Wasteful Madrid fails to punish an off-colour Barça

The first 'Clasico' of the season is behind us. Here are my thoughts on the game

1. As the title suggests, Real Madrid missed a golden opportunity to beat an off-colour and off-pace Barcelona playing with a lot of players with either little are no preseason action.
2. Real Madrid started brightly with a very high tempo and pressing Barça asphyxiating them.
3. Barça started without Xavi, Pique, Busquets and Puyol. And surprised everyone with Alexis in the starting lineup. My theory on this is that, Pep started the eleven that he thought had the best chance to last 90 minutes.
   
4. It was only a matter of time before Real Madrid went ahead with the beautiful inter play between Özil and Benzema with the former scoring from assist from the former
5. After taking the lead around the 20th min, Madrid took the foot off the pedal, inexplicably.
6. Barça didnt have a shot on goal until David Villa curled an absolutely unstoppable right footer from the edge of the box on the left side.
7. While the game started without incident, it has gotten nastier as the time passed by with the tackles getting more rough and at times reckless after the equalizer.
8. The ref had a decent game in the first half, although he should have given a yellow or two for both sides.
9. Barça continued having problems in controlling the game and Madrid had various opportunities to go ahead.
10. Until the 45th minute when Messi in his first meaningful contribution to the game left Pepe and a few others in their wake and slotted in the 2nd.
    
11. 1-2 half-time, surprise scoreline because Madrid completely dominated the half with ample chances. Valdes was sharp and Benzema, not as much.
12. Barça started the 2nd half much better than the 1st half but Madrid equalized very soon through a well placed shot by Xabi Alonso
13. From here on the game got worse in terms of discipline. More cheap fouls, exaggerated reactions..the usual nastiness that accompanied the Clasicos of last season.
    
14. Both teams had a good penalty shout denied in the process.
15. Every foul is protested by everyone, even the throw-in decisions were not accepted without a protest.
    
16. The referee Texeira Vitienes lost control of the game at this point. Had he shown the early yellow cards in the first half, it would have been a different story.
    
17. Madrid created numerous chances again but failed to finish them off against a superhero-esque Victor Valdes.
18. Barça looked slightly better with Xavi, Pique and Pedro coming on in the 2nd half but Messi looked rusty.
    
19. Alexis had a great debut considering that he is playing just after two practice sessions with Barcelona.
20. Coentrão looked lively in the 15-20 minutes he played but by then both teams were in chaos as far as formations are concerned, a typical phenomenon in the dying moments of the early season games.
    
21. In the end, Barça will be more happy with the result than Real Madrid.
    
22. Madrid needs to try and win in Camp Nou and Barça can lift the cup with a 0-0 or even 1-1.
23. Mourinho excused himself from the presser and consequently the media is talking about this more than the great game overall from Real Madrid. Unfortunate but somethings dont change.
24. It will be interesting if Madrid can play another full press at Camp Nou where the pitch is wider and Barça will start with more regulars and with more minutes of practice.
    

Man of the Match Real Madrid : Özil
Man of the Match Barcelona : Victor Valdes

2nd leg in Camp Nou on Aug-17 at 2300 CET 1700 Eastern/1400 Pacific

FC Barcelona Preview 2011

Main Storylines: since Sandro Rosell brought his insufferably vacant mug to the Presidential offices at the Camp Nou, the once flush club have entered a period of austerity that speaks either to the mismanagement of his predecessor or to Rosell´s lack of ambition, or rather his ¨tough negotiating stance¨ against clubs that would take advantage of Barça in the Summer transfer window. With that in mind it explains why the Cesc Fabregas deal, one that was essentially done last year with Txiki Begiristain in negotiations with Arsenal, has taken so long to finalize with Zubizarretta at the helm. Arsene Wenger, used to holding out for prime deals where the buyers often get stuck with players past their sell-date, has also been under pressure from management to relieve themselves of the former La Masia stand-out. Look for that to finally end and the Arsenal captain to don the blaugrana colors. The question however is, why Cesc and why now? I know Jonathan Wilson has mentioned the idea recently that Barça like to have players within three years of each other in the pipeline, and with Xavi and Iniesta nearing the virtual end of their careers the club are looking to partner Thiago with someone around three years older than he, schooled at La Masia and with the experience to take some of the pressure off the recently called-up Spanish international. Cesc is not Xavi nor is he Iniesta. He is not a direct replacement. He provides great passing, but much higher up the pitch than either of them, and he is used to dealing with the sort of pressure that José Mourinho´s teams like to inflict on opponents. In that sense also, it explains why Pep was also keen on bringing Alexis Sanchez to Barcelona. While the Chilean can drift centrally looking for space, he is (other than Afellay) the only player that Barcelona have that gives them width on the wings and an ability to make the fullbacks honest. He´ll have to coordinate his runs with Messi, but it should make either player better as teams can´t single either of them out. Who do you sit? I sit Pedro and bring him off the bench in late situations where an extra attacking midfielder/winger is needed.

Forwards: Lionel Messi gets a lot of criticism for his lack of productivity with his national team and his rivalry with Cristiano Ronaldo brings out the worst in his critics, but in my opinion there is Messi and then there are the rest of us. He´s the best player I´ve seen since Maradona and unfortunately he plays at Barça. Oh well. Carrying on with the rest of his ¨water-carriers.¨ As evidenced by their B-squad´s loss against their opposite numbers at Espanyol during this week´s Copa Catalunya final, Barcelona have had a difficult time with developing classic number 9´s in front of goal which is why they buy them in practically every transfer window. David Villa is still one of the best in the world even though at times last year he looked spent from a very strenuous World Cup in South Africa with the World Champions. He should have an exemplary year for him with some rest and relaxation finally coming to el guaje this Summer. Pedro´s story on the other hand is a remarkable one. He was almost going to be sold before Guardiola took over, and the Barça legend made him into the perfect compliment to the more higher profile players around him in attack. He´s their most valuable attacker, in the right place at the right time of most final passes in front of goal and he is deadly quick in short spurts if not classically swift over distances. His relentless style however sometimes comes with a price. He loses effectiveness late in matches so having Alexis Sanchez to trade minutes with will help. The squad will be greatly served by being more varied in attack  Ones to watch: the forgotten signing. Kiko Femenía; the pearl of Hércules of Alicante´s cantera. I don´t think he´ll get much time in the league or in the Champions League, but watch for him in the Copa del Rey at least early on. Pep will give him minutes if he lets him out of La Masía. Let´s also not forget Ibrahim Afellay. In those last few weeks of the season, the flying Dutchman was one of the few fresh legs storming in attack for a weakened Barça.

Midfielders: what else can be said of these mid-fielders. Xavi Hernandez is one of the great midfield generals, maybe the best of all-time considering his effectiveness in picking out the correct pass and his ability to break-down even the most committed defenses. Andrés Iniesta, who was a forgotten man the year before, called out by Pep to recapture his form, became the World Cup hero for all of Spain by scoring that decisive goal in the final. No one has better ball skills against a man-to-man defender than Iniesta. He is also surprisingly tenacious in recovering the ball as are most Barcelona mid-fielders. It is no wonder that some people in the organization have singled him out as Barcelona´s best player, even ahead of Messi at times. As for Busquets, Mascherano, Keita and the rest? The great thing to say about all of them is that they are versatile and help fill roles that are quite often up for grabs at a team like Barcelona. Busquets, despite his red-rage at Marcelo last year in the Clásicos, is experienced beyond his years and rarely rattled. Ones to watch: Thiago Alcántara. Pep has all the confidence in the player and the kid is just a pleasure to watch. With or without Cesc, I think Thiago plays more than even he thinks he will.

