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.

VIDEO: Hips don't lie Barça style!

Check out the Barça boys celebrating on stage with Shakira. Love the moves of Pique, Xavi, Villa, Pedro, Bojan and Busquets! These boys know how to boogie. Campeones! Fun stuff! Enjoy!

Barcelona: an extra bit of fantasy

There's this great statistic that I found, in Marca of all places, that in the last 166 matches no other teams has beaten Barcelona for possession. Only Ryjkaard's blaugrana (against Unai Emery's Almeria of all opponents) were held to less than 50% possession in a 2-2 draw on March 16, 2008. Three years, mostly under the watchful eye of Pep Guardiola, and Barcelona have controlled the ball and for the most part all the matches since. I understand the counter-argument that modern teams don't need the ball as much, but it is surprising that one club can dominate their opponents as much as they have over the last three seasons.

This isn't even your gag-inducing Barca love-in either. It's speaks to what Marcelo Gallardo said this week, "People are more bothered about not conceding goals these days than building an attacking approach around a classic play-maker. Football’s changed but not for the better. Players run more but play less. They even measure how far they run now, as if there was something good about it. Football should be about giving the ball to a team-mate to create chances, and that should never change. Thank God for Barcelona. They’ve shown that football is still football and that when you bring talented players together, amazing things can happen. I love watching them."

Get out from under your prejudices. No matter how hard or how fast you run, you can't outrun the ball let alone the speed of thought that even one of the minor play-makers like Gallardo can bring to the table. Yes, I know that modern tactics have made the classic number 10 all but extinct, but in a world where a Xavi is often criticized for his "non-effective, side-to-side passing, and meaningless passing statistics" I stand on the side of Gallardo.

Maybe then we might see a new generation of Roberto Baggios return to the sport. Maybe then we might reassess what the likes of Pablo Aimar or Andres Alessandro bring to modern football. It's no wonder that the likes of Neymar, Rossi, and Nilmar have called it a dream to play for a club like Barcelona. It isn't the Catalan sentiment, and certainly not just the fact that they consistently play in Europe. In the end, a great player just wants to play football and Barcelona are one of the few teams that allow players to express themselves on the pitch without the ever-tightening controls of the micro-managers that have infiltrated the sport. The sort who respond to their negative tactics with this, "There is only one Xavi. We can't play like Barcelona. They are a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon. We play with what we have." Nonsense. Zico, Platini and Maradona played in the same period. Baggio, Gheorghe Haji, and Rivaldo did as well. For god-sakes, Del Piero and Zidane played on the same team, so we are not far off from that experience.

If you value the job that the fantasisti, the enganche or the playmaker bring to the table, the brilliant pass or the thoughtful turn into space, the idea that he brings something extra that cannot be quantified, then you might see more clubs excel playing like Barcelona. It isn't Messi who stirs the straw in the Barcelona margarita, it's Xavi, and if you want to replicate what they do, then by all means make what he offers a valuable commodity again.

Until then, every Chelsea or Manchester City, AC Milan or Juventus, or any other club that professes to replicate the style of Pep Guardiola's blaugrana will fail in their attempt, because it is not just tactics or intent that distinguishes Barcelona. It isn't the close-quarter drills or the ball-control exercises they do. It isn't even their over-all talent either. It's the fact that they value players who offer something more, that little bit of spontaneity or magic, the fantasy, that players like Xavi or Iniesta bring to the table.

Barca and Real Madrid: Victimization Complex

Read either paper today, any one of a number of Barcelona and Real Madrid papers will do, but focus on Marca or Sport. es and you will get inundated with phantom calls that should have been penalties, clear chances that were rewarded and shouldn´t have been, and either red cards were with-held or too many were given, all for the sake of maintaining a league competition that is broken other than that which is taking place between the two front-runners.

