Cesc Fabregas wants to stay at Barcelona

Cesc Fabregas has refused to talk about the rumours of a transfer to Manchester United and says he only wants to stay at Barcelona.



The former Arsenal star has been linked with a big-money switch to both Manchester clubs and Arsenal this summer, with the intriguing prospect of him rekindling his great understanding with Robin van Persie on tthe cards if he were to choose Old Trafford.



But the Spaniard, who has hit 14 goals this season, has made it clear he has no intention of leaving the Nou Camp.



When quizzed on his future, Fabregas told a Catalonian radio station: "There is nothing to say.

"I'm very happy at Barca, and I want to stay for many more years to come.



" Fabregas has been played out of position as he cannot displace any of the three regular starters in Barca's much-vaunted midfield.

And the signing of Brazilian whizkid Neymar means it is even less likely that he will squeeze into the side as a forward next season.



Fabregas left Arsenal for Barcelona in 2011 and still has three years left on his contract.

Reina denies Barcelona return

Pepe Reina has denied speculation he will return to Barcelona and has confirmed he would be open to extending his Liverpool contract.



Widespread reports have claimed that Reina is a target for Barcelona, if current No.1 Victor Valdes leaves the Spanish champions next summer.



However, Reina has stressed that he is happy at Anfield and has dismissed talk of a return to his first club as 'only rumours'.



"I have my own contract with Liverpool for three more years," said Reina. "Nothing has changed.





"If so, we want to make it bigger and my future is with Liverpool.



"Right now, about Barca, there are only rumours and only people talking about possibilities. There are no facts. I cannot talk further on that."



Valdes is currently expected to leave Barcelona in 2014 when his contract expires and Reina respects his fellow Spain international's position.



Reina added: "Victor has said he will not move from Barcelona and wants to fulfil his contract, and that must be respected."

Messi urges Barcelona not to change style

Lionel Messi has urged Barcelona to stick with their distinctive style of play, despite failing to win this season's Champions League.

Barcelona lost 7-0 on aggregate to German side Bayern Munich in the semi-finals of this year's competition.



That result led to suggestions that theCatalans' 'tiki-taka' passing game had been overtaken by the German power.

"We can't lose our heads. We can't change our style of play," the 25-year-old attacker told Television Azteca.

"You can't always win," added Argentina international Messi, the current World Player of the Year. "We've been playing our brand of football for years and managers and teams have studied it.

"We have to stay calm and focus on next year."

However, defender Gerard Pique thought the Spanish club would have to change and said: "We are not the best any more, other teams are."

Club vice-president Josep Bartomeu has also stated his belief that "four or five" new signings are required.



Despite their Champions League campaign ending in disappointment, Barca claimed the La Liga title back from Real Madridwith four games left to play.

This success came amid repeated health fears for head coach Tito Vilanova, who wassidelined for three months in December following an operation in New York to treat throat cancer.

Vilanova, 44, in his first season in sole charge of the club after moving up from assistant to replace former boss Pep Guardiola, has also travelled back to America this week for more "pioneering treatment".

Messi believed the coach's absence has had a destabilising effect on the team.

"Things went well with Tito, because he practically didn't change anything," said Messi.

"But we noticed a change when he left, not because Jordi Roura or the training staff who stayed on didn't do a good job but because we were missing our head manager.

"It wasn't the same. One year is a long time and it's great that we can finish it by celebrating."

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Tito defends Messi call

Barcelona manager Tito Vilanova insisted he was right to play Lionel Messi at the weekend after the Argentine sat out the 3-0 defeat to Bayern Munich.

The World Player of the Year has been struggling with a hamstring injury, but he was passed fit to feature in Barca's 2-2 draw against Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.

However, Messi watched from the bench as Bayern cruised into the Champions League final with a 7-0 aggregate victory, and Vilanova admitted the Argentine was left out because he feared he would aggravate the injury.

"Leo played in Bilbao on Saturday because he felt better," said Vilanova. "He imprinted a change on the team but at the end of the game he felt some strange sensations.

"He trained this week, but he didn't feel right. He is an explosive player and there was a risk he could tear his hamstring, so he couldn't help the team in these conditions."

Vilanova also denied suggestions that his team were becoming too reliant on Messi, insisting Barca had performed well without their record-breaking talisman.

"All these years when we have played without Leo we have won games by small margins, but this year in the league we have won games 5-0 and 3-0 without him on the pitch," he added.

"When you have a player that is so good, it is normal that you notice it. If Bayern had been without Franck Ribery or Arjen Robben they would not be at this level."

Vilanova also dismissed speculation of widespread changes to the Barcelona squad at the end of the season, and blamed the crushing defeat on a lengthy injury list.

"All squads are reinforced every season. I said the other day that we didn't need to change much, but rather recuperate the players we do have," he said.



"Bayern have arrived at this point with all their players and we have many out. Despite the great squad that we have you cannot win all the titles either. You can't win everything and the first leg has weighed heavily on this game."


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Arsenal target set to stay put

Arsenal will have to wait to sign Victor Valdes after Barcelona said they had no intention of letting the goalkeeper leave this summer.