Defenders: I think the most remarkable thing about Barcelona´s success in these times is that they have done it without a great set of defenders. Most clubs are built from the back, but the blaugrana have broken every rule of building championship clubs. Now, I know that their philosophy of ball-control, possession and recovery allows them to get away with not having a group of classically built defenders and their fullbacks (especially Dani Alvez) have offensive responsibilities as well, but to have accomplished what they have with the oft-injured Carles Puyol and the oft-lame-brained Gerard Pique is unbelievable. Now, Eric Abidal is a left-back who can cover centrally if needed, as can midfielder Mascherano, and neither are most comfortable in that position, but I think there´s something else at work here. You have a group of five or six players who at any given time are completely interchangeable and very difficult to break-down because they eliminate space so well. It is almost like watching Dutch Total Football in a microcosm. Most pundits talk of the vulnerability of Barça´s defense on the counter. I think they are actually much stronger at the back than people think. I think this is one of the least talked about innovations tha Pep has brought to the club: their versatility in defense. Ones to watch: Andreu Fontàs. The young defender played admirably while Eric Abidal was out with liver problems. Keepers: Victor Valdez is a rock. His back-up Pinto should crawl under a rock.

Projection: it is easy, almost fashionable, to predict the end of this championship cycle at Barcelona. People who do are maybe giving too much credence to the Mourinho effect at Real Madrid; the fact that his squads (at Chelsea and Inter especially) were generally more devastating in second years. That´s a bit of a reach though. Both Chelsea and Inter were on the rise and their primary opponents (Manchester United & Arsenal or Juventus & AC Milan) were waning, in a rebuilding phase. Knocking Barcelona will be much more difficult. Critics may also be projecting, almost willing a collapse by the blaugrana and having them brought down to size. I understand that. No one likes a bully, everyone roots for the underdog, and people are always trying to knock the top-dog down a peg, but Barcelona are stronger than they were last year. If Pep can bring his new signings into the squad seamlessly and the club can stay healthy, there is no reason to think that they can´t be even better.

Monday Morning Papers 8.8

Sport.es: FC Barcelona: The Hour of Alexis and Messi: Two ¨signings¨ for the Supercopa that will start working out today. Alexis: ¨I can´t wait to start playing with Leo.¨ The Chilean arrived yesterday tired but hopeful to début on Sunday at the Bernabeu. Barca, Analysis of the Tour: Now everyone is at home. Lionel Messi: the Argentine wants to be decisive against Madrid. He has all week to put himself right. Cesc Fabregas: Cesc will not begin the Premier League, even Wenger confirms it. Real Madrid: Mourinho will have toconform with Adebayor. He will cost between 8 and 10 euros. Community Shield: City 2-3 Manchester United. De Gea won his first title and Kun did not play.

Marca.com: Real Madrid: 6...5...4...3..2...1... Supercopa!: At less than a week before the Clásico. euphoria at Real Madrid and doubts at Barca. The dressing room of the whites, unanimous: ¨We arrive stronger than they do.¨ Guardiola, preoccupied: ¨We are not at our maximum and we don´t have our tone.¨. The pre-season numbers don´t lie: Messi was missed and Benzema exploded. Without Messi, Real Madrid has scored 9 more goals than Barcelona.  Community Shield: City 2-3 Manchester United. De Gea won his first title and Kun did not premier.

Reaction: Ah, I love the whiff of football. Even with all the craziness in my life, all I have to read is crazy drivel from either dish-rag to get me pumped up. First of all for Sport: it will take more than a week for the best of both Alexis and Leo to take hold for FC Barcelona, so if Real Madrid have a hope to take any title from Barca this year it´s the equivalent of the Spanish Community Shield; a meaningless friendly in a certain sense. As for ¨El Caso Cesc¨, the clubs are posturing. Arsenal don´t really hope to retain the player do they? They had better not. I am sick of this story. Wenger, move on. Alright, on to Marca: Real Madrid do look to have been more impressive in their pre-season approach than Barcelona. They have scored more goals and their attack is sparkling, but don´t make the mistake of assuming that pre-season form necessarily translates into early season form once the whistle blows for the start of the new season. Real Madrid are still behind Barcelona even without Alexis Sanchez and if Cesc leaves Arsenal as expected? It will be a long season for Jose Mourinho´s charges. 

Barcelona in Buenos Aires

It´s a much bandied about term. We´ll have them playing like FC Barcelona. It´s not so easy to implement though. Checho Batista, the much beleaguered Argentine coach, said that the best way to take advantage of the skills of their best player was to have him comfortable in a system he is familiar with. He hand picked his side, surrounding him with players that he said were analogues for Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets and Pedro. Well, we´re all aware of the massive failure that the Barcelona experiment has become. We are also aware that in an attempt to save his job let alone his reputation, Batista will turn to Messi the playmaker and entrust the rest of the Copa America to his forward line of Higuain, Di Maria and Aguero. It´s an admission at fault and it places Messi in a position finally that he certainly can´t fill. He is no playmaker. He´s a modern false-9. El Diez does not exist anymore. He is not Diego, but to win he has to become Diego?

The sad fact is that if there were any country capable of turning to that style where possession means more than athleticism, and where smallish players have a place it is Argentina. They have a long history of producing the sorts of players that fit the Xavi and Iniesta role. The problem is, does anyone coaching today have the guts to put Messi and a guy like Pablo Aimar together in the same attack? Is Saviola that much worse in attack than Lavezzi? Forget players that haven´t featured in years for the albiceleste. What does it mean that the best playmaker they have is sitting on the bench and hasn´t featured at all? You don´t think Pastore would link up better with Messi than the workmanlike pair, the static wonders of Esteban Cambiasso and Ever Banega? I understand one holding central midfielder in that Barca role, Javier Mascherano is already familiar with it, but three? It´s no wonder they aren´t effective. They have no width and no movement off the ball, two key components to Barcelona´s attack.

People complained of Maradona´s experiment in the World Cup with essentially four central defenders at one time, but this is worse. The onus of their entire Copa Ámerica campaign falls to Messi and as good of a player as he is, he cannot be three distinct players at once. He cannot be himself, while also taking on the characteristics of Xavi and Iniesta. And so he fails and people in his homeland question his dedication, his respect and desire for his country. Is it that he doesn´t have ¨the fire or spirit or the cojones that Maradona played with?¨ There´s your problem really. They compare him with Diego because he has a similar skill set, but in today´s game Diego would be playing on the wing. He would be looking for combinations with his team-mates. In today´s tactical game, with two holding mid-fielders in play geared to stopping those forward runs centrally in front of goal, Diego Maradona wouldn´t be El Diez either. So why should Lio?

You see, the failure of the Barcelona experiment is such that Argentina will just entrench themselves in their staid, traditional game, looking for the next Maradona, when the solution is not to become less like Barcelona but more.

Sex, Alcohol and Cumbia: Lionel Messi?

Sprinkle this liberally with a grain of salt, but there are some tabloids in Argentina that are linking Lionel Messi of all people with an influx of botineras or what we call Wags into his very exclusive luxury hotel room over-looking the Rio La Plata. The boy is wealthy, single and on vacation, so I make no value judgements over his choices, but you have to question this timing (if it's true I add) with the Copa America being held in Argentina next month.

That said, would you trade your day-job for nights of clubbing debauchery, and a parade of these hot, nubile babes as they are reporting? Amongst the conquests in the Pulga-partment apparently are Xoana González, a 23 year old former mechanic and contestant on Soñando por Bailar (Dreaming of Dancing), reality television and Playboy model Claudia Ciardone who traded up from Carlos Tevez it seems, underwear model Andrea Rincón, pseudo-Mexican footballer Nery Cardozo's ex-girlfriend Sabrina Ravelli and model/actress Luli Salazar who famously said she would go naked in the Obelisk of Buenos Aires alongside Diego Maradona, if Argentina won the 2010 FIFA World Cup. See below for more info.