Look at last night's Almeria v Real Madrid match. If it isn't referee Perez-Laza ignoring a push in the box by Juanma Ortiz on Cristiano Ronaldo in minute 74, or a second on Benzema in the 80th, or a handball by Almeria's M'Bami, then reporters will bemoan the fact that clubs lose in the Camp Nou before they ever hit the pitch. Next week, if the roles are reversed and Barça drop points, which is conceivable I guess if Perez-Laza referees next week's game against Racing Santander like Mourinho says. Will we be hear Pique or Xavi bemoaning the anti-barcelonismo that they are subjected to? Will we read this quote again?

“The referee had helped the team that did not want to play football. It was a very intense game, and the referee did not regulate the match properly. He gave out many warnings, but the cards did not come to pass. They man-marked us throughout the game and played with pressure and intensity, and we never felt comfortable at all during the match.”

Any idea who that was? That was the otherwise revered Xavi Hernandez, Ballon D'or runner-up, and here the resident mouth-piece for Barcelona victimismo after a dysfunctional draw in a Barcelona derby last year. So it isn't just one side or the other. It's both of them. 

While we should be marveling at the skillfull brand of football that Barcelona plays with, or the tenacity and opportunism that Real Madrid plays with, all we hear about is the constant whining of the propagandists that have turned this wonderful league into a cartoon. Barcelona expect to win every match, take points from all comers, and one of the strongest Real Madrid squads in decades has mightily struggled to keep pace. In a league of two giants, there is no such thing as a miraculous upset or a hard-won draw for the visitors, just a collection of bad calls, referee bias or league-wide favoritism for or against madridistas or cules on any given weekend. You can't expect to win every match, take full points off every "little-club", and then be taken seriously by the supporters of the other clubs in La Liga.

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?

Ronaldinho - The Barca Years

With his impending move back to his native land of Brazil due to take place this week, I thought now would be as good a time as any to look back at a time when he was more than a well-known name he was also a superstar on the pitch.

It was the summer of 2003 and all eyes were on Spain. Real Madrid had just won title number 29, their 2nd title in 3 years. Meanwhile Barcelona had finished the season in 6th after consecutive 4th placed finishes in previous seasons, the last time they had won La Liga was in 1999. Joan Laporta was the newly named president and Frank Rijkaard was the newly appointed manager, 2003 was a time of change. Laporta promised the Barca faithful that one David Beckham would be arriving in Catalunya, a world-renowned signing to make everyone sit up and take notice. Out trumped by the Galacticos he had to make do with his second choice, outbidding Manchester United who in turn were forced to purchase an unproven 18-year-old Portuguese winger of a similar name who was never really going to amount too much. Ronaldo de Assís Moreira arrived for a figure of €32,250,000 from French club Paris Saint-Germain. He followed in the footsteps of other great Brazilians before him Romario, Rivaldo and Ronaldo to name but a few. Ronaldinho as he was known in Europe had been plying his trade at PSG for the last two seasons and his stock was already high in England after an apparently freak goal against David Seaman whilst in the 2002 World Cup Quarter Finals. He was also reportedly swayed by then vice-president Sandro Rosell, who he had struck up a friendship with when Sandro was a Nike executive in Brazil.

Things didn't start out quite as well as they would have hoped for, after all one good signing does not make a team especially when he is out injured. Just 5 wins in the opening 15 league games for Rijkaard's side saw criticism from some sections of the home support as well as the media. Languishing in 11th place and having just been beaten at home to league leaders Real Madrid was a major kick in the teeth. At the turn of the year things changed dramatically as Edgar Davids joined on loan and Ronaldinho returned to full fitness. In 20 games they won 15 including a 9 game win streak. At the end of the season Ronaldinho had scored 15 goals in 32 games in the league and Mr Beckham had 3 in exactly the same amount of games, at least the shirts were flying off the shelves. Barcelona finished 2nd and Real finished in 4th the first time they had fallen below their rivals since 2000.

