FC Barcelona News: 12 February 2019

Handy lead over second place | FC Barcelona
The combination of results from week 23 mean that FC Barcelona now have a six point lead over a Real Madrid side who now find themselves in second place.With the draw in San Mamés against Athletic and Atlético’s defeat in the Madrid derby in the Wanda Metropolitano, the blaugranes now have a six point lead over Santi Solari’s team, the same lead they had over Diego Simeone’s team.

Historic run comes to an end | FC Barcelona
A 0-0 draw at San Mamés against Athletic Club meant that a 37-game streak came to an end for FC Barcelona. Ernesto Valverde’s side did not manage to score against the Basque side, marking the first occasion all season in which they have not found the net in the league.

Barcelona backing Coutinho amid Man Utd & Chelsea talk | Goal
Barcelona continue to back Philippe Coutinho amid ongoing talk of a possible summer switch to Manchester United or Chelsea. The Catalan giants invested heavily to sign the Brazil international from Liverpool during the winter transfer window of 2018.

No agreement with Jovic but Barcelona are fans of €40m-rated striker | Sport
Barça want a young forward, someone playing in Europe who can grow at the club. The name in question is Eintracht Frankfurt’s Luka Jovic. Reports in Germany say there’s already an agreement with Jovic. Barça deny that but admit he is one of the forwards on their list, although they haven’t yet decided whether to push for him or not.

Barcelona sign Real Mallorca teenager Chadi Riad | Football Espana
Barcelona have completed the signing of Real Mallorca’s highly-rated 15-year-old defender Chadi Riad, report Diario Sport. The report claims a number of clubs were looking to sign the Moroccan defender with Villarreal most notably among the sides interested.

TMW: Barça weighing up move for young PSV star Ihattaren | Sport
Barcelona are one of the big European clubs monitoring PSV’s Mohammed Amine Ihattaren, who has already made his first team debut. The 16-year-old has made three appearances in the Eredivisie this season. Born in Utrecht, Ihattaren made his debut for PSV on Jan. 26 and his performances have led to attention from a range of clubs, including Barça.

Eric Abidal the first person to be crowned ‘Cule of the Year’ | Sport
The first-ever ‘Cule of the Year’ will be Eric Abidal, Barcelona’s sporting director. The award goes to the Frenchman, who returned to the club last year after a brilliant six-year spell as a player at Camp Nou. The Cule of the Year awards will have six winners in total. It’s an initiative launched by SPORT in collaboration with FC Barcelona and sponsors CaixaBank.

Barcelona to revoke the medals given to Franco | Marca
Francisco Franco received two medals from Barcelona in the 1970s, a commemorative gold medal for the opening of the Palau Blaugrana in 1971 and a club gold medal in 1974, but these are both to be revoked. Franco died shortly afterwards in 1975 and now, over 40 years later, these honours will be posthumously cancelled by the club.

Source: barcablaugranes.com