It's a hilarious mix of bad television, greed and plastic surgery fueled by sex, alcohol and some mad cumbia beats. It seems highly unlikely considering both the source and the player who has constructed a media profile that accentuates his boyish almost nerdy charm, but before you dismiss this totally though, just remember that he did learn to have fun at the feet of famous party-animals Ronaldinho and Deco...

Sex, Alcohol and cumbia?
Xoana González Claudia Ciardone Andrea Rincón Sabrina Ravelli Luli Salazar

Week25: what a difference a Xavi makes

Barca will be without Xavi at Mallorca this weekend, but how much will they really miss him?A forensic look at the impact of Barca's midfield master.

A new column by Laurence "Johnson" Alexander, looking at La Liga through the fantasy football lens.

Xavi: missing this weekend

This weekend, Barcelona face the rare prospect of lining up without their talismanic central midfield general, Xavi. The Balon d'Or nominee has only missed three games this season: Barca seldom line up without their record breaking appearance maker. What changes when Xavi doesn't play, and more importantly, what effect does this man have in the realm of the Fantasy Football and more specifically, the Yahoo Fantasy Football game? We may assume, he's an assisting, point scoring dynamo that most would consider a must-pick but reputations and appearances can be deceptive.

In most Fantasy Football games going, your selections will be rewarded in general with points for wins, goals, clean sheets, appearances, assists; thus those players appearing for the best sides will be the most valuable and pick up the most points. In Yahoo Fantasy Football, a player is rewarded in a large range of scoring areas directly sourced from Opta stats, so while, naturally, goals and assists glean the most points, a player can also collect rewards for tackles, crosses, shots on target, winning corners and various other areas. Thus, a player does not necessarily have to be winning a lot to become a valuable source of points.

Players' values oscilate weekly correlating to their matchday performances. So we find that many who would be of low value in regular fantasy football games, can often supersede players of a more illustrious reputation. For example, someone who is hardly a household name such as Almeria's Pablo Piatti can become one of the most expensive strikers, due to the fact that he does so much. To put this in context, he is currently almost double the value of Adebayor.

But what of Xavi? Much like Paul Scholes in the sister EPL version of the game, the selection of Xavi can be something of a liability. He currently holds a value of 12.12 and his value tends to hold between 12 and 15 on any given week: Iniesta is currently 13.8, Reyes and Jesus Navas are 15, Mezut Ozil and Xavi Prieto are 11. Xavi averages a weekly score of just over 5, while the players with the best averages are Malaga's Duda (8.5), Bilbao's Diego Lopez (8.34) and Getafe's Jaime Gavilan (8.23). In any given week of Fantasy Football, you are in the least looking for a player to return their value or score 10+. Xavi has scored 10+ just four times this season - three of those were goal scoring weeks. The following gives us a summary of Xavi's scoring this season:

Xavi's digits, week 25

In essence, Xavi is a solid, but very average fantasy player.

But what difference will the absence of Xavi make this week for Barcelona against Mallorca? Many are already seeing this as stern test for Barca, who are without Valdes and Puyol, and who have dipped in form, and need to find it again in time to overturn the deficit in the Champions League return leg against Arsenal in the coming midweek.

Xavi missed games in week 6, week 8 and week 18. The first game Xavi missed this season was, coincidently, against Mallorca in the reverse fixture in week 6. Seydou Keita started in Xavi's place and scored 2.5 fantasy football points (2 corners won, 2 fouls won, 1 foul commited): Mallorca earnt a 1-1 draw. In week 8, Keita again came in for Xavi as Barca beat Zaragoza 2-0 away. Keita was more involved (1 SOT, 2 fouls won, 2 tackles won, 2 passes intercepted, 4 fouls committed) and scored 3pts. In both games, Messi got all the goals.

Finallly - after breaking the record for the most appearnaces for the Catalans with 550 during the week - Xavi was on the bench in week 18 as Barca crushed Deportivo 4-0 at the Riazor in week 18 (here's a clip of him riding the pine in that game). Keita again came in, but was even more anonymous, scoring 1.5 (3 tackles won, 1 pass intercepted, 1 corner won, 2 fouls won, 2 fouls committed).

So, to conclude? Barca can play without skipping a beat even without Xavi, and they can do with ease away from home. However, Mallorca know how to stop a Barca team without Xavi. Seidou Keita will almost definitely play in Xavi's place - it's possible Pep could go for new signing Ibrahim Affellay, but he seems to prefer the dutchman in a more advanced role.

As we've seen, the only thing that is remarkable about Xavi's fantasy points, is how unremarkable they are. But the stats do reflect his style. He is not often the man to have the last ball for the assist - this normally comes from one of Barca's front three, Messi, Villa or Pedro - and he is certainly not one for having a speculative crack at goal all the time (see Ronaldo). Also, Barca don't score a lot of goals from corners, despite the accuracy with which Xavi can deliver them. He dicates play, he plays a lot of balls, frequently more passes than anyone, but at the end of the day, while the Yahoo Fantasy Football system is marvellously detailed, it still cannot quite reflect accurately the immense influence that Xavi has.

Read more about La Liga Fantasy Football at Fantasy Football Super

LA LIGA Team of Round 24

The relegation battle continues, fixture congestion ensues. It's the business time of the season and only 17 goals this past weekend in the Spanish league. Osasuna win with a festival of goals? What the heck is going on?


GOAL KEEPER: DANI ARANZUBIA (DEPORTIVO LA CORUNA)

The Basque shot stopper made some incredible saves against Alméria, but what earned the player the accolades this week, is the 95th minute power header a la Fernando Llorente to equalize. A golden point for Baby Depor. Gutsy.


RIGHT BACK: DANI ALVES (FC BARCELONA)

Alves constantly beated Athletic's Koikili and reminded us how dangerous he could be as a playmaker from the right. Two assists for the samba crack. Sublime.


CENTER BACK: RIKKI CARVALHO (REAL MADRID)

He can play with Pepe, he can play with Albiol. The versatile veteran was solid in the back and eked out a goal from a set piece to seize the game against Levante. Reliable.


CENTER BACK; ALBERTO BOTIA (SPORTING GIJON)

The young ex La Masia product played a near perfect game, to keep out the fire power of Aduriz, Mata, and Soldado. His positioning was key. Impressive.


LEFT BACK: ALBERTO DE LA BELLA (REAL SOCIEDAD)

Solid on the left, he neutralized the counter attack and wing play of Mallorca admist the rain, wind and cold. Formidable.


RIGHT MIDFIELD : GIOVANI DOS SANTOS (RACING SANTANDER)

Only his second game and Dos Santos has become somewhat of a super sub. His velocity and danger on the counter attack earned a penalty and a disallowed goal (which was legal to me). Promising.


CENTER MIDFIELD: JAVI MARTINEZ (ATHLETIC BILBAO)

Even though the Basque team failed to win, they played well against the league leaders. The backline was sturdy and Javi Martinez was instrumental in the midfield, stealing balls, tackling, and allowing very little space and time on the ball. Courageous.


CENTER MIDFIELD: IVAN RAKITIC (SEVILLA)

The recent arrival has finally put on his shooting boots and is starting to see eye to eye with his teammates. The pace and style of Sevilla, suits him well. The Croat's combination play between Negredo, Fabiano, and Navas was impressive and resulted in the game winning goal. Trajectory.


LEFT MIDFIELD: JAVAD NEKOUNAM (OSASUNA)

The arrival of new coach Mendilibar has really ignited los rojillos, particularly Iranian International Neko. The midfielder netted a brace and initiated the goal fest. Heroic.


CENTER FORWARD: LIONEL MESSI (FC BARCELONA)

Athletic took the game to the blaugrana at the Camp Nou and made it extremely difficult to break them down. As the game progressed, it looked like Barça might split the points with Bilbo, which would put them only 3 points ahead of El Madrid. La Pulga pulled threw with an incredibly important game winner. Stellar.