The feeling around Spain was Barcelona were back if they could just put their second half season form into a complete calendar year. A busy summer ensured as some of the deadwood made way for the likes of Deco, Samuel Eto and Rafael Márquez. Frank also made more of the talent pool that was La Masia as Andrés Iniesta started to play more regular and Xavi was made vice-captain. Ronaldinho was the star of the show though, Brazilians have always been known for some outrageous skills but this was taking the piss. Overhead kicks, passes off the back, step overs, back heels, flicks, disguised passes, ball juggling, if you could name it ? Ronaldinho could do it ! Unsurprisingly he claimed the FIFA World Player of the Year at the end of 2004 and Barcelona then secured there 1st title for 6 years. Rijkaard had built a very good side but one player stood out from all the rest. Coming in off the left flank with his pre-dominant right foot, Ronaldinho had the art of the inverted winger down to a tee. Gliding past tackles, a vision that seemed to be 360° and an ability to release the ball at the right time made him unstoppable. Just the 9 league goals for the season but more tellingly on the team he's best assist rate with 16.

Things were looking rosy and Ronaldinho was the hottest property in world football. With that in mind Barca offered him a mammoth contract to fend off preying eyes but would have seen him tied to the club for the next 9 years. He rejected the deal but did sign a shorter extension to his current deal with a release clause of £85 million. Things continued in much the same way both on the pitch and off as the buck teeth wonder scooped a second World Player of the Year and a European Footballer of the Year. Perhaps the single most defining moment of Ronaldinho's time in Spain could be categorised with what happened on the 19th November 2005. At the Bernabau, home of their deadliest rivals he put on some show scoring two outstanding solo goals in a 3-0 win. The last of which when he skipped past Sergio Ramos and slotted it in the far corner. As the camera spun around the stadium the Madrid fans stood emotionless in the face but clapping the man who had just ripped their own team apart. I personally had never witnessed such an action but it had happened before in 1982 when Diego Maradona received similar respect. All of a sudden that lob over 'Safe Hands' was starting to look a lot more like he ment it. The season finished with another La Liga but this time they had won the Champions League, only the 2nd in their history. A career best of 26 goals for a man who seemed to have a permanent smile attached to his face.

A significant thing happened at the end of that season assistant manager Henk Ten Cate left to manage Ajax. Maybe a coincidence or the fact he was the strict disciplinarian, Barcelona didn't win anything else under Rijkaard's tenure. That season Ronaldinho scored an overhead kick against Villarreal and a low free kick against Werder Bremen, when the wall jumped it slid under their feet. He had yet another fantastic season scoring his best return in the league with 21 goals. At the end of the 06/07 they were level on points with Real Madrid but lost out on the head to head rule (Barcelona had a 19 goal superior goal difference).

2007/08 was to be his last year at the Nou Camp and also the last for Rijkaard. That pre-season saw everything begin to decline, players complained of tiredness after the travelling to Scotland to the Far East and then to Germany. Frank's authority was being constantly undermined and training lacked the intensity of the past becoming somewhat of a joke. Personalities were clashing in the dressing room and Ron took a rather a large fancy to a spot of disco-dancing. Ronaldinho was becoming more accustomed to the celebrity lifestyle that his fantastic talent had enabled him to. A largely disrupted final campaign due to injury (some of which has to be attributed to the way he was then looking after himself or not as the case was) saw him score 8 league goals in 17 appearances. Ronaldinho is very much a family man, Sister (secretary), Uncle (chauffeur), Mother (chef) but having his Brother as his agent was probably not to his advantage. In some ways you could argue that he would always have his best interests at heart, but in other ways it seemed he had more of a control over his client than other agents could ever achieve.

In July 2008, Ronaldinho joined AC Milan for a fee in the region of €18.5 million. On his exit from the club he wrote a letter to the fans

http://www.fcbarcelona.cat/web/english/noticies/futbol/temporada10-11/08/24/n100824112529.html

For Ronaldinho the Barca years were certainly the form of his life.

