Dream debut for Munir

The 18 year old marked his official first team debut with a goal 

Afterwards, he described the experience as a ‘dream’ 

The presence of Munir el Haddadi in Luis Enrique’s starting line-up was one of the talking points of tonight’s game with Elche. The youngster was simply outstanding. He issued his first warning after 22 minutes with a shot onto the crossbar, and for the remainder of the first half provided plenty of examples of his sublime skill and natural gift for losing his marker.

If he’d looked good in the first 45 minutes, the second half couldn’t have got off to a better start. With his first touch of the ball, he collected a pass from Rakitic and struck home with the kind of elegance few would expect of a player so young. He was replaced in the 66th minute, and the crowd responded with a rousing ovation.

"I’ll keep working for more chances”

After the game, Munir said that “I am so proud to have scored at the Camp Nou with Messi and so many other great players around me. I’m very happy. It was a dream come true to play with them … Luis Enrique has told me to keep doing what I do, and so I’ll keep working for more chances. He tells us to work hard and get better every day. He’s a great manager.”

The striker also confessed that he’d not been able to sleep the night before the game because he was so excited about being named in the team. He then talked through the big moment of the night – his goal. “It came because if you keep losing your marker, sometimes you get there” he said. “I saw the goalkeeper was off his line and just chipped the ball”. A strikingly humble response after scoring such an astounding goal on his first team debut!

Preseason top scorer

Munir had already shown us what a talent he is by finishing the preseason as the team’s highest goalscorer. He scored two in Helsinki and then did likewise against Club Leon at the Joan Gamper Trophy.

Barça closes the signing of Mathieu

According to the newspaper 'As', FC Barcelona have completed the signing of Jérémy Mathieu for 20 million euros. The agreement was practically closed yesterday as Mundo Deportivo reports.

The French player of Valencia was a top priority of the Catalan club to strengthen its defense. The transaction was closed on 20 million euros, exactly what the club 'che' had demanded from the outset. The only controversy lay in the method of payment. While the club proposed to do it in four installments Valencia in Mestalla require the disbursement of 20 'kilos' is cash. In the end, both clubs have reached an agreement in this regard.

The curious case that the player has embarked Valencia this morning with the rest of his teammates headed to Madrid, heading to Peru, but the player is stuck in Madrid and has not taken the flight to Lima to be formalized recruitment for the club.

23 players on the pitch once again

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  Once again, 23 players trained at the Ciutat Esportiva

PHOTO GALLERIES

• Training session at morning 17/07/2014

The first team trained this morning in what will be the only session of the day. Luis Enrique worked with the same set of players as on Wednesday evening, namely eight from the first team (Ter Stegen, Masip, Montoya, Bartra, Sergi Roberto, Deulofeu, Afellay and Bojan) and 15 from the reserves (Patric, Bagnack, Edgar Ié, Lucas, Diagne, Grimaldo, Samper, Halilovic, Babunski, Munir, Sandro, Dani Nieto, Joan Román, Dongou and Adama).

Adriano Correia was absent after it was announced yesterday that an abnormal heart rhythm was detected in his medical on Monday, and Rafa Alcántara is also side-lined with a bruised big toe. Luis Enrique continued using work with the ball as one of the main elements of his training schedule.

Cristian Tello, who started the week training with the first team, has now left to go on loan to Porto for two seasons.

Rafinha to undergo treatment on bruised toe

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  Rafinha returned to training on Monday / PHOTO: MIGUEL RUIZ-FCB

The player's presence in training this week will depend on how things develop

Rafinha Alcántara has bruising on his left big toe and will require special treatment over the next few days. As announced by the Medical Services, his presence at training this week depends on how things develop.

Rafinha has been training with the first team since Monday after spending last season on loan to Celta Vigo, where he worked under the current FC Barcelona manager, Luis Enrique.

Pročitajte izjavu Claudia Brava za Barca TV

Bravo: "Zahvaljujem se Barçi što je vjerovala u mene. Ponosan sam, jer mi se pružila odlična prilika. Motivisan sam što ću braniti boje Kluba. Mislim da ću se dobro uklopiti, jer na sličan način igra moja reprezentacija. U Čileu nisam bio samo golman, već i štoper. Alexis mi je rekao kako funkcionišu stvari u FC Barceloni, te da trebam uživati u ovom trenutku."

Blaugrana je za Brava platila 12 miliona eura, a otkupna klauzula u njegovom ugovoru iznosi 40 miliona eura.

Infographic: FC Barcelona World Cup Factfile

Everything you need to know about FC Barcelona and the World Cup: matches, venues, times and stats from previous editions... 

Del Bosque names seven Barça players for Brazil

Jordi Alba, Piqué, Iniesta, Xavi, Pedro, Sergio Busquets and Pedro are included in Spain's 23 man squad to defend their World Cup title in Brazil

FC Barcelona are again the team providing most players for Spain’s World Cup squad, with seven players named in Del Bosque’s final group of 23 to travel to Brazil announced this lunchtime. Andrés Iniesta, Xavi Hernández, Pedro Rodríguez, Cesc Fàbregas, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Piqué and Jordi Alba all made the cut from the original 30-man provisional list

After being called up for the friendly game against Bolivia on Friday night, Gerard Deulofeu was the only Barça man not to make the final 23, although he will certainly be in Del Bosque’s mind should he need to call on any late replacements in the case of an injury to any of his players.

Alongside the seven Barça players, Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Xabi Alonso, Reina, De Gea, Albiol, Javi Martínez, Azpilicueta, Juanfran, Koke, Cazorla, Mata, Silva, Torres, Villa and Diego Costa make up the rest of the squad, who travel to the USA on Monday to prepare their second pre-tournament friendly against El Salvador.