CENTER FORWARD: SERGIO AGUERO (ATLETICO MADRID)

A very even match, that could have gone either way. Aguero willed his team back into the game with an individual piece of brilliance. Dynamic.

Best of Jornada 22 in La Liga

Time to pay homage to those players that really impressed this past week.


GOAL:

Just for that awesome save that was just out of this world, My hat goes off to Vicente Guaita from Valencia. Incredible piece of skill and timing against Hercules in the derby Valenciano. What vision! What reflexes! What a stretch! Mystifying.


DEFENSE:

Kudos go to a player out of position (Eliseu), an over the hill veteran (Ballasteros) and one who stepped up to the captaincy (Fernando Navarro).

Normally a left winger, Eliseu was asked to play at Left Back for Pellegrini in the Andaluz derby against Sevilla. That said, he was solid and handled his defensive and offensive duties with ease. Shame the finishing by the anchovies was lacking.

Big, thick, over the hill, these are some of the names often heard by Sergio Ballasteros, but this week the central defender had a massive game (no pun intended). He was part of the five man defensive wall, that coach Luis Garcia played at the back against the red hot Villarreal in El Madrigal. The Granotes surprised the Yellow Submarines and Ballasteros did the same. Quality display.

Fernando Navarro was one of the few shining stars for Sevilla in the Andaluz derby. He came through with some critical tackles to halt the Malaga attack and the Euro champion let his actions speak, as he allowed very little goal penetration by the opposing side.


MIDFIELD:

Brasilian superstar, Rikki Kaka had one of his best games with Los Merengues this season. He played with calmness, stealth and velocity. He opened the flood gates, with the opening goal against Real Sociedad at the Bernabeu. The best man on the pitch without a doubt.

After a poor run of form and a consecutive string of losses, Getafe came back to life and trounced Deportivo La Coruña. The one man who was involved in nearly every single play was Jaime Gavilan. Incredible game.

Solid in the center and even bagging a goal, Hernan Bernardello has been a key player for Almería over the past few games. The ex-Newell's hard man has really made the difference for the little Andalusian club. He was instrumental in holding the win against a very difficult Espanyol.

The trickster, el travieso Iker Muniain has been playing out of his skin. The 17 year old enganche received his first call up tothe Spain U-21s and was eager to show Coach Milla that this was not a fluke. Against Sporting Gijon, he started on the wings, but moved into the middle and became the sublime playmaker. I love watching this kid grow and fulfill his potential at Athletic, in front of our very eyes. He is the real deal. It was fantastic to see him play with Ander and Javi Mar in the U-21s this week, as well.


UPFRONT


Messi, Messi, Messi - hat trick king extraordinaire now tied with Cristiano Ronaldo for the pichichi. He ran rampage over Atletico de Madrid with ease. Doesn't he link up so well with Alves, El Guaje Villa and Pedro?

Cristiano Ronaldo was fit to be tied. He is obsessed over that pichichi trophy, so he netted two against Real Sociedad. Incredible drive and skills.

Finally Getafe's coach Michel plays two strikers upfront and brings back Adrian Colunga into the starting eleven. Well, the ex-Recreativo striker proved his worth by scoring a brace and spurring the team on to win in the process. Colunga started off the season slow and nervy, but it looks like the mighty mite has finally found his groove. Stupendous game.


GUAITA (VALENCIA); ELISEU (MALAGA), BALLASTEROS (LEVANTE), FERNANDO NAVARRO (SEVILLA); KAKA (REAL MADRID), GAVILAN (GETAFE), BERNARDELLO (ALMERIA), MUNIAIN (ATHLETIC); MESSI (BARCELONA), RONALDO (REAL MADRID), COLUNGA (GETAFE)

50 Highest Paid Players in World Football

Sport Foot Magazine has come out with their 50 highest paid players in World Football. It is an extremely interesting list as you can see their are may overpaid players playing in the Richest leagues in the World. A lot of veterans and a lot of underperforming players. England highly rates Defenders. The highest ranked Spaniard is Fernando Torres. Shame Dani Alves hasn't cracked the top 50 yet. I have highlighted the Spanish and La Liga players on the list. What do you think?


1- Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/POR): 12 M€

2- Wayne Rooney (Manchester United/ING): 11,5 M€

3- Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona/ARG): 11 M€

4- Yaya Touré (Manchester City/CMA): 10,8 M€

5- Samuel Eto'o (Inter Milán/ITA): 10,5 M€

6- Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Múnich/ALE): 9,7 M€

7- Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Milan AC/SUE): 9 M€

7- Kaká (Real Madrid/BRA): 9 M€

7- John Terry (Chelsea/ING): 9 M€

10- Emmanuel Adebayor (Manchester City/TOG): 8,4 M€

11- Franck Ribéry (Bayern Múnich/FRA): 8 M€

12- Fernando Torres (Liverpool/ESP): 7,8 M€

13- Steven Gerrard (Liverpool/ING): 7,6 M€

13- Carlos Tevez (Manchester City/ARG): 7,6 M€

15- Frank Lampard (Chelsea/ING): 7,57 M€

16- Xavi Hernández (FC Barcelona/ESP): 7,5 M€

17- Andrés Iniesta (FC Barcelona/ESP): 7 M€

18- Didier Drogba (Chelsea/CMA): 6,5 M€

18- Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United/ING): 6,5 M€

20- Andrea Pirlo (Milan AC/ITA): 6 M€

20- David Villa (FC Barcelona/ESP): 6 M€

20- Iker Casillas (Real Madrid/ESP): 6 M€

20- Frédéric Kanouté (FC Sevilla/MAL): 6 M€

20- Karim Benzema (Real Madrid/FRA): 6 M€

20- Gigi Buffon (Juventus/ITA): 6 M€

26- Patrick Vieira (Manchester City/FRA): 5,72 M€

27- Wesley Sneijder (Inter Milán/HOL): 5,5 M€

27- Garreth Barry (Manchester City/ING): 5,5 M€

27- Arjen Robben (Bayern Múnich/HOL): 5,5 M€

30- Asley Cole (Chelsea/ING): 5,41 M€

31- Joe Cole (Liverpool/ING): 5,2 M€

32- Diego Milito (Inter Milán/ARG): 5 M€

32- David Silva (Manchester City/ESP): 5 M€

32- Carles Puyol (FC Barcelona/ESP): 5 M€

32- Kolo Touré (Manchester City/CMA): 5 M€

32- Sergio Agüero (Atlético Madrid/ARG): 5 M€

37- Francesco Totti (Roma/ITA): 4,9 M€

38- Dimitar Berbatov (Manchester United/BUL): 4,87 M€

39- Andrei Arshavin (Arsenal/RUS): 4,87 M€

40- Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea/FRA): 4,8 M€

40- Yoann Gourcuff (Lyon/FRA): 4,8 M€

40- Paul Scholes (Manchester United/ING): 4,8 M€

42- Daniele de Rossi (Roma/ITA): 4,6 M€

42- Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid/ESP): 4,6 M€

42- Jamie Carragher (Liverpool/ING): 4,6 M€

42- Ryan Giggs (Manchester United/GAL): 4,6 M€

47- Julio Cesar (Inter Milan/BRA): 4,5 M€

47- Diego Forlan (Atlético Madrid/URU): 4,5 M€

47- Alessandro Nesta (Milan/ITA): 4,5 M€

47- Gabriel Heinze (Marseilla/ARG): 4,5 M€

VIDEO: Messi beats Cristiano Ronaldo

World Best Goal Getter

According to the IFFHS, the International Football Federation of History and Statistics, based in Germany, the World's Top Goal Scorer for 2010 is:

