Welcome to the Camp Nou, Jordi Alba

The Catalan defender visited the Club offices on the day before he'll be unveiled as a new FC Barcelona player.
Jordi Alba visited the FC Barcelona offices this Wednesday and posed for the traditional photo in front of the Club crest. The visit is the first step in a busy 36 hours for the team’s latest signing and recent Euro 2012 winner.
After the photo and a brief interview with Barça TV, Alba will take part in a celebratory reception in his home town of Hospitalet this evening, before a thorough medical at the Club in the morning, followed by the official signing ceremony.
Alba will be presented to the public at the Camp Nou on Thursday at 17.00 and he will then hold a press conference in the Sala Paris.

Jordi Alba set to arrive on Wednesday

Barça's new player will arrive on Wednesday for the traditional photo with the FC Barcelona crest. On Thursday he'll undergo his medical and sign his contrac.
On Wednesday Jordi Alba will return to the club where he spent six seasons as a youth player. Barça’s new left back will visit the Club offices tomorrow morning and pose for the traditional photograph with the FC Barcelona crest. On Thursday, Jordi Alba will undergo his medical, sign his five-year contract, attend the traditional photo op at the Camp Nou and hold his first press conference as an Azulgrana.

Montoya, Thiago, Tello and Alba pre-selected

Four FC Barcelona players and two former players (Oriol Romeu and Botía) are in the squad of 22 that Milla has selected for London 2012, through four names will be dropped before July 2.

Luis Milla, Spain’s U23 manager, has picked four FC Barcelona players in his shortlist for the London Olympics, namely Martín Montoya, Thiago Alcántara, Cristian Tello and Jordi Alba, although the latter has yet to take his medical and officialise his transfer to the club. This is just the pre-selection of 22 players, which will have to be reduced to 18 names for the definitive trip to Great Britain.
Alba from Euros to Olympics
If Jordi Alba does travel it will be the culmination of a busy summer in which not only has he returned to his boyhood club, but he also played at his first European Championship. Also doubling up are Juan Mata (Chelsea) and Javi Martínez (Athletic Bilbao), although neither of these featured quite as prominently in Poland and Ukraine as Alba.
Milla has also named two former members of FC Barcelona, Oriol Romeu (Chelsea) and Alberto Botía (Sporting Gijón). The definitive squad will be named on July 21.

Winning tendency

After the EURO in 2008, Guardiola led Barça a historic treble in his first year on the Azulgrana bench.
After the World Cup in South Africa, the team went on to win the Liga and the Champions Leagu.

It’s impossible to ignore the impact of FC Barcelona’s eight players on Spain’s national team. The successes over the last four years, where Spain consecutively won the European Championship, World Cup and Euro Championship have coincided with Barça’s best era - where the Azulgranas claimed 14 out of 19 possible titles.

Treble and double

The seasons following the last EURO in 2008 and the World Cup in 2010 saw Barça lift, at the very least, the Liga and Champions League titles. In the 2008/09 season, Barça also won the Cup; it was the team’s first treble in Club history. Moreover, Barça also claimed three more titles in 2009, taking Guardiola’s silverware haul for the year to six trophies.  Barça had a similar story in 2010/11: the team won five titles, the only one to slip away was the Cup.

Iniesta confirmed as one of world’s best

28 year old Andrés Iniesta was named player of the tournament at Euro 2012, confirming his status as one of the outstanding figures of modern football .

The Barça midfielder has insisted that it isn’t individual honours that matter as much to him as the joy he gets out of playing the sport he loves.
Ten years after making his FCB debut in a Champions League fixture in Bruges, Andrés Iniesta has been named man of the tournament at Euro 2012. The award is particularly special because it is usually given to strikers. “In many ways, Iniesta symbolises this tournament. He is creative and incisive on and off the ball”, said Andy Roxborough, UEFA technical director, after announcing the name of the winner.

The Spanish international has always said that individual accolades are far less important to him that what the team achieves as a whole. “I play for joy. If people then make evaluations of what I do, then I’m delighted” said the man whose many honours include five Spanish Leagues, three Champions Leagues, two Copas del Rey, two Clubs World Cups, two European Championships and one World Cup.

Sergio Busquets first on the team sheet

Sergio Busquets finished his 2011/12 season on Sunday night having played 67 games in all for club and country. Only Messi, with 69, has played more .

The Barça midfielder has played 83% of the possible fixtures this season, 52 with FC Barcelona and 15 with Spain.
Busquets is one of the first names on the team sheet for both Barça and Spain and despite not yet being 24 – his birthday is July 16th – he is virtually irreplaceable. He was given his debut by Pep Guardiola in the coach’s second game in charge, on September 13th 2008 and has made incredible progress since then. “He’s one of the best midfielders in the world, as competitive as Messi and just like him, he never plays badly in a final and what’s more, he’s a great lad”, according to Guardiola in the last number of the BARÇA magazine.

Second Euro win for Xavi, Iniesta and Cesc

The three Barça players repeated their success in the Euro 2008 tournament and won their second winners medal in Europe’s top competition.
Spain made footballing history with their win over Italy tonight, chalking up their third tournament win in succession, following success in the Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland and 2010’s World Cup win in South Africa. For three Barça players – Xavi, Iniesta and Cesc – the win represents their second European Championship title.

After their success four years ago, the Barça players were again key to Spain’s win in this summer’s competition.

First Euro wins for the others

For four of the Barça players at the tournament, the win means a first European title, with Víctor Valdés, Pedro Rodríguez, Gerard Piqué and Sergio Busquets adding their winners medal to the ones they won in the World Cup two years ago, whilst for the Club’s new signing Jordi Alba, this is a first international title.