As Spain celebrated its 2010 World Cup win, goalkeeper Pepe Reina placed a Barcelona shirt on Cesc Fabregas and proclaimed him the future of the Catalan club. It had become a question of when, not if the midfielder would be freed by Arsenal and allowed to return to his home on the Costa Brava in northeastern Catalunya. Unsurprisingly, one year later, he was presented on the Camp Nou pitch, the future of the club becoming its present, too.

Six years on, a similar campaign is underway to bring another...

Barcelona and Argentina forward Lionel Messi's lookalike has turned up in Amsterdam -- in a painting in the Rijksmuseum.

Visitors to the museum have noticed an uncanny resemblance between the 29-year-old footballer and a self portrait by the Dutch artist Adriaen Van der Werff.

Van der Werff, who was born close to Rotterdam over 350 years ago in 1659, is a recognised painter, sculptor and architect.

Among his body of work is a self portrait which he painted in 1699 when he was 40 years old -- 11...

Despite spending the last few days lamenting an injury to Lionel Messi, it turns out Barcelona can survive without their Argentine talisman. Neymar led the way with a brace as they turned over Sporting Gijon 5-0 at El Molinon on Saturday, with Luis Suarez, Rafinha and Arda Turan also on target.

There will be tougher tests, of course, such as Borussia Monchengladbach in the Champions League on Wednesday, but Barca don't need to panic too much about a missing Messi.

Sporting Gijón

Barcelona

0

5

FT

Game Details

Live football odds with bet365. Bet Now »

Highlights

• GameCast
• Lineups and Stats

Positives

Sergi Roberto's continued...

Barcelona were paid a special visit on Friday, when movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger stopped by the team's Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper training facility.

Fantastic to kick off the @arnoldsports Europe by meeting a true champion, @neymarjr! Great to see you my friend!

A photo posted by Arnold Schwarzenegger (@schwarzenegger) on

Sep 23, 2016 at 7:48am PDT

The Austrian action hero and former California governor got chummy with Neymar, spent time with Sergio Busquets and Javier Mascherano,...

Here are the latest stories for Friday.

ARSENAL: Jose Mourinho wanted to "break Arsene Wenger's face" according to a new book about the Portuguese boss. The two have clashed plenty of times over their careers, but the revelation came after a spat over Juan Mata's move from Chelsea to Manchester United and Mourinho allegedly told Rob Beasley, author of "Jose Mourinho, Up Close and Personal": "I will find him [Wenger] one day outside a football pitch and I will break his face."

- Arsene...

Here are the latest stories for Thursday.

BARCELONA: Barcelona manager Luis Enrique has said football will "lose" without Lionel Messi, after the club confirmed on Wednesday that the Argentine superstar will miss the next three weeks with a groin injury he sustained in their 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid.

- Luis Suarez has snapped back at Filipe Luis after the defender uploaded a photo on social media revealing a stud mark supposedly left by the Uruguayan forward.

MAN UNITED: Jose...