1. Bader Ahmed Al-Mutawa (Al-Qadisia SC Kuwait-City / Kuwait)
2. Samuel Eto'o Fils (FC Internazionale Milano / Cameroun)
3. David Villa (Valencia CF / FC Barcelona / España)
4. Klaas Jan Huntelaar (FC Schalke 04 / Nederland)
5. Yousef Naser Al-Sulaiman (Kazma Kuwait-City / Kuwait)
6. Edison Cavani (SSC Napoli / Uruguay)
6. Diego Forlán (Club Atletico de Madrid / Uruguay)
8. Lionel Andrés Messi (FC Barcelona / Argentina)
9. Javier Hernández (Manchester United FC / México)
10. Ali Mohamed Al-Nono (Al-Ahli Sana'a / Yemen)
11. Miroslav Klose (FC Bayern München / Deutschland)
12. Ismaeel Hassan Abdullatif (Bahrain Al-Riffa Club / Bahrain)
13. Javier Antonio Orozco (CD Cruz Azul Ciudad de México / México)
14. Kurlson Benjamin (Bath Estate / Dominica)
14. Katlego Abel Mphela (Mamelodi Sundowns Pretoria / South Africa)
16. Wesley Sneijder (FC Internazionale Milano / Nederland)
16. Luis Alberto Suárez (AFC Ajax Amsterdam / Uruguay)
18. Peter Crouch (Tottenham Hotspurs FC / England)
18. Luis Carlos Tejada (C Juan Aurich de Chiclayo / Panamá)
20. Zlatan Ibrahimović (FC Barcelona / Milan AC / Sweden)

Now the ranking is based on statistics, goals, game winning goals, first goals, etc. There is no weighting based on league in this case or level of competition. As you can see Kuwait, Yemen, and Bahrain rank extremely high. But what of La Liga, well three of the most deadly and prolific strikers David Villa, Diego Forlan and Lionel Messi are represented for both club and country. All three had stellar years and are world class finishers. Ex La Liga strikers Wesley Sneijder. Samuel Eto'o and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are also represented. Samu and El Guaje have continuously been neck and neck in the goals competition throughout their careers.

It is not easy to score goals in La Liga, but it is good to see the league well represented.

World's Best Playmaker 2010

Continuing our look back at the year that was 2010, IFFHS (International Football Federation of History and Statistics), based out of Germany, has come out with various other accolades. This one is near and dear to my heart, Best Playmaker in the World, the creator, the maestro in the midfield. Based on points Xavi Hernandez is a cut above the rest. Followed by his partner in crime Andres Iniesta, and then double Balon d'Or winner Messi.



.1. Xavi Hernández (ESP/Barcelona) 223
.2. Andrés Iniesta (ESP/Barcelona) 148
.3. Wesley Sneijder (HOL/Inter Milán) 128
.4. Lionel Messi (ARG/Barcelona) 111
.5. Mesut Özil (GER/Real Madrid) 47
.6. Diego Forlán (URU/Atlético de Madrid) 30
.7. Cristiano Ronaldo (POR/Real Madrid) 27
.8. Bastian Schweinsteiger (GER/Bayern Múnich) 22
.9. Francesc Fábregas (ESP/Arsenal) 13
10. Arjen Robben (HOL/Bayern Múnich) 12
11. Frank Lampard (ENG/Chelsea) 11
.+. Xabi Alonso (ESP/Real Madrid) 11
13. Steven Gerrard (ENG/Liverpool) 10


Interesting facts: 4 on the list are Spanish players. 7 currently play in La Liga. If you include former La Liga players 10 out of 13 have made their mark at one time in the Spanish game. Mesut Ozil is the youngest on the list at 22. Frank Lampard is the oldest on the list at 32. Only two South Americans made the list. Xavi top "enganche" for the third year in a row!!

What do you think? Is this list pretty accurate? Are their any surprises, glaring omissions, or poor choices? Does this list validate the passing, possession, attacking, pressure game played in Spain?

Best XI of Round 18 in La Liga

Week 18 in Spain, brought us lots of goals, 34, in fact. The home teams were very prolific in fact, for the most part. Lots of thrills, and a big Monday upset.

Here is my best XI from the round in a 4-4-2 formation.


GOAL KEEPER:

Ricardo (Osasuna)- the ex Manchester United 3rd striker had a blinder at the Reyno de Navarra up against Getafe. Particularly at the end when the Azulones pummelled his goal mouth. Too bad his team weren't able to score.


DEFENSE:

Martin DiMichelis (Málaga) - the newcomer shined in his debut. After some early nervousness, the solidified the defense with his leadership and positioning. Plus he netted a goal. I am sure his happy to be back with his old River Plate coach, Pellegrini.

Ivan Ramis (Mallorca) - consistently impervious at the back when playing at home. The Barralets have only conceded four at home, which is the 2nd best record in La Liga, after Villarreal. A leader, plus he scored one from a set piece this week.

Cata Diaz (Getafe) - some call him a thug, but he was a wall against Osasuna. Sure he received another yellow card, but he is a key part of the madrileños back line.

Martin Caceres (Sevilla) - Strong, versatile, quick and ballsy. The Uruguayan intervened with some decisive tackles and blocks and helped keep a very difficult Real Socieadad at bay.


MIDFIELD:

Luis Garcia (Espanyol) - The veteran has really improved his game this year and plays with confidence and guile. Even with the injury to Osvaldo, Luis Garcia and the Pericos destroyed Javier Aguirre's Zaragoza. Fortress Cornellá continues.

Duda (Málaga) - The Portuguese winger and dead ball specialist has returned from injury with a vengeance. His pinpoint crosses create a constant aerial threat and he was responsible for the opening goal. Now if his team would practice their finishing.

Iniesta (Barça) - No Xavi, no problem, the illusionista took control of the midfield and created some beautiful plays against Depor. This wasn't enough for the Balon d'Or runner up, he wanted a goal of his very own.

Messi (Barça) - Balon d'Or, two assists and a goal, the complete player, nuff said.


STRIKERS:

Freddy Kanoute (Sevilla) - The veteran has a nose for goal. The Mali international is trying to pick up this team, shake the bad patch, and get back into Europe. Looks like the Nervion is finally starting to gel.

Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) - Los Merengues were up against a very tough Villarreal, but CR7 never let up. He kept running, pushing forward, leading the counter attack. His reward for hard work was a hat trick for the day. His fitness and form always kept Los Blancos in the game.


Agree? Disagree? Any surprises> Any unjust omissions? What do are your thoughts?

Barça players of the decade

1) Ronaldinho
The first choice is easy and maybe it will be slightly surprising to some, but Ronaldinho set the tone and was the undoubted figure head of the team that won the Champions League under Frank Rijkaard. He started things that we see the fruits of today, a new culture of sexy football taken to the next level that culminated in a standing ovation at the Bernabéu. His goofy look and ‘do you want a drink?’ style hand gesture became legendary. I lived in Cyprus in 2005-6 when he single handily converted the world into Barcelona followers.

2) Xavi
Just played his 500th game in a Barça shirt in an age where loyalty is rare. Perhaps no-one else has honed their game more this decade and perhaps no other player on the planet has had such an impact implementing their style. Xavi ‘the brain’ is the lynchpin of this Barcelona side and has stamped his authority in a similar vein on the Spanish national team. Some would call Messi the jewel of La Masia, but Xavi is the epitome of what La Masia produces: intelligent, ball-passing and match winning midfielders. Xavi makes everyone else look better because he does the simple things well, but more because he makes the most finely threaded through ball look easy.

