“It is too soon to know where he is going to end up in the pantheon, but Lionel Messi’s performance on Saturday ensures beyond all doubt that he belongs among the all time greats. Watching him scale the heights has given me particular pleasure because I had the good fortune to be there at the start of the journey, the moment when he first appeared before a mass public.” BBC – Tim Vickery
“Eighteen days in the spring defined and decided the season. Finally, the inevitable happened and the curtain came down on the rest of Spain, leaving Real Madrid and Barcelona to fight it out for absolutely everything. The clásico series felt like the obvious conclusion, two-and-a-half weeks that acted as a microcosm of the season. The best two sides became the only two sides, league, Champions League and Copa del Rey their own private battleground, and as much of the spotlight was shone off the pitch as on it – where there were accusations and acrimony, formal complaints and a complete lack of class. Where it got genuinely pretty horrible. Just as it was always going to.” Guardian
“On Saturday night Barcelona beat Manchester United comfortably to secure their third Champions League victory in just 6 years, and their second under Pep Guardiola. The manner of the victory – against undoubtedly their biggest European rivals over the last 5 years – has left many in no doubt that this is a special team up there with the best in history. Even the traditionally insular English media had to hold their hands up and admit that Barcelona’s blueprint was the way forward, after seeing their nation’s top club humbled on home soil.” The Backwards Gooner – Part 1, Part 2
“We’ve got halfway-line lobs! We’ve got net-ripping volleys! We’ve got… speculative shots from near the right-hand corner flag! Roll up, roll up, ladies and gentlemen, and feast your eyes on Football Further‘s Goals of the Season 2010-11 (goals presented in purely chronological order)…” Football Further
“Alex Ferguson was left in no doubt. ‘In my time as a manager I would say yes, this is the best team I’ve faced.’ But then, on Saturday night at Wembley, the Manchester United manager wasn’t exactly analysing the issue with the most detached viewpoint. His team had just been utterly dismantled by Barcelona. And as he gets closer to the end of his career, it was a performance that will probably leave as deep an impression as that of Real Madrid at Hampden Park near the start of it in 1960.” The Football Pantheon
“Our man in Spain, Tim Stannard, continues to look back on another incredible year in la Primera with the second installment of his review of the seaon…” FourFourTwo
“This season has seen FC Barcelona reach what must surely be the pinnacle of the quite remarkable cycle of success that this team has enjoyed since the appointment of Pep Guardiola in 2008. Playing a style of football that is as effective as it is beautiful, Barcelona have mastered both patient passing when with the ball and relentlessly energetic pressing without, their beguiling proficiency seeing them repeatedly outclass the rest of Europe.” The Equaliser – Video
Style and Stylelessness
“Some last-minute thoughts . . . Last year I wrote something about styles and stylelessness in soccer, and I’m thinking about that again as the Champions League final approaches. Everyone knows, because fifty articles a day say so, that Barcelona has a very distinctive style of play. You can name it and describe it, and you can see clearly when other sides try to imitate it. Xavi may be the perfect embodiment of the style, but it’s bigger than he is, and everyone knows it. Whenever Victor Valdés starts a Barça possession not with an aimless punt but with a sharp clean pass to Piqué or Busquets, the crowd at Camp Nou cheers. ‘Even our keeper plays the Barça way!'” Run of Play
Barcelona 3-1 Manchester United: Barcelona are European Champions
“Goals from each of Barcelona’s front three gave Pep Guardiola’s side victory at Wembley. Sir Alex Ferguson named his recent ‘big game’ XI – which meant Javier Hernandez upfront with Wayne Rooney behind, and Ryan Giggs and Michael Carrick in the centre of midfield. The biggest surprise was Dimitar Berbatov not even being on the bench. Guardiola was able to call on Eric Abidal at left-back, but not Carles Puyol at centre-back, so Javier Mascherano started in defence after all. The overall pattern was not completely different from the 2009 final. United enjoyed a good opening few minutes, but were then the poorer side for the rest of the contest.” Zonal Marking
Barcelona outclasses Man United with a performance for the ages
“Surely now the doubters have been won over: this Barcelona is one of the greatest teams there has ever been. In Pep Guardiola’s three seasons in charge Barca has twice won the Champions League, and it was denied a hat trick that would have placed it statistically alongside the Ajax and Bayern Munich sides of the seventies only by the combined might of Jose Mourinho and an Icelandic volcano.” SI – Jonathan Wilson
Lionel Messi the little master offers timely reminder of the beautiful game as Barcelona thrill
“This was the sort of spellbinding performance from Barcelona, and particularly their wonderful Argentine magician, that makes even cynics fall back in love with football. Pass and move, move and score. Bewitching. For a sport dogged by negative headlines, the club season climaxed with a celebration of the sport’s oft-hidden virtues. The spotlight turns to Fifa today, and the judgment of the Ethics Committee on recent shenanigans, but here was a reminder of what the game should be about. Not greed. Just glory. Just a love of the ball’s company, a passion for guiding it past opponents.” Telegraph – Henry Winter
Brilliant Barcelona are a high point in football’s evolution