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The Spanish shot stopper announced earlier this season that he wouldn't be signing a new contract at the Nou Camp and was keen to leave the club at the end of the campaign. Valdes' announcement has caused a number of clubs to take a vested interest in the 31-year-old, with Arsenal said to be ready to pay £10million for the keeper. Manager Arsene Wenger is believed to be keen to bring in a new man to challenge youngsters Wojciech Szczesny and Lukas Fabianski. However, Barcelona have now revealed they have no intention of selling Valdes this year and instead plan to keep him at the club in the hope they can persuade him to extend his contract beyond its current 2014 cut-off point. Barca vice president Josep Maria Bartomeu revealed: "[President Sandro] Rosell has had contact with Valdes to make it clear that we have to leave the doors open [on him changing his mind]. "As we prioritise sporting aspects, we prefer to run out the contract until June 2014 rather than sell him this summer. "We have no deadline in Valdes' case, one option is to run to the end of his contract and in that case we will not sign a goalkeeper [this summer]."


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Villa: I’m glad to help Messi

Barcelona forward, David Villa put in a timeless display in his side’s 3-1 win over Rayo Vallecano on Sunday evening, and despite the standout personal performance, was even more satisfied that he was able to assist fellow forward, Leo Messi score.

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In his post-match interview, Villa discussed the match and the team’s collective effort after going through a recent string of poor results.



“I like to be able to help the team with my goals. I want to keep on scoring and giving the most of myself. I’m happy that I was able to help Messi score, we understand each other well.



“We felt the fatigue due to the effort we put in on Tuesday, and it was even more noticeable tonight because Rayo are a demanding side. They wanted the ball and they forced us to press them.



“We’ve never lost sight of what we had to do, we simply picked up a couple of bad results. Football is a game in which you can win, lose or draw but we have always stood up to be counted, even if there have been a couple of important games that we haven’t been able to win.

Barcelona win, Malaga stutter

Lionel Messi netted for the 17th consecutive league game as Barcelona eased to a 2-0 win at home to Deportivo La Coruna.

Barca have been suffering from a dip in form in recent weeks but defeat to their rock-bottom Galician opponents never looked likely.

Alexis Sanchez put the hosts in front when he headed home a Dani Alves cross towards the end of the first half.

And Messi, on as a second-half substitute, added a glorious second with just minutes remaining by chipping goalkeeper Daniel Aranzubia to consign Depor to a seventh defeat in eight games.

Malaga had earlier failed to beat Valladolid and their 1-1 draw at the Jose Zorilla stadium and that result could see them slip out of the Champions League places by the end of the weekend.

Manuel Pellegrini rested key performers Isco and Joaquin with Wednesday's Champions League last-16 second-leg match with Porto in mind.

His team still got off to a great start when Martin Demichelis headed them into the lead after eight minutes but Manucho equalised for the hosts shortly before the interval.

A point apiece means Valladolid stay mid-table but Malaga could surrender their grip on fourth spot if Valencia win on Sunday.

Elsewhere Rayo Vallecano continued their unlikely push for a Champions League spot as they completed a comfortable 2-0 win at home to Espanyol.

An early goal inside 10 minutes by Chori Dominguez gave the Madrid side the perfect start and Piti wrapped up the points late on to move Rayo within two points of the top four.

The win all but guarantees Rayo survival with 11 games left, a welcome contrast from last term when they only avoided the drop thanks to an injury-time winner on the last day of the season.

Javier Aguirre's side have now gone three matches without a win but remain nine points clear of the drop zone.

In the late kick-off, Mallorca secured a vital 2-1 win over Sevilla to boost their survival hopes and move within a point of safety.

Alejandro Alfaro was the hero for the home side as he scored both goals to give the Balearic Island side their first back-to-back wins of the season.

Alvaro Negredo had equalised Alfaro's early opener on the hour mark but the 26-year-old winger added a second just 10 minutes later to sink his home-town club at which he started his career.

Mallorca had Javier Marquez sent off for a second yellow card in stoppage time but the strugglers held on to move above Celta Vigo into 18th place.

Messi left foot worth £3.5m

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has lifted many gold trophies, including two Golden Boots. Now the prolific goal-scorer's foot has been cast in solid gold.

A pure gold replica of Barcelona football star Lionel Messi's left foot, worth £3.4 million, was unveiled in Tokyo on Wednesday.

Valued at US$5.25 million (£3.4m), the golden foot weighs 25kg and is 10 inches tall.

In a video message, Lionel Messi said he was honoured to have his foot cast the precious metal.

Lionel Messi's brother, Rodrigo Messi, who attended the news conference for the unveiling of the foot, said the replica was exceptional.

"You can see each line on the foot. Its an impressive piece of work," Rodrigo said.

The foot was created by Japanese jeweller Ginza Tanaka to commemorate the football player's achievements.

The jeweller said it had cast Messi's foot in Spain at the end of 2012, and brought the cast back to Japan for the production of the golden artifact.

The foot will go on sale on Thursday, and will come with an official certification issued by the Leo Messi Foundation, which helps children at risk around the world.



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