3) Messi
Best player in the world and, despite never doing it at the Britannia Stadium, has won everything in the game apart from the World Cup. He’s only 23 and does things never seen before on the pitch. Off the pitch he’s humble and quiet and never makes the headlines for the wrong reasons. For me, his most memorable moment wasn’t his goal against Getafe where he beat the whole team a la Maradona, nor his hat-trick against the arch enemy Real Madrid, but his goal in the Champions League final against Manchester United that made it 2-0. Big players perform in big games and despite the first eight minutes of that game being insufferable and the tensest minutes of my life, Messi, if there were any doubters, didn’t go missing and exploited the gap in Manchester United’s defence and get on the end of Xavi’s cross and seal the game. Many forget he’s more than a one-trick pony, instead he’s often unselfish and puts the team before his own success. He made the key pass with a cool head when others may have panicked that saw Iniesta get the winner in the Champions League semi-final victory against Chelsea in the ninety-third minute.

4) Eto’o
Crazy. Badly-behaved. Loved. A total enigma. Fans adore him and managers put up with him. Eto’o made his name at Barcelona and gave everything for the club. Two goals in two Champions League finals that literally salvaged the club’s chances of success: his first was the equaliser against a ten-man Arsenal, put through on the left and blasting the ball in at the near post after relentless second-half pressure and then against Manchester United, a goal against the run of play, after those eight minutes from Hell. Vidic slipped and this time from the right Eto’o took advantage and made no mistake in beating Van Der Saar. Guardiola’s boys never looked back and bossed the game from then on.

5) Iniesta
The goal against Chelsea to take Barcelona to the Champions League final has already been mentioned and the winning goal for Spain in the World Cup final against Holland will go down in history. Iniesta’s a darling of the Spanish nation, probably only second to Iker Casillas in terms of popularity but he couldn’t be more different. He shies away from the public limelight and comes from a village near Albacete of just 2,000 inhabitants. He graduated from La Masia just as the likes of Xavi, Messi, Piqué, Pedro and Fàbregas have and on the pitch he’s made his name that will live on long after he’s retired, but it’s off the pitch, for me, that makes the man. After scoring the winning goal in the World Cup final, Iniesta lifted up his shirt to reveal a vest that bore the words “Dani Jarque, siempre con nosotros” (Dani Jarque, always with us). Dani Jarque was an Espanyol player that died while on a pre-season tour in Florence at the age of 26 and Iniesta and Dani Jarque were great friends, when asked about his homage to Jarque after the final Iniesta said “I haven’t been able to do anything for him all season and he deserves it”. Espanyol invited Iniesta before the Barcelona city-derby to take part in a ceremony in memory of Dani Jarque, showing that city rivalry can be overcome by friendship.

6) Belletti
World Cup winner before he came to Barcelona and won League titles, Super Cups domestically and in Europe. Juliano Belletti spent three years at Barcelona and with Geovani Van Bronkhurst was key to Rijkaard’s style of play that saw the full-backs used as de-facto wingers to create space and squeeze the opposition in the final third of the pitch. However, Belletti is on this list, and Geo Van Bronkhurst not, because he made history. We remember people who made history, we remember Neil Armstrong for walking on a bit of rock in the sky, Rosa Parks for sitting on a bus and Martin Luther King for telling us about his nap, but Belletti scored Barcelona’s winning goal on the Champions League final ten minutes before the final whistle to capture Barcelona’s second European Cup. It was the culmination of a walk with destiny which without the Barcelona legend currently in the making would be less legend more hype. Teams are remembered, ultimately, for what they won and Belletti has ensured that it wasn’t a false start. He donated the boots he wore that night in Paris to the Barcelona club museum.

7) Pedro
Another addition on historical grounds. I have to say I never really rated Pedro in his first full-season at the club. He was another product from La Masia and Guardiola threw him in and the start of the season and used him somewhat sparingly at first, but as the season went on he was used more and more and he scored goals, key goals. Pedro became the only player in history to score in all competitions when Josep Guardiola’s Barcelona took the lot and won everything: la Liga, the King’s Cup, Spanish Super Cup, the Champions League, the European Super Cup and the World Club Cup. By the end of the season I couldn’t imagine a team without him in it.

8) Puyol
Carles Puyol is the face of the club. Unfortunate because his hair-do leaves a lot to be desired and he’s very ugly, but he’s the stalwart of the team and more importantly, he’s club capità. He wears the armband with pride and leads from the front. He’s invincible. He plays when he breaks every bone in his body and quite literally would die on his feet. For all his commitment on the pitch though, there was always a question mark against him as to whether he was in the class of Maldini, Baresi and the like, and if that matter has been resolved then it’s in the last two seasons that any final question has been put to bed. Puyol’s a warrior and an utmost professional (that’s a euphemism for boring post-match speaker), but in recent years he’s matured. Pictures of him sliding in and making last ditch challenges were commonplace, fifty-fifty headers where he won the ball and come off worse could fill countless youtube videos, but there was a little of the headless chicken about him. What he’s added to his game is a positional discipline and awareness. He always sacrificed himself for the team, but in wanting to lead by example sometimes he cost the team. Now, however, Puyol is more considered, he’s more Arsenal’s Tony Adams than Atleti’s Parea, he wins the ball and sacrifices himself when it’s right to do so. He doesn’t miss and wins the ball with the same ferocity as before, but now waits and waits, almost stalking opponents. He was nominated, alongside Cafu, Cannavaro and Maldini, in The Sun’s team of the decade which also included Zidane, Figo, Buffon and Thierry Henry.

9) Valdés
I recall a conversation I was a part of just a few days ago with person B, from Catalonia, who went to visit person A’s off-spring, in Madrid:

• Person A: Do you like Casillas?
• Person B: I prefer Valdés
• Person A: Hmm, do you want a glass with Casillas and the “selección” on it?
• Person B: I’d prefer a glass with Valdés and the “selección” on it.
• Person A: It has Barça players on it.
• Person B: It could have Valdés and other Barça players on it, too.

For Spaniards in general Casillas is king; the best thing since sliced bread. At least for Catalans the clamour made over Casillas leaves us a bit miffed. Yes, he’s good, sure, but Valdés is something else for us. Mourinho said that Valdés is the perfect goalkeeper for F.C. Barcelona and to us it simply means he should be playing for the national side too. It shows how far he’s come from a player that nearly quit shortly after coming into the first team because of the pressure he felt playing for the club. He was prone to errors and looked a bit goofy and after a string of dodgy Dutch and German keepers, and an even younger Pepe Reina, Valdés looked like next in line for a short spell in the first team. Valdés, though, despite the errors, was persevered with and it’s paid off. I feel that when talking about Valdés he’s dismissed by other fans and yet when I see him keep Barça in the game and prove a strong last line of defence, I feel he’s under-rated to the detriment of the league.

10) Deco
It’s a tough one between Van Bommel and Deco and to be honest either could be in this list. Around at the time of Ronaldinho and crystallised into perfection by the Champions League win, Deco was Xavi and Messi pre-Xavi and pre-Messi. He scored goals, made wonderful passes and dived. To put it simply, he gave Xavi time to settle in and was creative enough to let Messi have enough air to breathe and find his feet.

Article by

Raül Pope Fargüell for Forza Futbol

Monday Morning Headlines 01.04

Marca.com
Real Madrid: Four Great Nights: A great game for CR7 who distances himself even more from Messi after two more goals. The excellent sensations that Kaká transmitted, after 240 days. The excellence that Madrid had at Getafe: Parejo, and the selection of Mourinho as best coach of the year. (IFFHS). Higuain-gate: Dr. Caceres: ¨I told them on December 2 that if he didn´t get better in 5 days we needed to operate.¨
Atlético Madrid: New Year, same old life at the Calderón: Cerezo: ¨The public has witnessed another fiasco.¨
Barcelona: Favored in the last 5 games: The referees become supporters to help the blaugranas.
Reaction:  If there were a match-day when reading Marca was as much the equal of reading the Lord of the Rings, a bit of fantasy in the midst of a Christmas vacation, then it´s today. It is idiotic to believe the swill that Marca are selling: Cristiano Ronaldo better than Messi? Kaká in an excellent bit of form? Higuain´s problems down to lack of communication by his surgeon? Add a little dig at Atléti and dig up the Villarrato nonsense to explain why Barcelona won´t lose (ignore the fact that Barcelona are leagues ahead of the crap that is being sold at the Bernabeu) and you begin to realize the fact that you are not reading news. This is Pravda before the wall fell.