“In the buildup to this final, the BBC debated who was the greatest of all club football sides and settled on the Real Madrid team who won the first five European Cups from 1956 to 1960. There was unanimity in favour of Puskas, Di Stéfano and Gento: white-jerseyed enemies to the people of Catalonia. Study the tapes of those Real Madrid XIs and you see skill, exuberance, thrust and machismo; a regal confidence across the team. You also register a wholly different version of football in which possession is easily surrendered and defending often laissez-faire. The greatest of all Real’s early triumphs – the 7-3 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in 1960 – was a goal avalanche impossible to imagine in a Champions League final today.” Guardian – Paul Hayward
Prized Possession for Barcelona: Champions League Title
“LONDON — With the fans at one end of Wembley Stadium singing and dancing, and those at the other sulking and leaving, the public-address announcer made the most obvious of proclamations: Barcelona was the winner of the Champions League.” NYT
Barca vs. Man United player grades
“Reviewing the individual performances in the 2011 Champions League final (players graded on a scale of 1-10)…” SI
Barcelona 3 – 1 Manchester United
“For the second time in three years, brilliant Barcelona denied Manchester United Champions League glory with a sensational performance at Wembley. Although United could take some small consolation from the knowledge they were more effective than that 2009 letdown in Rome and even managed to level Pedro’s first-half strike through Wayne Rooney, once again the better team won. On the ground where the Catalans lifted their first European Cup, Lionel Messi also laid his personal ghost to rest, scoring his first goal for Barcelona on English soil, belting home what proved to be the winner nine minutes into the second half.” ESPN
FC Barcelona 3-1 Manchester United – Extended Fox Sports Video Highlights
Extended Fox Sports video
FC Barcelona Trophy Celebrations After Winning 2011 UEFA Champions League
Video highlights of the trophy celebration by FC Barcelona on May 28, 2011
“Most people don’t like Sergio Busquets. But then his club and country coaches, Pep Guardiola and Vicente del Bosque, are not most people. Nor are his Barcelona team-mates. In the bowels of the Camp Nou, the question is obvious. ‘You must be happy to be free to play in this Champions League final after everything that has happened?’ Busquets is asked. ‘Sí, muy contento,’ says the Spaniard sharply. And then there is silence and a steely stare. Next.” Guardian
The Great Fish Market – Jan Brueghel the Elder
“I have a new piece in Slate about the Champions League final and whether we’re about to see the end of Barcelona’s magical run of the last few seasons. Of course, no sooner had I ventured this possibility in a draft than I went down with a sudden, bad case of food poisoning; most of this was written while I was clinging to the edge of the bed, sustained by nothing but Gatorade and rice. So take that into account, if you believe the universe avenges its chosen children.” Run of Play
Sic Transit Gloria Messi
“For the past three years, soccer has been dominated, utterly and ruthlessly, by a reign of Spanish prettiness. Spain’s national team won Euro 2008 with a rapturous mix of intricate passing and outrageous goal-scoring, then repeated the feat, albeit less dazzlingly, at the 2010 World Cup. Meanwhile, F.C. Barcelona took many of the same Spanish players—plus Lionel Messi, the Argentine superstar who’s lived in Spain since boyhood—on a fey romp through worldwide club soccer.” Slate
“As this season’s Champions League final is a repeat of the final from 2009, it’s well worth taking a look at that contest before Saturday night’s game. The footage, if you’re interested, is available on YouTube here (with the following parts on the links down the right-hand side). Here are five conclusions from that match – five more (plus the usual preview) to come.” Zonal Marking
Lessons from the 2009 final (part two)
“A continuation of the earlier conclusions from the 2009 Champions League final between Barcelona and Manchester United. The majority of points are, of course, related to Manchester United’s tactics – since they lost that final, and have to put things right this time around.” Zonal Marking
Gerard Pique
“Barcelona’s team we know; Manchester United’s is a matter of speculation, a fact that, in itself, is indicative of two things. First, that Barcelona is the favorite, with such a defined and familiar style of play that, even in this age of rotation, it is possible, as with the greats of the past, to rattle through a first eleven.” SI – Jonathan Wilson
“With little, bowl-headed Bojan wearing the captain’s armband for Barcelona as reward for a splendid A- in PE, LLL feared the worst for Pep’s Dream Boys at Málaga. A defeat for Barça would have left a table reflecting the fact that Real Madrid had lost the league by a single point, something Marca would no doubt have dined-out on for the entire summer. Instead, the mini-Dream Boys came away from the south coast with a 3-1 victory to give Barça a four point advantage over Madrid after 38 games.” FourFourTwo
“Given a rare night on the Barcelona bench last Sunday, Lionel Messi yanked on the seat in front of him, hunched his shoulders over the chair back and kicked it with his cleats. He seemed not so much the world’s best soccer player as a restless kid in a movie theater. He is 23, with a grown-up’s income reported to exceed $43 million this year. Yet Messi still has a boy’s floppy bangs, a boy’s slight build and a boy’s nickname, the Flea. Even the ball stays on his feet like a shy child clinging to his father’s legs.” NYT
“Barcelona’s second string warmed up for next weekend’s Champions League final against Manchester United with a 3-1 win at Malaga this evening. Sebas Fernandez gave Malaga the lead after 31 minutes, but a Bojan Krkic penalty levelled the scores just before the break.” ESPN
