rd five Ballon dOr awards in 2009, after having scored important goals such as his double in a historic 6-2 win at Real Madrid and the second goa

BARCELONA, Spain -- Pep Guardiola, the managerial mastermind who led Barcelona to 14 of 19 possible titles in four seasons, is returning to Camp Nou.This time he will be at the helm of Manchester City as he faces his boyhood club in the Champions League on Wednesday.But how does the best of the teams Guardiola coached from 2008-2012 stack up against the current Barcelona side?Here is a comparison of Barcelonas current players with those led by Guardiola in 2008-09, the team that started the clubs winning era by becoming the first Spanish club to win the Champions League, Spanish league and Copa del Rey in the same season.Barcelona repeated that rare feat of winning the treble of titles two seasons ago under present coach Luis Enrique.---FORWARDSMessi/Etoo/Henry (2008-09) vs. Messi/Suarez/Neymar (now)A budding star at 21 years old, Lionel Messi fully blossomed under Guardiola.The Argentina star won his first of a record five Ballon dOr awards in 2009, after having scored important goals such as his double in a historic 6-2 win at Real Madrid and the second goal in a 2-0 win to beat Manchester United in the Champions League final.Guardiola got one more superb season from striker Samuel Etoo, and squeezed out some of the last vintage goals that Thierry Henry had to offer.Hard to top that, right?Just look at Messis present partners in attack.With Messi moving away from a pure scorer to becoming both scorer and playmaker, Luis Suarez and Neymar have proven to be perfect fits up front. Suarez is the voracious goal-taker that Messi needed to focus on orchestrating, while Neymars dribbling skills and speed are almost unstoppable. The trio broke scoring records in each of the last two seasons.ADVANTAGE: Luis Enriques current attack.---MIDFIELDXavi/Toure/Iniesta (2008-09) vs. Rakitic/Busquets/Iniesta (now)Both teams enjoy the devilry of Andres Iniesta, but the 2008-09 side had both Yaya Toure and an upstart Sergio Busquets sharing time in front of the defense, as opposed to the current teams reliance on Busquets as a holding midfielder.The major difference, however, is the downgrade from Xavi Hernandez to Ivan Rakitic.Rakitic is more athletic and a better tackler than Xavi, but that cannot trump Xavis vision, poise and control of the match. The World Cup winner was Guardiolas on-pitch general of a possession-based passing attack that bewildered opponents.In other words, its a no-brainer.ADVANTAGE: Guardiolas 2008-09 midfield.---DEFENSEDani Alves/Puyol/Pique/Abidal (2008-09) vs. Roberto/Pique/Mascherano/Alba (now)Always at the service of Messi, Xavi and Iniesta, Barcelonas defense under Guardiola was easy to overlook.But that 2008-09 team enjoyed Dani Alves and Eric Adibal in their prime, a fully fit Carles Puyol before he was diminished by injuries, and a Gerard Pique hungry to come into his own.Pique now anchors a back line that is under transition.Jordi Alba offers blistering pace on the left flank, but its other two positions are in flux.Sergi Roberto, a converted midfielder, has impressed as Dani Alves replacement so far, while the other central defender position is in dispute between an aging Javier Mascherano and newcomer Samuel Umtiti.ADVANTAGE: Guardiolas 2008-09 defense.---GOALKEEPER: Valdes (2008-09) vs. Ter Stegen (now)Marc-Andre Ter Stegen has just inherited the full-time goalkeeping responsibilities from Claudio Bravo. Despite his passing skills and ability to make spectacular saves, the German needs to improve his decision making to reach the level of Victor Valdes from 2008-09.ADVANTAGE: Guardiolas 2008-09 goalkeeper.---CONCLUSION:Even though this Barcelona side should be favored over City, it has a way to go to equal the overall excellence of Guardiolas first Barcelona squad.Air Jordan 13 Sale Canada .Y. - New Orleans forward Anthony Davis was chosen Friday to replace the injured Kobe Bryant in the NBA All-Star game that will be played in his home city. Cheap Air Jordan 13 Canada .Y. -- Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo had little trouble picking up his first shutout of the season against a Buffalo Sabres team thats having trouble scoring goals. http://www.cheapairjordan13canada.com/ . The 18-year-old American had five birdies in her bogey-free round for a 17-under total of 196. Lee held the overnight lead but mixed three birdies with two bogeys for a 70. Air Jordan Retro 13 Cheap . -- Team after team passed on Andre Ellington in the draft. Jordan 13 Clearance Canada . The Dutchmans tenure got off to a poor start when referee Guido Winkmann awarded a penalty within two minutes for Niklas Starks clumsy challenge on Alexandru Maxim.NYON, Switzerland -- New UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin wants to protect Europes national leagues from the threat of breakaway competitions.Ceferin was elected last month amid talk of a future closed-shop Super League and breakaway cross-border divisions, as some clubs seem ready to chase bigger commercial deals by moving beyond the bounds of national leagues.I am against killing national leagues. That is out of the question, Ceferin told The Associated Press.He spoke ahead of Fridays annual meeting of the group of European leagues, which revived recent tension with UEFA, and could become the new presidents most difficult stakeholders.The former Slovenia soccer federation leader said he was open to innovation -- such as creating regional leagues -- but within limits and inside UEFAs control.There are some new ideas and not necessarily bad, but UEFA should be involved in that, Ceferin said in his first major interview at UEFA headquarters on Thursday. It should not hurt national leagues because without national leagues I think football is dead.Radical change looked possible this year as UEFA was without a president during talks with clubs on Champions League entries and distributing billion-dollar annual prize money for the three seasons from 2018.Some wealthy and influential clubs exploited FIFAs ban of Ceferins predecessor, Michel Platini, by framing the negotiations around threats to break away, or forcing UEFA to lock a cartel of storied clubs into Europes top competition without the need to qualify via domestic competitions.Ceferin took office three weeks after UEFA sealed a compromise deal that favored the big-four countries: Spain, Germany, England, and Italy. It left mid-ranked clubs doubting where they fitted in the Champions Leagues future as broadcasters demanded more high-profile match-ups.Moving quickly to build relations with European Club Association leaders, Ceferin believes the Super League threat is over for now.It would create a warr, he said.dddddddddddd. We are on the same side with the big clubs. They dont want to do it without UEFA. Clubs also know they would have problems if they would break away. If it would be easy, they would be already gone.The latest trend is exploring regional leagues where neighboring countries each provide some teams. The North Atlantic and Balkans are options, creating more compelling and higher-standard competition than the individual national leagues.Ceferin said cross-border leagues could supplement national leagues, not replace them.As an additional competition its a good idea. (I)t should be played for those who dont qualify for the Europa League and Champions League, maybe from the New Year on, he said.We cant kill the national leagues. If you take, for example, two clubs out of the Slovenian league (into a Balkan league) then the Slovenian league is over.Elected in a landslide with a mandate to help the smaller UEFA member federations, Ceferin also wants to defend tradition.People like revolutions, they like to speak about big changes, but you should be clever, the criminal lawyer said. You should take into consideration everything, and national leagues are too important.On Friday, the group representing leagues in most of Europes 55 member federations stated its claim to be treated by UEFA with more importance.Angered at being left out of recent Champions League talks as a deal neared, the European Professional Football Leagues ended its working agreement with UEFA and set a March 15 deadline to negotiate a new one.The current accord means European top-tier matches have not been played in direct clashes with the Champions League on midweek evenings protected by UEFA for its signature club competition.Asked about his negotiating and leadership style, Ceferin said: The important thing is that you are ready to listen. ' ' '