A very Catalan problem

Christmas in Catalonia is a very traditional affair: a shitting wooden log that’s hit with a stick and taunted with a song threatening a further beating if he doesn’t shit out gifts for everyone (caga tió); a small defecating figure hidden amongst the nativity scene (el caganer); and the yearly outing of the Catalan national team (la Selecció).

Nationalism and sport have gone hand in hand since the dawning of time – the ancient Olympic games – and have continued up until the present day. Who doesn’t know about the boycotting of the Moscow games by the US and the counter boycott of the Los Angeles games by the USSR? Sport has been used to nurture nationalism by every nation everywhere: Mussolini’s use of Italy’s World Cup success to champion his political ideology; Hitler’s Games in 1936 held in Munich to legitimatise the Third Reich; and Askhan Dejaga, a German-Iranian footballer, who in 2007 refused to play for Germany U-21’s because their opponents were Israel.

Nationalism though is not just used as an anathema but also to foster positive feelings within a nation: the pride felt in South Africa about their successful holding of this year’s World Cup; Greek pride at boring their way to the European Championship title in 2004; and Spain’s own national team succeeding in uniting a country through winning South Africa’s World Cup.

At the end of that final in South Africa, I was already in bed, disappointed at the Dutch inability to hold on and win on penalties, listening to the radio. Horror struck when I heard the words ‘as Xavi and Puyol go around the pitch holding the flag’. I died on the inside. The Spanish flag is something many regions reject in preference of their own regional flag and the carrying of the Spanish flag is still largely seen as a right-wing activity. The radio was in English and maybe the presenter was unaware that the flag the Catalan players were carrying was their own Catalan flag and not the Spanish flag. I saw the photo myself a few weeks later and was relieved that I had died for nothing.

Both Xavi and Puyol partake in that funny festive tradition of playing for Catalunya, as do most Catalan players, but it falls very far short of being used successively to foster any notions of nationalism. Catalan football is run (poorly) like any other football association. La Federació Catalana de Futbol (FCF), the day after la selecció convincingly beat Honduras 4-0, fifteen directors resigned leaving FCF head Jordi Casals to announce elections complaining that he has been the victim of an attempted coup d’état, pointing the finger at resigning vice-president Andreu Subies and chief-infidel Josep Llaó.

Recent Catalan footballing opponents have been Brazil and Argentina. Brazil promised, after playing Catalunya in 2002, that if they won the World Cup later that year they would come back for another game. Sure enough they were victorious in Korea and Japan and two years later another game was had. Catalunya lost both games, 1-3 and 2-5 respectively, but there was something in the air. Argentina came to town just six months after the second Brazil match and the games were deemed total successes that seemed to capture the imaginations of everyone involved; most importantly Catalans themselves. Although playing Argentina twice since then, other games against the Basque Country, China, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Colombia, Paraguay, Chile, Lithuania and Honduras (since 2000) have failed to have quite the same draw.

Catalunya has played Spain four times (in 1924, ’34, ’47 and 1953) and winning just the once in 1947. However Spain isn’t the problem. Politically it might be, but socially something else is going on. The problem is actually F.C. Barcelona and RCD Espanyol, the two teams that supply ninety per cent of the talent pool. Both teams have their various versions of nationalism and what it means to be Spanish, Catalan or both. The point is that for so long both teams have taken on the mantle of representing their own ideologies that la selecció, although fielding players from both teams; usually more Espanyol players than Barça employees, is seen as an add-on piece of entertainment. It isn’t taken seriously.