“Faced with a free weekend of football, our man behind the very successful Daggers Diary, Brian Parish and Dan Campbell headed off to Barcelona for a weekend of football.” The Ball is Round
“A second-string Barcelona side were held to a goalless draw by relegation-threatened Deportivo La Coruna in the penultimate round of Primera Division matches at the Nou Camp. The league title was wrapped up with a draw at Levante on Wednesday night and, with a Champions League final meeting with Manchester United to come at the end of the month, coach Pep Guardiola named an experimental side.” ESPN
FC Barcelona v Deportivo La Coruna – Preview, Prediction, TV Listings, and Betting Odds – La Liga
The 90th Minute
“THERE are occasions in a gal’s life when she just can’t say no. Jose Mourinho, Ipad2, weekend in New York, In Bed With Maradona. Temptations were made of this. Sadly Jose has not yet been on the blower, and neither Apple nor the Big Apple look likely, so thank goodness for IBWM. The chat-up line went something like this: Write as much as you want on anything you want. Ah, sweet nothings; I’m such a sucker. (I’m also a sucker for a semi-colon, a grammatical hiccup widely regarded as a deadly sin in tabloid world. Which. Is. Why. I. Go. For. A. Full point. Usually.)” In Bed With Maradona
“A shimmy and shammy as purty as a Tennessee beauty queen saw Iniesta glide through a sluggish Espanyol defence to set Barcelona on their way in what was, considering the bust-ups of recent years, a somewhat boring Catalan derby. Barcelona just need a single point against Levante on Wednesday to win the title, providing Real Madrid dodge their local civic duty and beat Getafe the day before.” FourFourTwo
Pieter Brueghel the Elder
“In his earliest days at Manchester United, Cristiano Ronaldo would react to tackles on the training ground with a yelp and sometimes a quick roll on the ground. His new team-mates – Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs among them – took him aside and advised him to be less theatrical: not out of righteousness, but because they knew it was the wrong signal for him to send to opponents in the Premier League.” Guardian
“Soccer fans, heave a collective sigh of relief – no pun intended. So much theater, so much wrestling, so much on the line, so much falling over coupled with ankle grabbing and head embracing — the four Clásicos are finally over. Now back to football. Is there so much on the line (millions of dollars aside) when Real Madrid and Barcelona meet that the players have to forsake playing the game for a bout (or four consecutive rounds) of shadowboxing? Do we even have anything close in MLS?” Yanks are coming
“Nice video of Barcelona’s off the ball movement here…” YouTube
Pedro, David Villa
“Barcelona rarely looked under real pressure and completed a 3-1 aggregate victory. Pep Guardiola named the expected XI – Andres Iniesta returned from injury to replace Seydou Keita. Javier Mascherano continued at centre-back, with Carles Puyol at left-back. Jose Mourinho switched to his 4-2-3-1 system but made two surprise selections. Kaka was in ahead of Mesut Ozil, whilst Gonzalo Higuain started upfront. Mourinho was not in attendance at the stadium (as far as is known at time of publishing) so assistant Aitor Karanka was in charge for the night.” Zonal Marking
Barcelona 1 – 1 Real Madrid
“Barcelona comfortably advanced to the Champions League final following a 1-1 draw at home to fierce rivals Real Madrid at Camp Nou. Following a completely one-sided first half in which Madrid keeper Iker Casillas kept his side in the game, Pedro gave Pep Guardiola’s team the lead nine minutes into the second period.” ESPN
Barcelona 1 Real Madrid 1: match report
“For those who came to the Nou Camp expecting a fight, a football match broke out, a decent one. After all the play-acting and name-calling, this was an El Clasico more worthy of the name, ending with the best player on the planet, Lionel Messi, a zephyr with the ball, heading towards Wembley. There were still noises off, squalls of complaints, particularly about the embarrassing Javier Mascherano, who again auditioned for panto, but this was a far less heated affair than earlier episodes of the Antics Road Show.” Telegraph – Henry Winter
Barcelona hold off Real Madrid threat to reach Champions League final
“The last instalment of a four-match, 18-day scorpion dance that became nastier by the hour was a proper contest in which Real Madrid recovered their attacking urges but Barcelona advanced to a probable meeting with Manchester United in the Champions League final at Wembley. ‘This has been one of the most beautiful nights I have ever lived,’ said Pep Guardiola, the Barça coach.” Guardian
FC Barcelona 1-1 Real Madrid (El Clasico) – Video Highlights, Recap, and Match Stats – Champions League
The 90th Minute
Sandro Botticelli
“Real Madrid and F.C. Barcelona feature some of the best soccer players on earth, are the world’s two richest clubs, embody drastically opposed philosophies of the game, have combined to win more than 140 trophies, and share a complex, antagonistic history that ties their rivalry inescapably to the Spanish Civil War. (Fascists kidnapped and executed Barcelona’s club president in 1936; the Franco regime used Madrid as a symbol of Spanish nationalism.) Any game between these two clubs is a big deal. Four Clásicos in 18 days is, in the soccer universe, a quasar.” Slate – Brian Phillips
Barcelona v Real Madrid: tactical preview
“Amongst the squabbling, appealing and conspiracy theories, there’s a football match to play tonight at the Camp Nou. Now into the fourth part of a four-part Clasico series, there’s relatively little left to say about the potential tactics of both managers. We’ve had one win for Pep Guardiola, one win for Jose Mourinho (in extra time) and one draw. We’ve had different formations, different players and wildly different patterns to matches, and it’s difficult to predict what more can reasonably be expected tonight.” Zonal Marking
