Barcelona

Concerns about Paris St Germain’s ability to dominate the French league remained after the club had to rely on two late goals in order to get past lower league Niort in the Coupe de France game.

PSG were coming up against the French Ligue 2 outfit in order to secure a place in the quarter-finals. The club remain on course for a treble after managing to get a 2-0 win. The result could have been very different had it not been for Javier Pastore’s 78th minute goal. This finally broke the deadlock between the two teams and Edinson Cavani was able to make the game safe with an injury time goal.

Gerard Pique has been injured in Barcelona’s recent match against Racing Santander. He left the field just 10 minutes into the game due to a right thigh problem.

The game eventually ended up in a win for Barcelona, but, whilst they were happy with the result, the Barcelona coaching team were concerned for their Spanish defender. As always, Messi was in tremendous form, with his skills and clever runs helping Barca to race into a 2-0 lead, which was enough to bring all three points back home to the Nou Camp.

FC Barcelona manager Josep Pep Guardiola has ruled out replacing crocked striker David Villa during the winter transfer window.

The Spanish international striker broke his leg during the FIFA Club World Cup match against Al Sadd and it was initially believed that the 30 year old striker would miss the rest of the season and could also miss Spain’s defense of their Euro crown in the summer.

But after the surgery, the doctors are of the opinion that Villa might just have a slim hope of returning just before the end of the season, albeit it all depends on the recuperation process.