FC Barcelona - Granada: The chase is on!

Barça, eight points behind the league leaders, entertain Granada with the aim of chalking up their eighth win on the trot and stretching their run of good form

There’s no rest right now, as Barça, already through to the Spanish Cup Final and the Champions League quarter finals against Milan, are right now totally focussed on the league . Just three days after their emphatic win over Seville (0-2), Guardiola’s men will be aiming for their eighth win on the run after the defeat to Osasuna (3-2) in February. This team is really on top form.

A win against Granada would cut the distance between Barça and the leaders to just five points, with Madrid not due to play until Wednesday, when they are at Villarreal.

Same squad as Seville game

Pep Guardiola has called up the same 19 men he took to Seville – the 17 available first team players plus Muniesa and Tello from Barça B. The injured Afellay, Villa, Fontàs and Abidal are the men who miss out.

Tough opponent

Granada won’t be an easy opponent though and come into the game on the back of a good win against Sporting at the weekend and a good performance at the Vicente Calderon the week before.

In the game between the two in Granada earlier this season, Barça won thanks to a single goal from Xavi in the first half (0-1) and tonight Abel Resino’s team could well be an equally tough nut to crack.

Messi, one goal away from César's record

A joint study by FC Barcelona’s Center of Documentation and Studies and La Vanguardia confirms that the legendary “Pelucas” scored 232 official goals for the Club, leaving Leo Messi only one goal away from Barça's all-time high goals scored record

Leo Messi could draw level or break César Rodríguez’s all-time high goal record which stands at 232 goals. FC Barcelona’s Center of Documentation and Studies started an investigation, in collaboration with La Vanguardia, to verify the exact number of official goals scored by the Barça legend during his time at the Club in the early 1950s.

After studying all of César’s matches, it has been confirmed that Messi is only one goal behind the legendary “Pelucas.” The Argentine has 231 goals in official matches, therefore if the player scores against Granada he will equal César.

The study analysed and compared all of the match reports from César’s Barça career with La Vanguardia’s, a news paper founded in 1881, historical database. The conclusion drawn from the study, not confirmed until today, is that César scored 232 official goals for Barça and not 235. It’s worth noting that César Rodiíguez is the Club’s all-time top goalscorer in official matches, but the absolute record belongs to Paulino Alcántara, who scored 369 goals for Barça in 357 official and friendly matches.

The documentary heritage managed by FC Barcelona’s Center of Documentation and Studies has been instrumental in carrying out major historical research on the Club.