On Mind Games
“Listening to the most recent ESPN Soccernet Podcast seemed to confirm the notion that there is a persistent, perhaps all-too-British, unreconstructed lapdog approach to covering Jose Mourinho.” Run of Play
“When Real Madrid ran out to warm up before Hell Clásico last Wednesday, 10 of Jose Mourinho’s players strode en masse to the far side for some final drills, almost like soldiers filing at speed on to a parade ground.” Telegraph – Henry Winter
“In spite of not having done anything in particular this week out of the ordinary, Thursday night has arrived and I’ve still not yet put up Argentines Abroad. I have had two contributions sent in, though, from Spain and Mexico, so it would be remiss of me not to at least put those up. To find out how Argentines did in Spain between last week’s Copa Del Rey clásico and this week’s installment in the European Cup, and how Emanuel Villa, Damián Álvarez et al did in Mexico last weekend, just read on. Complete with videos!” Hasta El Gol Siempre
“Lionel Messi scored a poacher’s strike and then a superb solo effort to give Barcelona a major advantage in the tie. Jose Mourinho named his expected side – Lassana Diarra was in for Sami Khedira, whilst Raul Albiol came in for the suspended Ricardo Carvalho. Pep Guardiola also chose the side expected in the preview. Carles Puyol returned from injury to fill in at left-back, whilst Seydou Keita replaced the injured Andres Iniesta. The game was scrappy, dirty and not particularly pleasing on the eye. For much of the contest, the objective of both sides seemed to be to get opposition players sent off, rather than actually try to score a goal. Tactically, it wasn’t fascinating for long periods.” Zonal Marking
Jose Mourinho claims Barcelona benefit from refereeing conspiracy after stormy Champions League loss
“Mourinho made mention of four officials: Anders Frisk, who he claimed received a half-time visit from Frank Rijkaard, the then Barcelona coach, in 2005; Tom Henning Ovrebo, who turned down a succession of Chelsea penalty claims against Barcelona in 2009; Massimo Busacca, who sent off Arsenal’s Robin van Persie at Camp Nou this season, and Wolfgang Stark, who showed a red card to Real’s Pepe on Wednesday. Mourinho was also expelled.” Telegraph – Henry Winter
Real Madrid 0 Barcelona 2: match report
“Two moments of beauty stood out amidst the beastliness of the Game of Shame last night. Two moments of magic from Lionel Messi, his second goal echoing Diego Maradona’s dribbled gem against England in 1986, rescued this match from the dark ages. Clasico, crasico. But for Messi remembering that football should be about joy, adventure and imagination, and Xavi also playing with style, this was the game that dignity forgot. There was no respect, no charm, no integrity.” Telegraph – Henry Winter
Messi puts Barca on brink of Wembley
“Lionel Messi struck twice late on as Barcelona took a huge step towards the Champions League final with a 2-0 semi-final, first leg win over 10-man Real Madrid at the Bernabeu. Messi, taking his tally to 52 in all competitions this season, netted in the 76th and 87th minutes – the second a typically brilliant solo effort – to settle an ill-tempered clash which saw Madrid defender Pepe sent off in the 61st minute.” ESPN
Barcelona and Real face UEFA action
“Both Barcelona and Real Madrid will face disciplinary proceedings from UEFA after their tempestuous Champions League semi-final first-leg tie at the Bernabeu. Barcelona won the game 2-0 thanks to two goals from Lionel Messi, but the clash was littered with unsportsmanlike behaviour, diving and fights. After the match, Real boss Jose Mourinho (who had been sent to the stands during the game for comments made to the fourth official) then launched into a tirade about the influence that the Catalan side have over European football.” ESPN
Negative Soccer Mars Real Madrid vs Barcelona Semi-Final
“Thank goodness the embarrassing spectacle of Real Madrid against Barcelona in the Champions League was played out in the semi-final of the tournament instead of the finale. The first leg of the semi-final was an example of everything that people hate about soccer. Barcelona players crowding the referee on several occasions to influence his decision. Players exaggerating contact. Poor refereeing decisions. The referee stopping and starting the game seemingly every few minutes. Off the pitch pushing and shoving. This is not what soccer is about. This was anti-soccer.” EPL Talk – Video
Champions League press reaction: ‘Mourinho has perverted history’
“If José Mourinho was feeling disgusted after Barcelona’s controversial 2-0 victory over his Real Madrid team, the Spanish press contained little to soothe his feelings. While figures from both sides offered predictably opposed views about the dismissal of Pepe which had such a major effect on the Champions League semi-final first leg at the Bernabéu, most commentators took a dim view of the Portuguese coach’s approach to the game and his complaints afterwards.” Guardian
Real Madrid 0-2 FC Barcelona – Video Highlights, Recap, and Match Stats – Champions League
The 90th Minute
“When they first ran into each other, Mourinho was assisting Bobby Robson while Guardiola was Barcelona captain and darling. Staff versus family, outsider versus insider: as Mourinho’s world collides with Guardiola’s again, a past dynamic underpins the present drama. As Mourinho prepares a Champions League ambush for Guardiola’s side in the Bernabéu this Wednesday, some of the energy fuelling his astonishing career surely stems from a desire to prove himself to Barcelona, whose faithful still deride him as ‘The Translator’.” Telegraph – Henry Winter