The rest of the papers are sleeping it seems. No great headlines.

Just the Stats if you please: La Liga Statistics 2010-11

At the midway point of the season, I do enjoy to take a look at a bit of the statistics. I know that stats are not a precise indicator of success, especially in football. But I was pretty impressed and surprised with a few particular Spanish League stats that I found. I wanted to share these with you.


Most dribbles in the Liga 2010-11 so far: Messi 54 - Ronaldo 42 - Aguero 39 - Reyes 38 - Joaquin, Iniesta & Perotti 37

Okay how do they count dribbles, is it the first touch, the second touch or never mind? My understanding is that dribbling adds to the run of play, the distribution of the ball on the pitch, as well as the transition from defense to attack. Dribbling is quite an art form in La Liga. No surprise then on the leaders. But take a look at the number of pure wingers on the list: Reyes, Joaquin, & Perotti bringing the ball down the field. Very impressive.


Teams with the most dribbles: Barça (176) R. Madrid (171) Villarreal (149) Valencia (136) At. Madrid (127)

Messi does 30% of the dribbling for Barça, crazy! Combined with Iniesta the percentage increases to 52%. Ronaldo dribbles 24% of the total for Real Madrid. Reyes and Aguero cover 61% for Atléti, wow! Joaquin ranks at 27% for Valencia. Very interesting stat on the dribblers aka water carriers of La Liga.


Most passes in the Liga 2010-2011 so far: Alves 1230 - Xavi 1165 - Bruno 1075 - Iniesta 976 - Xabi Alonso 948

I love this stat, as it is integral to the possession based, tiqui taka football style renowned in Spain. No surprise that Barçelona players rule the roost here. But I was shocked to see Villarreal's Bruno, a defensive midfielder, break the 1,000 pass mark halfway into the season! Bruno is even beating out veterans like Xabi Alonso and Iniesta? Whodathunk?


Teams with the most passes: Barça (10177) R. Madrid (7184) Villarreal (7059) Sevilla (6102) Racing (6021)

Barça is just on a level of their own. Toca, Toca, Toca. But Racing Santander ranks higher than Valencia & Atlético??? Just look at how poorly they have been performing in the league. I guess passing the ball is not everything, especially with poor finishing and a porous defense.


Most shots on goal 2010-11: Ronaldo (43) Villa (41) Messi (38) Rossi, Rosenberg (27)

No real surprise here. Messi is super effective with his goals per shot attempts ratio. Villarreal's Rossi and Racing's Rosenberg are tied at 27, but once again Rossi's goals per shots ratio is so much better and effective.


Teams with the most shots 2010-11: Barça (148) R. Madrid (120) Villarreal, Sevilla (101) At. Madrid (94)

Not much to add except that Sevilla and Atléti need to improve their consistency, finishing and defense, to make this stat work for them.


Most assists 2010-11: Messi (9) Xabi Prieto, Pedro, Mata, Özil (6) Juanlu, Eliseu (5)

Notables include Xabi Prieto from Real Sociedad, Levante's Juanlu and Málaga's Eliseu because the former two are from newly promoted teams, while the latter's team is down in the relegation zone.


Teams with the most assists 2010-11: Barça (30) Villarreal (22) R. Madrid (21) Málaga, Levante (17)

Messi and Pedro managed 50% of their team's assists. Ozil managed 28% of Real Madrid's total. While Juanlu and Eliseu gauged 29% of their respective club's total assists. This is a testament to the style of play and their individual performances. Interesting that Villarreal tops the stats charts from a team perspective, but no individual, other than Bruno in passing, is leading in any statistical category. Yet their ranking on the league table, tells it all - total team effort.


Best Goals for and against: Barça (51/9) R. Madrid (39/12) Villarreal (30/14) At. Madrid (27/19) Getafe (26/22)

No surprise here, except plucky little Geta ranking with the big boys. Dear oh dear Atléti has all the stats going their way, yet their inconsistency has hurt them.


Title Count for the year 2010: Barça (LigaBBVA, Spanish Super Cup) - 2, Atlético Madrid (Europa League, UEFA Super Cup) -2, Sevilla (Copa del Rey) -1

2010 was a great year for Spanish football. The silverware was well distributed in Spain and Europe. Add the World Cup to the trophy case, this year has got to rank up there as one of the best in Spanish football history.


So what do you think of the stats? Are their any trends that I might have missed? Am I reading to close into the numbers? What do you say?

(source: LIGABBVA)

Silva finding his feet at City

It is often hard to make conclusions from the festive football period in England. With players understandably physically and mentally tired from playing four games in 10 days results often come down to a survival of the fittest or, as results over the past week have shown, to those with the biggest squad.

However, Manchester City's three wins over the past six days have demonstrated the increasing influence of one La Liga old boy. After a disjointed beginning to his City career, David Silva is starting to show his full range of abilities.

For Saturday's 1-0 win over Blackpool, City manager Roberto Mancini started all three of Silva, Carlos Tevez and Adam Johnson, who scored the game’s solitary goal, for only the second time in the league this season. For onlookers who have waited for the Italian to give this, his most creative, triumvirate a start it made for an interesting spectacle.

Silva undoubtedly adds another dimension to City’s play. He is the sole player amongst a near billion pound squad with the ability to play as an old-fashioned number 10, behind the main striker. For the past three years I have maintained that his old teammate David Villa is the world’s best striker (assuming you don’t class Leo Messi as an out and out striker). However, Villa would not nearly have hit the same heights at Valencia without his namesake playing just behind him. Given more time to gel Tevez could similarly take advantage of this supply line, although there is the question of whether the Argentine and Silva are truly compatible given the former’s tendency to drop deep and into the same positions that the Spaniard likes to occupy.

Some critics have also argued that Silva is too lightweight to play this central position in the Premier League. Thankfully in recent weeks these fears have been dispelled, particularly after a stellar performance in the 4-0 win over Aston Villa. The man from the Canaries again demonstrated why even some in the English press have fallen in love with the Spanish tiki-taka style. BBC Radio 5live’s John Murray describing Silva’s performance as “the essence of the Spanish World Cup winning side”.

Indeed Silva arguably made the greatest sacrifice of his football career so far when signing for City. By concluding his transfer from Valencia during the World Cup, specifically against coach Vicente Del Bosque’s orders for no deals to be concluded during that period, Silva was dropped from the starting XI after the loss to Switzerland and only made a brief cameo during the semi-final against Germany in La Roja’s run to World Cup glory.

Ideally for those who want to see Silva thrive in the Premier League he will be permanently deployed in the central attacking-midfield role in a 4-2-3-1, with Johnson on one side and either James Milner or Mario Balotelli (after all he is the second best player in the world – at least in his own head) on the other.

However, Mancini has been reticent to deploy Silva and Johnson together for any length of time this season, indeed many see them as playing in the same ‘inverted winger’ on the right-side position. But that is to miss Silva’s greatest quality as a central player slightly off the main striker. Johnson is quite the opposite, a winger who likes to start wide, pull the full-back out and away from the centre-backs and then run in behind to expose that space. Silva is the most capable of finding these runs with defence splitting passes, as Jonhson’s goal against West Ham recently demonstrated (at 1.30).

