appeal against the exclusion was rejected by Uefa last month, but the club can still appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Valencia winger Juan Mata has declared that he will not be leaving the club this summer.

The highly-rated 22-year-old has been heavily linked with a move to Barcelona,http://static.lingospot. com/spot/image/spacer.gif while there was also thought to be strong English interest.

Valenciahttp://static.lingospot. com/spot/image/spacer.gif would have been loath to lose another one of their key players, having already sold the likes of David Villahttp://static.lingospot.com/spot/ image/spacer.gif and David Silva.http://static.lingospot.com/spot/ image/spacer.gif

Matahttp://static.lingospot.com/ spot/image/spacer.gif has now given the club a major boost by announcing that he plans to stay.

"I have decided not to leave Valencia this summer. This season the club needs my help," he stated.

President Manuel Llorentehttp://static.lingospot.com/ spot/image/spacer.gif has also made it clear that Mata will not be going anywhere before the transfer deadline.

"Mata is not for sale at any price," said Llorente.

Valencia finished third in La Ligahttp://static.lingospot.com/spot/ image/spacer.gif last season and Mata is convinced they can enjoy another successful campaign despite some high-profile departures.

"Valencia are working on some very good reinforcements and we could do well in the Champions League,http://static.lingospot.com/ spot/image/spacer.gif" said the player.

Barcelona have agreed to loan Brazilian defender Henrique to Racing Santander for another season.

http://soccernet-assets.espn.go.com/design05/ images/2010/0727/henrique20100109_275x155. jpgGettyImages

Henrique has so far failed to make the grade for Barca

The 23-year-old moved to Camp Nou from Palmeiras in summer 2008 and was immediately loaned out to Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen before returning to Spain last season for a year-long loan at Racing.

He played 22 matches, scoring one goal, for the Cantabrian side before ending the 2009-10 campaign with a left knee injury.

But Pep Guardiola has once again permitted him to leave the club on a temporary basis in search of first-team football.

Barca begin their Primera Division defence at Racing on the weekend of August 29.

Spanish champions Barcelona posted a loss last season of around 77 million euros, its first deficit in seven years, instead of a profit as claimed by the previous board, the club said on Tuesday.The previous board, led by former Barcelona president Joan Laporta, announced at the end of their mandate in late June that the Catalan side had made a profit of 11 million euros (14.2 million dollars) in the 2009-10 season.

But an external audit carried out by Deloitte for new Barcelona president Sandro Rossel -- who took over on July 1 -- determined that Barcelona are actually 77.1 million euros in the red.

The new audit puts Barcelona's total net debt at a record 442 million euros.

"The figures presented by the former board don't reflect the real image," said Barcelona's vice-president for economic affairs Javier Faus.

"There is a structural problem. The sporting excellence in the last few years has not been reflected in economic excellence. The new board's goal is to bring economic excellence alongside sporting excellence," he added.

Earlier this month Barcelona announced they had taken out a loan of 155 million euros to solve cash-flow problem after struggling to pay wages in the previous month.

Barcelona signed striker David Villa for 40 million euros in May but have parted ways since the end of the season with Ivory Coast defender Yaya Toure, French striker Thierry Henry and Ukrainian defender Dmitryo Chygrynskiy.

Toure joined Manchester City in a deal worth 30 million euros, Chygrynskiy returned to Ukrainian powerhouse Shakhtar Donetsk in a deal worth 15 million euros while Henry joined the New York Red Bulls for an undisclosed amount.

Real Madrid defender Royston Drenthe has revealed he is set to leave the Bernabeu for Liverpool.

The former Netherlands under-21 star has been well-linked with a move out of the Spanish giants and is now confident he will be playing his football in the Barclays Premier League next season.

He was quoted as saying in the Daily Star: "I will soon be joining Liverpool. I hope I will have a good season with my new club."

Drenthe joined Madrid from Feyenoord in 2007 but the wing-back never quite established himself at the Bernabeu as he struggled to secure regular first-team action.

He will now look forward to re-launch his career at Anfield.

This may not come as a surprise signing for Liverpool as manager Roy Hodgson has been desperately looking out for a left-back following the departure of Fabio Aurelio and with Emiliano Insua also appear to be on his way out of Anfield for a move to Fiorentina.

Real Madrid legend Alfredo Di Stefano was re-admitted to hospital on Friday night with heart problems.

http://soccernet-assets.espn.go.com/design05/ images/2010/0724/alfredodistefano20100701_275x155. jpgAlfredo Di Stefano is one of the all-time greats

Di Stefano, Madrid's honorary president, has a history of cardiological problems and suffered a heart attack five years ago. The 84-year-old's condition is not thought to be too serious.

A statement on the Madrid website read: "Alfredo di Stefano has been re-admitted to Hospital Sanitas La Moraleja after suffering a low/moderate cardiorespiratory decompensation.

"The medical staff decided to keep him at the hospital for optimum monitoring, given his history of chronic pathology.

"Real Madrid's honorary president was admitted to hospital last week to have a complete medical check-up, during which he was diagnosed with a viral respiratory infection, and nine days later he was allowed to leave the centre and have outpatient treatment.''

Di Stefano, who was twice voted European footballer of the year, scored 216 goals in 262 league games for Madrid in one of the most successful teams of all time, which lifted the European Cup five times in a row as well as eight league titles.