“Lionel Messi netted his 50th competitive goal of the season and David Villa ended his goal drought as Barcelona recovered from their Copa del Rey final defeat with a victory over Osasuna that keeps them firmly on course for the Primera Division title. Villa had gone 11 matches without finding the back of the net for his club – including Wednesday’s painful cup final loss to bitter rivals Real Madrid – but the Spain international was back on the mark to put a much-changed Barca ahead at the Camp Nou.” ESPN
FC Barcelona 2-0 Osasuna – Video Highlights, Recap, and Match Stats – La Liga
The 90th Minute
“The first part of four in the serialisation of my dissertation ‘To what extent can Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona be considered to have been political institutions in Spain during the twentieth century?’, this instalment introduces the topic at hand and provides academic and historical context to the subject.” The Equaliser – Part One: Introduction, Aims and Context, Part Two: The Political Life of FC Barcelona, Part Three: Real Madrid, Franco and the Socio Model, Part Four: Conclusions
“A tight, scrappy game was won by Cristiano Ronaldo’s 103rd minute goal. Jose Mourinho had to reshuffle his defence with Raul Albiol suspended. Sergio Ramos moved into the centre, and Alvaro Arbeloa came in at right-back. Mourinho also chose to play no true striker – Karim Benzema was dropped with Mesut Ozil back in the side on the right. Ronaldo started ufpront.” Zonal Marking
Real Madrid Lay Hands on the Copa del Rey
“Less than a week after their hard fought tie in league play, Madrid and Barça met in the final of the King’s Cup. Mourinho sent his defensive set into the midfield again, then put in Özil from the start for an added touch of creativity in attack, and sprinkled the whole side with an extra dose of aggression dust.” Cult Football
Jose’s Barça-Bothering Continues in Cup
“The notion that there is a ring-bearing, hairy-toed, mystical, ‘I love you Master Frod’ friendship surrounding World Cup winners was firmly dispelled in Valencia in Wednesday’s Copa del Rey final. Ten of those who triumphed in South Africa came face to furious face in Mestalla and spent a wonderfully ill-tempered 120 minutes kicking and stamping each other along with generous volleys of insults thrown in for good measure.” Football 365
FC Barcelona 0-1 Real Madrid (El Clasico) – Video Highlights, Recap, and Match Stats – Copa del Rey
The 90th Minute
“Ask anybody who’s done it, and they’ll tell you that sustaining success is much harder than achieving it in the first place. The great Hungarian coach Bela Guttmann refused ever to spend longer than three years at a club because he felt that after that he could no longer motivate players. It may be that in the modern world of soccer in which money begets money, success is easier to sustain than previously, at least on a domestic level. On a European scale what that means is a cluster of perhaps eight or so super powers constantly battling for the Champions League, which is surely the main reason no side has successfully defended the title since the AC Milan of Arrigo Sacchi in 1990.” SI
“A penalty each from the two Pichichi contenders saw honours even at the Bernabeu. Jose Mourinho left out Mesut Ozil and brought in Pepe to give extra grit in the centre of midfield. Raul Albiol started at centre-back, and Karim Benzema got the nod upfront. Pep Guardiola welcomed back Carles Puyol, allowing Sergio Busquets forward into his natural position. Elsewhere, it was as expected.” Zonal Marking
Ronaldo earns draw in el clasico
“Cristiano Ronaldo scored a late penalty to earn 10-man Real Madrid a dramatic 1-1 draw from the clasico showdown with bitter rivals Barcelona at the Bernabeu. Ronaldo’s 82nd-minute spot-kick cancelled out Lionel Messi’s 53rd-minute penalty for Barca, which came following an incident that also saw Madrid defender Raul Albiol sent off.” ESPN
Real Madrid 1-1 FC Barcelona (El Clasico) – Video Highlights, Recap, and Match Stats
The 90th Minute
Travelers Awaiting a Ferry, Philips Wouwerman
“Despite overtures to delicacy, Barcelona FC has become an unwieldy force, a football leviathan. Coinciding with the city’s international debut in the ’92 Olympics, the club began two decades of furious attack on Real Madrid’s hegemony over Spanish football with championships in La Liga and the Champions League, with Super Copas and thrashings at the Bernabéu. Their popularity among passing fans and football writers has swelled and their influence seems ubiquitous: it’s a small step from the club’s success to the success of the Spanish side in the 2008 Euro Cup and 2010 World Cup; their mind-boggling sextuplet of championships in 2009 persuaded Real to spend record amounts assembling a team dubbed ‘galactic’.” Run of Play
Real Madrid v Barcelona: tactical preview
“Barcelona have an eight-point gap going into the second of five Clasicos this season. No-one needs reminding what happened in the previous fixture between these two sides. The 5-0 was a truly historic result, and the heaviest defeat of Jose Mourinho’s managerial career. Mourinho has a reputation for learning from his mistakes, though – his Inter side were outplayed by Barcelona at the Camp Nou in early 2009/10, but he returned in the semi-final to record an unlikely victory.” Zonal Marking
“They called him Judas. They threw bottles, cigarettes, rubbish, and heck even a rotten pig’s head to show their disgust. The Boixos Nois, once the neo-nazi ultras of Barca, were banned from the stadium after this incident. Such was the level of hatred. This was treachery, one of ridiculous proportions. Transfer of players between these two clubs was not new, in fact 27 people had moved directions before Luis Figo did, but not one of them was in this fashion. Never before had a player who belonged to the club, one who was loved and admired by the fans for more than just his footballing skills, left so bitterly. ‘The derbi of shame’ they call it, brought out all the emotion that could ever be thrown out, by this magnificent rivalry.” The Offside