Mancini has often been labeled as a negative coach. His decision to continue with Nigel De Jong, Gareth Barry and Yaya Toure behind Silva, Johnson and Tevez against Blackpool is testament to that accusation. Indeed playing these six together tends to unbalance the side with Silva nominally chosen as the wide-left player in a 4-3-3 but moving inside so regularly that Barry has to move from a central position to cover the left-side when City lose the ball. This inbalance can leave City vulnerable to attacks by opposition full-backs.

In any case any chance of seeing Silva playing in his natural position more often may be scuppered completely with the imminent arrival of Edin Dzeko to Eastlands. Presumably Dzeko will play as the furthest forward in a front two with Tevez, the Argentine then dropping deeper to play in the role Silva has been playing. This would in all likelihood force Silva to play more from a wider position and further limit Johnson’s opportunities in the first-team.

Dzeko may provide a more physical presence, but his and Tevez’s opportunities will be curtailed if Silva and Jonson’s ammunition is ultimately sacrificed.

Visca Barça 1.3: Messidependence

Visca Barça is a weekly column here at Forza Futbol where we tap into what´s happening at FC Barcelona, the player´s of the week, the quotes of the week and most importantly the week´s top stories.

At first this started out as a book review, an exploration of the book by Luca Caoili: Messi: The Inside Story of the Boy Who Became a Legend, but the focus was too narrow and the book suffers from the same problem that any biography or autobiography suffers from when the subject is so young: perspective.

There is a lot of information and some of it is worthwhile, certainly his life in Argentina as a child is something that is barely given any coverage in the English press. It is as if the kid magically materialized fully formed as a youth-team product at La Masia and that couldn't be further from the truth. He was certainly talented, and he was touched by genius with an uncanny affinity for the ball, but as he grew he learned how to function with others, both on the pitch and as a person. He grew into his talent and he built for himself a place where his teammates were just as important as his own talent or the public's expectations. It's what makes him our greatest player, but we need perspective and honestly we aren't there yet with either Messi's story or where his story fits in the tapestry of other's footballing achievements.

Maybe the shadow of Diego Maradona is too large over any Argentine player coming through the pampas. There's the obvious legacy of small, compact play-makers who play close to the ground, but so many youngsters have been forced to take on an even larger burden, that assumed Maradona persona, a giant of football, the genius icon who not only led the albiceleste to World Cup glory, but whose out-sized personality fit in a lineage with the other flawed Argentines with names like Eva, Diego and El Che. Maybe that´s the book that awaits us in the future, where we place Messi after his career is over and we can see how much he accomplished as a player and how much he gave back to his people, but this one is not that book.

It covers the classic signposts of a very short career so far: moving to Barcelona, receiving the growth hormone therapy, debuting for the first team and then a series of goals both memorable and not so memorable; it reads like a kids adventure novel by the way. If you´ve paid any attention over the last 8 years, you´d have read all of it before, except told by the first hand-accounts of people who were there: Rijkaard, Guardiola, Basile, and even Maradona himself. There are gems by the way. A clear picture of Don Diego appears giving the same treatment to Messi what he himself received from a territorially unimpressed Pelé two decades earlier, but even that is diffused by Leo himself.

If anything, the story hinges on a quiet kid who left South America early on to seek his fortune in Europe and against the odds he has. The one thing I won´t compare him to is to Diego even though practically everyone in the book does. There´s this section that covers Lionel being injured for a time and it covers the ¨secret¨ per se of his talent, the ability to instantaneously warp past an opponent with the ball stuck to his foot, and ease the ball comfortably into the net. One of the interviews mentions that in exercising his talent, Messi isn´t choosing his opportunities like Diego did- varying his approach. He´s always on at a million miles an hour. At that rate he says his body will fail him sooner rather than later. I scoffed at first but then I remembered the case of Ronaldo, the Brasilian Ronaldo, whose game early on functioned at that same rate of attack that Messi´s does. Yes, I know that most people think of him as the tubby ball of fun that camped out in front of the opponent´s goal at the Bernabeu just a few years ago, but in his prime, before the knee injuries he suffered in Italy, he was the most explosive footballer I had ever seen; think of the PSV Ronaldo or the one pictured here at the Camp Nou instead. With age his game changed, he slowed, and his lifestyle brought on the inevitable decline sooner rather than later. I hope it doesn´t end that way for Leo. It shouldn´t but nothing is forever.

People talk about Barcelona´s dependence on Lionel Messi, but I would say that to the neutral even (let alone the culé), our dependence as fans of the beautiful game and its best players is even greater. I´ll enjoy watching him while I still can.

La Liga Recap: Round 3

Story of the Week: Lionel Messi. While many would say that the story of the week is still how Jose Mourinho´s time in Madrid is being mired in the small details of running the club and the manufactured crises that appear in the tabloids: the Portugal job opening up, the whistles after his club played poorly at the Bernabeu, all that changed within minutes of the final whistle today. Villa is taken off, Messi becomes the focal point, and instead of taking the foot off the pedal the blaugrana do what they always do to teams. They put the jackboot to the throat at the end and they look for the decisive goal. Messi gets free and clear on Tomás Ujfalusi, who comes in late and high on the ankle, and Leo goes sprawling to the turf, who is then stretchered off. Two key points. If that had been Cristiano Ronaldo, the Madrid papers declare a fatwa against the colchoneros with pictures and diagrams stating where the injury occurred, publishing the gruesome pictures and calling for the water-boarding of the referee in charge. Secondly, for those who say that they don´t tackle in Spain, here´s your sign. Barcelona have Villa and Iniesta who can pull their weight while Leo is out, 15 days is the preliminary report, but this is not the deepest squad in Europe and this will obvioulsy hurt Barcelona´s chances in the coming month.

Player of the Week: David De Gea. The future goalkeeper of Spain, whenever Iker finally decides he wants to retire, made three unbelieveable saves against Barcelona strikers at point blank range, keeps his club in the hunt, and protects their hot start in La Liga.

Game of the Week: Hercules v Valencia. The morbo was palpable through the television screen. People can talk all about Valencia having Levante, or Villarreal, or even Real Madrid, but there was real bad blood in Alicante between Hercules and Valencia. Los Che, top of the league and deservedly so, are buoyed by the play of Joaquin, who hasn´t played this well since his Betis days and the linkup of youngsters Pablo Hernandez and Juan Mata. They are deep, young and a very good bet for European glory this year.

Power Rankings: It is too early to start ranking these clubs fully using the statistics at hand, beyond the table I mean, but it´s clear that these are the best teams in La Liga.

1. Valencia
2. Atletico Madrid
3. Real Madrid
4. Barcelona
5. Villarreal

I know, the table doesn´t lie, usually, so I should have gone with Valencia, Sevilla, Real Madrid, and Atletico Madrid, but it´s still too early and the table leaves out European performance and doesn´t give me enough data to go by yet with only three games played.

Dud of the Week: That´s easy. Even with a game yet to be played, look to tomorrow´s match, Depor facing Getafe as the dullest affair of the week. 0-0 would be all I´d expect from the match.

Dog of the Week: Diego Forlan: I know that he has his supporters, those that swear he was the best player in this year´s World Cup, but I´m not buying it. Many times he fails to impress in the biggest matches. He looked sluggish, playing more as a number 10 rather than his usual number 9 role, and he barely made a dent in the often times vulnerable Barcelona back-four. It could have been Quique´s negative Mourinho inspired tactics, but the Uruguayan made almost no impact on a match that Atleti usually win at the Vicente Caldeon.

Red Card Referee: The worst referee this week. A tossup really between
the Atleti v Barcelona and the Hercules v Valencia matches, but I think Ramirez-Dominguez, the ref who gave two unqualified yellows to David Navarro, that left Valencia down to 10 men for most of the second half and gave a soft penalty to Hercules, was the worse arbiter compared to Fernandez-Borbalan, who lost control of the match and whose actions directly led to Lionel Messi´s ankle injury.