Iniesta is an emblem of Barcelona-Martino

Gerardo Martino has described Andres Iniesta as an "emblem" of Barcelona and is confident he will soon sign a new contract.The 29-year-old is yet to agree a new deal as the club attempt to tie him down beyond 2015, although the Spain international insisted earlier this week he was not "at war" with Barca over the negotiations.Martino has now described Iniesta as a symbol of the Blaugrana and remains fully confident he will soon commit to new terms.

"In every club there are players who are images of their clubs. I see Iniesta as an image of Barca," Martino told a press conference on Friday. "I think it's quite logical he should renew, I see him as one of the emblematic players at the club and we want him to stay."
The former Newell's Old Boys coach went on to discuss the fitness of Lionel Messi, stressing his belief that his management of the player's fitness was paying off despite the Argentine's frustration at being substituted in the win over Real Sociedad.
"Messi's looking good. I can't compare him to how he was in other seasons at this stage, but he's looking very good indeed. He recovers well from one game to the next. Against Rayo [Vallecano] he didn't score but it was one of the best games he's played since I've been here.
"Of course they don't like being taken off - no player does. I don't ask them about being rotated because I know what they'll say to me. The important thing is that they are fit for the final stages of the season next year."
Martino also believes Neymar will benefit from a similar pattern of rest due to his exhaustive commitments with the Brazil national team.
"Neymar's case is similar to Messi's. Neymar will get his chances, as I said previously. Taking into account the internationals he played in August, he's played more minutes than anyone in the squad apart from goalkeeper Victor Valdes. Now he's been called up to the Brazil squad and in previous friendly games he's played the full 90 minutes.
"I want to look after him, protect him. He's got to rest. The important thing is that the players are in good shape towards the end of the season. There's been games every three and a half days - that's a lot of football."
Real Madrid were given a fortunate penalty to beat Elche near the end of the match on Wednesday, but Martino refused to criticise the officiating in Spain, instead calling on his side to focus on maintaining their own strong run of form.
"It's difficult to talk about referees. Sometimes you don't want to talk just after a game when it's not the right time. There's no point in throwing referees to the lions," he said.
"I didn't see the game. As for the [Madrid] derby, it'll be a good game to watch. It's certainly the game of the week. Of course, we've got to think about winning our games. The important thing is that we beat Almeria."
Finally, Martino indicated that Carles Puyol was close to a return following a lengthy injury lay-off, but refused to divulge whether Marc Bartra would keep his place in the starting XI.
"Bartra? I won't mention the starting line-up. The best thing about Marc is his character, he's a young player, although he has to be more relaxed in games.
"Puyol? He had a practice game with the youngsters, that went well. He played almost the whole game. He's been out for seven months but he's much closer to coming back.
"When a player is injured we will not rush them back. The important thing is for them to recover fully."

Lionel Messi in court over tax fraud

Barcelona footballer and father are accused of setting up shell companies in South America to avoid €4.2m in tax from sponsors and others.

The world's leading footballer, Lionel Messi, and his father will appear in court on Friday over allegations of tax fraud.

The Barcelona and Argentina star and Jorge Messi are accused of evading €4.2m (£3.4m) in tax on earnings made from endorsements from his principal sponsors – Adidas, PepsiCo and Proctor & Gamble – and a number of other companies.

The prosecution alleges that they set up shell companies in Uruguay and Belize to avoid paying tax in Spain. Both men deny the charges, saying the deals were done by Messi's former agent without their knowledge. The alleged crimes took place between 2007 and 2009.

Messi, voted world player of the year four times, and his father will be questioned in a closed session in a court in Gava, Barcelona, the wealthy neighbourhood in which Messi has a home.

The father and son this year paid back €5m (£4.2m) to the Spanish state, but this has not prevented the prosecution: the government has cracked down on tax evasion, with the country in financial crisis. The hearing on Friday will determine whether the court will pursue them for alleged tax evasion,

The allegations are a serious blow to Messi's golden image. He came to Barcelona as a young boy, and has grown up through the Catalan team's youth system, earning him the love of his fans. He has a reputation as an honest player, rarely exhibiting the exaggerating diving and histrionics often associated with the Spanish game.

Messi, who earns around €16m a year just from his contract with Barcelona, is widely considered the best footballer in the world, on a par with his idol Maradona.

It is an increasingly common practice for leading footballers to set up image rights companies in low-tax countries, through which they are paid their additional sponsorship salaries, thus avoiding the duty they might pay at home.

Messi and his father deny these charges, saying: "We have always fulfilled our tax obligations following the advice of our tax consultants who will take care of clarifying this situation."

Neymar's opponents have seen seven yellow cards

A dream partner, but a nightmare opponent.

With every match he plays, Neymar is one step closer to fully settling in at Barcelona. The Brazilian is progressively more in synch with Tata’s side and, what is more important, he is fine-tuning his partnership with Messi. The two players combine to score a goal in almost every game. Last Tuesday, that moment came in the 7th minute when Neymar sped down the right wing and then crossed to the far post, leaving the Argentine little to do except head the ball into the back of the net.

Neymar’s statistics confirm that he is adapting very well. He has created several goalscoring chances and the only thing lacking has been his aim in front of goal. He has missed more chances than he should have, sometimes due to poor aim, but sometimes due to excessive generosity, in particular with Messi. He has only scored once in the league from nine shots on goal. That was against Real Sociedad during Barça’s most recent match.

Neymar has become a very real nightmare for the opposition. Proof of this is the number of fouls he receives. He has been fouled 17 times in the league, and that is not all, because fouls also lead to yellow cards. The Brazilian has become a thorn in the opposition’s side. To date, their players have seen seven yellow cards for play involving Neymar. These could have been more, because the seven yellow cards are just the ones seen by referees, and they have missed a few others.

ANDRÉS ASSURES THAT AN AGREEMENT TO RENEW WILL BE REACHED

Andrés Iniesta has decided to speak about his much talked about renewal: "My wish is to finish here, and it's the club's as well. There is no complication. This is the best place where I can be. I'm 29, I know that I still have a few years of good football in me, and I want to live them here. It's not about money, it's about the wishes that I have."

"It's not a Barça – Iniesta war", the Spanish international concluded.

Talking about Barcelona's new playing style, he said: ""For me, there is no debate. Long passes have been made for a while now, as have goals scored on the counter-attack. We have to be in good shape, and when we are, everything is easier - be it attacking or defending. For good or for bad, this team has a certain way of playing and I don't think we've done bad by it."

Regarding the Elche - Real Madrid controversy, he said: "Sincerely, it's not that I don't want to give an opinion, just that I didn't see the game. I found out the result, and then like everyone else, I saw the images. In the end, to talk about the referees in these situations is complicated, because some people have one take on it, and others, another. It's best to leave the referees in peace. They have their own committee to decide what has to be done."