Madrid vs. Barcelona: Four Times a Soccer Classic
” A ‘clásico’ encounter between Real Madrid and F.C. Barcelona, the two biggest and most successful teams in Spanish soccer, inevitably generates high expectations. But the prospect of four such clásicos in 17 days has triggered a frenzy here that is rekindling memories of last July, when Spaniards followed with bated breath their national team’s triumphant march to its first World Cup trophy in South Africa.” NYT
Camp Nou Stadium for FC Barcelona
“FC Barcelona’s Camp Nou Stadium, one of the world’s greatest football venues, is to be extensively remodelled. The stadium, already the largest in Europe, will be enlarged to accommodate over 106,000 fans, together with extensive new facilities including hospitality and public areas.” Foster + Partners
Gerard Pique
“This season’s Champions League semi-finalists reached the last four with an average aggregate winning margin in the quarter-finals of four goals, making them the most comfortable set of semi-final qualifiers in the Champions League era (post-1992). The diagrams below depict their tactical line-ups from the first legs of their quarter-final ties, before there were any leads to be defended or deficits to be overturned.” Football Further
Lessons from the Champions League
“The Champions League semifinals are now set. What did we learn in the quarterfinals about the teams that made it through to the final four? Here are five lessons to keep in mind before Europe’s premier competition returns with the first legs of two highly anticipated ties, Manchester United vs. Schalke on April 26 and Barcelona vs. Real Madrid on April 27.” ESPN – Michael Cox
The Brilliance of Barcelona B
“As a football fan, there are many things worse you could do with your time than watch Barcelona B. From afar, perhaps on a low quality stream or from a high seat in their 15,000 capacity Mini Estadi, you may just think you’re watching the senior side playing with their usual swagger. Pass, pass, pass, pass. Possession football at its very finest that is the core to Barcelona’s success. That’s probably because you’re watching the next crop of Barcelona first team players, and they’re a very talented bunch.” The Oval Log
“There were no major surprises in Barcelona’s 1-0 win over Shakhtar on Tuesday night. 5-1 up from the first leg, they were fairly comfortable in Ukraine, keeping possession for long periods and winning the game with a Lionel Messi goal shortly before half time. That is, until you consider Barcelona’s line-up, where Javier Mascherano started as a right-sided centre-back, alongside Gerard Pique.” Zonal Marking
Shakhtar Donetsk 0-1 FC Barcelona – Video Highlights, Recap, and Match Stats
The 90th Minute
Manchester United 2-1 Chelsea: Ancelotti changes formation but still loses the tie
“Goals from Javier Hernandez and Park Ji-Sung saw United progress to the semi-finals. Sir Alex Ferguson made two changes from his first leg line-up. Nani replaced Antonio Valencia – he played on the left, with Park Ji-Sung on the right. Rafael was not fit enough to play, so John O’Shea came in at right-back. Carlo Ancelotti chose Florent Malouda, Nicolas Anelka and Alex ahead of Yuri Zhirkov, Didier Drogba and Jose Bosingwa.” Zonal Marking
Manchester United 2-1 Chelsea – Video Highlights, Recap, and Match Stats
The 90th Minute
“For five years, the number of consecutive unbeaten La Liga games (managed by a Cruyff-inspired Barcelona side en route to the Spanish title in 1974) stood at a quite remarkable twenty-six. The current Barcelona side recently sailed past this total and now has a loftier target in sight; the sole notable domestic landmark neither of Spain’s big two can lay claim to and one that remains the preserve of a little corner of the Basque country. Real Sociedad from San Sebastián may be a modest club historically, but between April 1979 and May 1980 and spanning a remarkable thirty-eight League games, they were impossible to beat.” In Bed With Maradona
“Twenty-five games played for twenty-three victories and two draws, a balance sheet better than Barcelona’s one, the Liga Sagres’ title already won even though there are five games left, a Europa League quarter-final to play and a manager who walks into Mourinho’s footprints… All these reasons make the tactical analysis of Porto’s tactics quite relevant, the Villas Boas’ one, who became the youngest manager to win the championship’s title on Sunday night. Moreover in Lisbon after a victory over Benfica. What else?” Panenka
“Lionel Messi scored twice as Barcelona survived a scare to come from behind and beat bottom club Almeria at the Camp Nou and preserve their eight-point lead over fierce rivals Real Madrid at the top of the Primera Division table. Barca had seen Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 at San Mames earlier in the day but found it surprisingly difficult to break down an Almeria side playing their first game under new coach Roberto Olade.” ESPN
FC Barcelona 3-1 Almeria – Video Highlights, Recap, and Match Stats
The 90th Minute
“Barcelona became the third side to take a massive lead into the second leg of the European Cup quarter-finals. Pep Guardiola was still without Carles Puyol and Eric Abidal, so Sergio Busquets continued at the back. Pedro Rodriguez was only fit enough for the bench, so Andres Iniesta played in the front three, and Seydou Keita started in the middle.” Zonal Marking
FC Barcelona 5-1 Shakhtar Donetsk – Video Highlights, Recap, and Match Stats – Champions League
The 90th Minute
Chelsea 0-1 Manchester United: first half Rooney goal gives United the lead in the tie
“A tight game at Stamford Bridge saw only one goal. Carlo Ancelotti chose to leave out Nicolas Anelka, starting Didier Drogba alongside Fernando Torres upfront. There was a surprise on the left, where Yuri Zhirkov played over Florent Malouda. Sir Alex Ferguson welcomed back Rio Ferdinand. He also gave starts to Ryan Giggs and Park Ji-Sung, in a surprise midfield four. Javier Hernandez played just ahead of Rooney. The game took a while to settle down into a pattern. Both sides made too many errors in the opening minutes, with misunderstandings between teammates and possession conceded too cheaply.” Zonal Marking
