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Football Club Barcelona took a giant step towards the next round of the Champions League with a 4-0 win over Wisla Krakow at Camp Nou tonight. Samuel Eto'o who looked to be on his way out of the club scored twice and there were goals too from the excellent Xavi Hernandez and from an improved Thierry Henry

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Pep Guardiola has named the 22 players available for tonight's vital Champions League first leg tie with Wisla Krakow. But the best news was the announcement from Guardiola that Samuel Eto'o will stay at the club this season "because he wants it and I want it" This is an excellent boost for us all going into the new season, no more idle talk of Drogba or Adebayor, we have the best and he's staying with us.

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Not a lot to report from the last two days in Barcelona, the beginning of the Olympic Games means the local sports papers have plenty of other news to fill their pages meaning the transfer rumours can be put to one side. However, what can be reported is that Marc Crosas move to Celtic has been confirmed and the player was presented before Celtic's win against St Mirren this weekend.

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With the crucial Champions League qualifier against Wisla Krakow just four days away Barça returned to the Miniestadi this morning to continue preparation for the match. Barça will also have a training session this afternoon at 18.30. Tomorrow the players will train only in the morning (9.30) but on Monday they will return to the routine of training twice a day. Today's sessions are expected to be light given that the players are still recovering from the effects of jet lag but the intensity of the sessions will increase towards match day.

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As suggested here yesterday, Barça have taken the decision not to recall Leo Messi for the Champions League game against Wisla Krakow thus allowing the player to compete in the Olympic Games in China. It seems Barça have come to an agreement with the Argentine Football Association whereby Messi will be insured against injury during the tournament and Argentina will renounce using Messi in any friendly matches this season. Given that Messi was already in China, and that it seemed to be his wish to play the Olympics, I feel Barça have taken a wise decision to let him stay.

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Barça continued their preseason run of good form with a 2-6 win over the New York Red Bulls tonight at the Giants Stadium in New Jersey. The first half was much better than the second when Samuel Eto'o was on the pitch and with two more goals he increased his preseason total to five in just 159 minutes. Joan Laporta, Txiki Begiristain, Pep Guardiola - we have our number nine here already, please don't balls things up by selling him.

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So, now it turns out that Barça were correct to defend their interest in the Messi/Olympics saga. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) have ruled in favour of Barça, Werder Bremen and Schalke 04 to say these clubs are not obliged to release their players for the Olympic games, and the clubs can now legally recall their players for the Champions League qualifiers. The Argentinian camp have responded by declaring their intention to play Messi in tomorrow's opening game against Ivory Coast.

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After some initial reports that Barça were trying to get either Beitar Jerusalem or Wisla Krakow to agree to playing the second leg at Camp Nou, it has now been confirmed that the first leg of the Champions league qualifier will take place at Camp Nou on August 13. The 2nd leg will be played on Aug 26/27.

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Barça took their preseason total to 19 goals in 4 matches after scoring five more in the win over Mexican team Chivas. Samuel Eto'o chipped in with two second half goals to add to the debate over his future, while there were first goals for the club from Alexandr Hleb and Martin Caceres

Guardiola surprised by playing Henry on the left with Hleb playing as a false centre forward with Pedro cutting in from the right. After just 11 minutes Hleb played the ball back to Pedro who hit a great left-footed shot that crashed against the crossbar before bouncing down over the line; however, the linesman didn't see it that way and the score remained 0-0.

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