Catalanisme is expressed in other ways in Catalonia, not just through the mediums of scatological themed Christmas gimmicks, but through traditions and a history that dates back more than a thousand years. It’s more bound up in language than sport; more about democracy and democratic institutions than wearing a national shirt. Catalan politician and ex-vice president of Catalonia Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira (voted worst Spaniard by El Mundo newspaper last year precisely because he says he’s not one), appeared on the show Tengo una pregunta para usted (I have a question for you) and was asked ‘I would like to know because I’ve been a Barça fan for a long, long time, that it’s really important to know that if we get independence, there’s doors that they’ll close on us and Ronaldinho, well he won’t be as interesting playing against Girona, with all respect to Girona, and I need to know, it makes me restless, like the man earlier, what would your solution be?...Who would we play against?’. By they she meant Spain and them taking revenge on Barça and Catalan teams by not letting them play down the park at the weekend, and yes, in a debate mostly about independence this was the second time the question was asked about whether or not Barça could continue playing in la Liga.

The current head coach for the part-time team is no other than non-Catalan speaking Johan Cruyff, whose son Jordi played nine times for Catalunya. He took over last year and in his own arm-around-the-shoulder manner told Catalans, before the game against Argentina, that it would be lamentable and shameful if the stadium didn’t sell out. It didn’t, but not a word was said after a game that Catalunya won 4-2. As mentioned earlier this year’s opponents were Honduras and after the four-nil win Cruyff said ‘we should be really proud of the youngsters because they behaved and played like veterans and have given more than everything’. He didn’t mention the half-filled Montjuïc Olympic Stadium and the masses that had stayed away from the game. There was just over 28,000 in the stadium although he did say ‘we hope people come and it’s obvious that we’re getting better at attracting people to the games, that we’re winning the confidence of a nation that wants to be proud of its country and enjoy its football.’, he did fail to add which nation that was.

There was more fall out afterwards as Espanyol coach Mauricio Pochettino publically declared that Cruyff had not stuck to the agreement that his players would only play forty-five minutes. Whether that was to do with the injuries to Piqué and Puyol just before the game we don’t know, but whatever the reason and whatever the status to Catalonia as a country, nationalism hasn’t yet been transferred into national support.

Article by

Raül Pope Fargüell for Forza Futbol 

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

VIDEO: A Tribute to the Balon d'Or candidates ~ XavIniesta!!

Nice well made video that is a tribute to the Beauty on display when Xavi and Iniesta are on the field. Enjoy!

FC Barcelona 1-2 Rubin Kazan

Most people would agree with Barcelona vice-captain Xavi Hernandez, that the Russians should not have won, that they were very lucky to have conceded "a goal into the top corner from 30 yards at the very beginning. Then we had many chances and made it more difficult for them. When it was level we caught with a counter-attack and lost. Matches like this, you win nine out of ten, but today we have had to lose." It was convincing alright, maybe to somebody at As.com, but I'm not buying it.

FC Rubin Kazan are the Russian Champions, so let's get this straight, this is not a pushover they lost to. The Russian League is well under-way, closer to the end of their competitive year, so the while individual fitness levels may be higher for the blaugrana, the Russians are at their peak of competitive fitness. Barca played a determined side in FC Rubin Kazan, one that learned their lessons well on how to beat the blaugrana: beat Valdez off his line, catch them on a quick counter, and exploit their lack of ball winners deep, and especially, most importantly, take advantage of their vulnerable defense.

I can't help wondering though that FC Barcelona should never have messed with the simple dynamics of a Champions League winning side. I get it that Ibra is a talented forward, his individual skill was enough to bring the blaugrana back at the beginning of the second half of this match, but this was not FC Barcelona at their best from last year. They missed Eto'o's defensive help and his ability to link with his partners in the Barca attacking trident. They also missed his fiery nature. He's a true competitor, a difference maker in attack, and yes his productivity fell late on in the season, but while his scoring touch left him he was still helping Messi win his place as the next Ballon D'or winner and gave new life to Thierry Henry's Spanish league comeback. They could have used him today at the Camp Nou in this uninspired outing in Europe.

I'm not surprised at all. It was bound to happen sooner rather than later.