Chelsea 0-1 Manchester United – Video Highlights, Recap, and Match Stats – Champions League
The 90th Minute
“As many football clubs know: money can’t buy you history. You can try to buy a future but in football it’s the past and the present that matters. The future is pegged to survival. If a club can ensure that then everything else becomes a bonus. Football fans of many clubs always point at where they have come from and, if they are lucky enough, what they have achieved. Until you have your own history, no matter how great or how small, you will always be looked at as having never been at the top table.” In Bed With Maradona
“In the last piece I wrote for Just Football I retold the story of Matthias Sindelar, the Austrian footballer who symbolised, in part, a nation’s defiance of their Nazi occupiers; an archetype of Austria’s considered and poetic passing game. Sindelar represented not only the Austrian football team but Austria’s intelligentsia and their consciousness expressed through sport.” Just Football
“What an extraordinary weekend here in Spain, where events in La Liga took place in a counter-intuitive fashion, and more or less set the seal on the destiny of the league title, give or take an improbable implosion of form at Barcelona FC over the next eight weeks.” ESPN
“I’m standing on a mountaintop, at the foot of a large statue of Jesus. It’s a beautiful day and from up here I can see miles into the distance. Behind me lies the sea while in front of me there are mountains. Below me lies the city, its cathedral, a controversial shopping centre and an impressive looking football stadium. Despite appearances, I’m not in Rio de Janiero but in Oviedo, capital of Asturias. Unlike much of Spain, Asturias was never captured by the Moors, a fact not lost on the locals. In these parts they have an expression, Asturias is Spain and the rest is recaptured land.” In Bed With Maradona
“Though the coach will have to repeat the ‘league is not won yet, the league is not won yet’ mantra pretty much every minute of every day for the next two months, Pep and the Dream Boys know that the title was moreorless sewn up, thanks to Saturday’s double delight of a defeat for Madrid and a win for Barça at Villarreal in a match where a draw probably would have been a fair result.” FourFourTwo
“Gerard Pique smashed in the only goal of the game after Lionel Messi came off the bench. Juan Carlos Garrido set out in his usual 4-4-2 / 4-2-2-2 system. Nilmar was only on the bench, so Marco Ruben started. Carlos Marchena continued in his new holding midfield role, pushing Borja Valero out to the right, and Jose Catala was at left-bac. Pep Guardiola was without Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernandez, Pedro Rodriguez, Eric Abidal and – from the start – Messi.” Zonal Marking
“Pep Guardiola said it was the last thing he wanted to see, but no one really believed him. Sure, the trip east won’t be much fun, but a matchup against Shakhtar looked like the perfect draw for his Barcelona team in the Champions League quarterfinals.” SI
“Police helicopters buzzing about; beer-fueled fans pouring through the turnstiles; TV cameras squeezed onto the narrow strip of grass separating the pitch and stands – Rayo Vallecano’s Estadio Teresa Rivero was certainly the place to be in Madrid late on Sunday night.” FourFourTwo
“Well, I must say, I’m rather disappointed. We’ve come all this way to Barcelona to see a game at the Nou, and it’s not what I expected. OK, the little number 6 is controlling things from the centre of midfield, and the number 10 is a threat upfront, but it’s a tiny little ground and it’s not even full. Mes Que Un Club, seriously? Only joking! We are indeed in Barcelona for a football match, but this is not the Nou Camp, it’s the Nou Sardenya, home of CE Europa. Europa can’t make any claim to being ‘more than a club’ – they compete in the Tercera Division, the fourth level of the Spanish pyramid, in one of eighteen regional groups.” European Football Weekends
“Faith in youth due to financial turmoil is not uncommon but Espanyol have had to place more in their Cantera than others. Welcome to IBWM David Cartlidge.” In Bed With Maradona
“The Champions League is now to the quarterfinals which will begin on April 5-6 and conclude on April 12-13. There are two Spanish sides, three English sides, one Italian club, one German club, and one from Ukraine.” The 90th Minute
“An awful week off the pitch with the news of Eric Abidal and the outlandish insinuations of doping coming from the direction of the Spanish capital came to a relatively happy end with a 2-1 win over Getafe. It was a match that appeared to fit a similar pattern at the Camp Nou of late – Barça creating oodles of chances but missing pretty much all of them.” FourFourTwo
Jean-Pierre Clatot
“The draw begins at 11am UK time. By which what we mean, of course, is that the video montages, unnecessary musical interludes, and same-old boring lecture we get every year about how wonderful the Champions League is begins at 11am. Then, all of a sudden, the draw will happen very quickly just when you’ve given up waiting and gone to make a cuppa instead. Fear not, though, I shall be here without to make sure you don’t miss a thing.” Guardian
“José Mourinho has a problem. When fans approach the world’s most famous coach—and they do so in great numbers, from Madrid to London to Los Angeles—they are seldom satisfied with a typical autograph. They want something unique. Distinct. Dare it be said: special. ‘I’ll sign JOSÉ MOURINHO,’ says the Real Madrid manager after a practice in the Spanish capital. ‘But most of the people say, “No, no, no. You will sign THE SPECIAL ONE!” ‘ Mourinho sighs, the edges of his trademark smirk curling into a faint smile. ‘Everybody wants me to be The Special One. But I don’t worry. There could be a worse nickname.'” SI
“If true strength can come from real adversity, can ideals of beauty be pulled from an ugly defeat? Welcome to IBWM Brian McDonnell” In Bed With Maradona
“Tough to know where to stick Barcelona in today’s section. It was two points dropped – which a concerned Pep Guardiola would have probably taken before the clash – but it was a match that could easily have been won in the final minutes with Barça having efforts crashing against the bar and being cleared off the line.” FourFourTwo
Sevilla 1-1 Barcelona: Sevilla recover from poor first half to hold Barcelona to a draw
“Barcelona failed to win for only the fourth time this season in La Liga. Having favoured a 4-3-1-2 formation in recent weeks, Gregorio Manzano returned to a 4-2-3-1 system here. Didier Zokora came into the centre of midfield, and Diego Capel started over Diego Perotti on the right, so Jesus Navas was on the left.” Zonal Marking
“Arsene Wenger told Pep Guardiola to congratulate Massimo Busacca, but the Barcelona coach was more interested in congratulating his players. The Swiss referee might have been important during Barcelona’s 3-1 victory against Arsenal in a Champions League match Tuesday at the Camp Nou. He might even have been decisive. But Guardiola preferred to believe it was his players who were the difference. The trouble is, on their own, they might not have been. With Busacca, they won the match, eliminated Arsenal and advanced to the quarterfinals; without him, we will never know if they would have done so. The doubts will not go away. Nor will the anger and the accusations.” SI
La Batalla de San Romano, Paolo Uccello
“Arsenal didn’t manage a single shot, as Barcelona go through to the quarter-finals. Pep Guardiola chose Eric Abidal and Sergio Busquets at centre-back, as expected, though there was a surprise at left-back, where Adriano started over Maxwell. Both Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie were fit to start. Arsene Wenger decided to play Tomas Rosicky on the right, and Abou Diaby got the nod over Denilson.” Zonal Marking
Barcelona 3 – 1 Arsenal
“Arsenal were left with a sense of injustice after seeing Robin van Persie controversially sent off as they were knocked out of the Champions League again by Barcelona in the Camp Nou following a 3-1 loss. The Dutchman was a shock inclusion for the Gunners, who led 2-1 from the first leg, having recovered quicker than expected from the knee injury he sustained in the Carling Cup final.” ESPN
Barcelona sends Arsenal crashing back down to earth
“Arséne Wenger’s men are often too ready to accept their role as beautiful martyrs, highlighting the negativity of their opponents and bad refereeing as causes of their downfall. At Camp Nou, they may have been right to aggrieve the latter, never the former, although in football, much is about managing luck and that Arsenal escaped two penalty decisions has seemingly not registered with their arguments. Perhaps there is a saneness to that action because a penalty at 0-0 and subsequently at 1-0 when Pedro was brought down, wouldn’t have “killed the game” as Wenger exclaimed. When the harsh red-card was given, it certainly deprived the encounter of its competitive edge.” Arsenal Column
Arsene Wenger: From Dumbledore to dunce
“Until around 22.30 on Tuesday night, Arsene Wenger had a well-earned reputation in Spain for being a bit of an avuncular, Dumbledore type figure: unthreatening, cultured and a proper gent famous for relishing in the finer side of football. So much so, in fact, that Florentino Pérez – seeing the Frenchman’s name in a sticker album one afternoon – even tried to bring the Arsenal boss to the Bernabeu on his return to the Real Madrid presidency in 2009.” FourFourTwo
Envious of Arsenal.
“Humiliated in the manner of their League Cup Final defeat, and given an awe-inspiring runaround in Barcelona, it seems that Arsenal’s long wait for a trophy will endure. And yet, despite the heartbreak their fans must have suffered of late, as a Liverpool fan I remain envious.” Tomkins Times
FC Barcelona 3-1 Arsenal – Video Highlights, Recap, and Match Stats – Champions League
The 90th Minute
“I. The Fourth Foer Brother. Every so often, when I’m faced with a lonely hour, I like to wile away some time by inventing a career for a hypothetical fourth Foer brother. You know the Foer brothers, of course: there’s Franklin, the oldest, who edited The New Republic and wrote How Soccer Explains the World; Jonathan Safran, the next-oldest, the whimsical-melancholy (whimsicholy?) novelist who published Everything Is Illuminated at 25 and instantly became a darling among the brownstones; and Joshua, the youngest, a national Memory Champion (he memorized the order of a complete deck of cards in under two minutes), the author of a new book about the world of competitive remembering, the secretary of the Athanasius Kircher Society, and the co-founder of Atlas Obscura, ‘a Compendium of the World’s Wonders, Curiosities, and Esoterica.’” Run of Play
“Discounting Liverpool fans marching from a pub to the ground or Manchester United supporters wearing gold and green scarves to show their opposition to their owners, protest at football is not something we are used to in England. In Spain, public displays of disaffection by fans are a bit more common. In 2009, tens of thousands of Real Betis fans marched through the streets of Seville to demand the resignation of then president José León Gomez. Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad fans (and sometimes players) have long been known for publicly supporting the cause of Basque independence, while the same goes for Catalan self-determination at Barcelona.” In Bed With Mardona
Scissors Kick 