“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
“Not too much to talk about with Barcelona and their 1-0 home win over Zaragoza best described as perfunctory. But it’s a better day for Pep Guardiola, who got the go-ahead to leave hospital on Monday after two nights being bed-bathed by buxom Barça-loving nurses whilst suffering from a hernia in his back.” FourFourTwo
“Barcelona beat Zaragoza 1-0 on a first-half goal by Seydou Keita to provisionally move 10 points clear of second-place Real Madrid in the Spanish league on Saturday. Keita scored what proved to be the winner for the defending champions two minutes before halftime, tapping in a pass from Lionel Messi from close range.” SI
“While we much prefer to bask in their refracted glory, it’s important to note that 2010-11’s all-conquering superteam known as Barcelona stood on the edge of a very different and much more depressing era not too long ago. Before lawyer/politician Joan Laporta took over in 2003, the club had been mired in rising debts and dismal on-pitch performances, so much so that Real had become dominant while the Blaugrana could only reflect on their last trophy, the 1998-99 La Liga title. It took time, effort, and a great deal of patience for Laporta’s vision to take shape, but in the years since, life at the Nou Camp has never been better.” James T
Valencia 0-1 Barcelona: both sides try different systems, but both switch back to the usual
“Lionel Messi had an off-day…and yet still scored the winner as Barcelona temporarily move ten points clear at the top. Unai Emery had been trying Juan Mata as a number nine all week in training, and used him that position here, as Valencia went into the the game with no real striker. There was a reshuffle at the back, and two full-backs were used in tandem down the left flank.” Zonal Marking
Valencia 0-1 FC Barcelona – Video Highlights, Recap, and Match Stats – La Liga
The 90th Minute
“I have a new piece in Slate on parity in soccer, which of course means the lack of parity in soccer, which means the fact that Real Madrid and Barcelona have combined to win 51 La Liga titles compared to 28 for all the other clubs in Spain, and Blackburn is still the only club outside the Functional Big Three ever to win a Premier League title, and even a plucky underdog like Leyton Orient, after bravely winning an FA Cup draw against Arsenal at home, can expect to be roto-rooted into oblivion by Nicklas Bendtner at the Emirates.” Run of Play
“A certain Madrid-mad Primera pundit was last week trying to convince LLL that Barcelona were ‘in crisis’ having dropped points against Sporting in la Liga and been beaten by Arsenal in the Champions League.” FourFourTwo
“Lionel Messi, David Villa and Pedro Rodriguez were all on the scoresheet as Barcelona saw off Real Mallorca 3-0 to power on at the top of the Primera Division standings. Messi gave Barca a first-half lead with his 26th league goal of the season before second-half strikes from Villa and Pedro helped Barca provisionally move eight points clear of second-placed Real Madrid, who play Deportivo La Coruna later this evening.” ESPN
Three great goals sink Mallorca (0-3)
“FC Barcelona may have been without Valdés, Alves, Puyol and Xavi in Mallorca, but they again demonstrated the depth in talent that Guardiola has at his disposal. Messi, Villa and Pedro were on target in the 3-0 win and Montoya made his debut.” FC Barcelona
Mallorca 0-3 FC Barcelona – Video Highlights, Recap, and Match Stats
The 90th Minute
“The Second World War caused severe disruption to formalised footballing competition throughout Europe, but Spain was left relatively untouched as it recovered from Civil War and remained neutral and non-belligerent under the leadership of General Francisco Franco. While the majority of the continent’s leagues were suspended during the conflict, La Liga ploughed on during the 1940s and produced some fascinating narratives, not least of which was the success of Atletíco Aviación.” The Equaliser
“With the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 done and dusted, here are five things we’ve learned…” ESPN
“I know I promised fun-filled clangers, but those will have to wait while I tackle something a bit more serious: the persistent misunderstanding of goalkeeping by well-paid pundits, commentators, and other assorted football experts. I say this without malice or snobbery. None of them actually were goalkeepers, and so it makes sense that they all, be it Andy Gray (once upon a time), Craig Burley, or Jamie Redknapp, tend to trot out well-worn cliches in absence of more in-depth knowledge.” The Goalkeepers’ Union
“Borja Valero. Midfielder – Villarreal – Pass-master, dead-ball wizard, no hair. In an alternate universe, a happy Borja Valero is the king-pin playmaker in the centre of West Brom’s midfield, guiding the Baggies towards a top six finish and all the footballer-lusting floozies the squad could ever need. Unfortunately, the real world is largely a sucky one which is why Valero couldn’t be tempted back to the West Midlands, last summer, after a loan spell with Mallorca after the apparent horrors suffered in England in the 2008-2009 season and WBA are facing relegation. And maybe one or two nights too many for the players with just naughty magazines for company. …” Sabotage Times
“Little Leo was insanely good in spells in Barcelona’s 2-1 win against Athletic Bilbao that should steady a few nerves in the Catalan capital without the need to resort to a swift drink or two. With the Sunday night score at 1-1 after an early David Villa goal and penalty converted by Iraola – and the headline writers in Madrid about to release ‘Hay Liga!’ onto the world for a second weekend running – Messi popped up with a winner in the second half and it was just reward for a spell of pressure on Athletic where Messi was truly sublime.” FourFourTwo
“Let me be frank. I loved Xavi’s interview in The Guardian earlier this month, in spite of the fact that I don’t remember a word of what he said except the following. Answering an early question of Sid Lowe’s—how do you respond when the opposition forces you to play on the back foot?—Xavi responded…” Run of Play
“Great goals from Robin van Persie and Andrei Arshavin gave Arsenal their first-ever victory over Barcelona.
Arsene Wenger was able to welcome back Samir Nasri from injury on the left. The rest of the side was as expected. Pep Guardiola also named the predicted side, with Eric Abidal in Carles Puyol’s place, and Maxwell at left-back. Crucially, Arsenal made a good start without the ball. Having been battered in the first ten minutes in this fixture last season, there was a much better attitude without the ball from the beginning this time around. The pressure on Barcelona’s midfield meant Arsenal forced Barcelona to give the ball away after 16 seconds, and though the away side had spells of clear dominance, they didn’t enjoy the ludicrous level of control they exerted a year ago.” Zonal Marking
Arsenal 2 – 1 Barcelona
“Robin van Persie and Andrey Arshavin struck as Arsenal staged a brilliant late comeback to claim a 2-1 win and give themselves a real chance of progressing in the Champions League. David Villa fired Barcelona, hailed by Arsene Wenger as the world’s best team, ahead in the first half after combining with Lionel Messi. But their superiority faded after the break when Arsenal took control, with Van Persie starting the comeback in the 79th minute before Andrey Arshavin smashed home a superb winner.” ESPN
Més Que un Hipster
“Of all the Guardian’s football writers, Barney Ronay is my favorite. His writing is raffish and superbly intimate. His is the voice of an older brother come home from college to tell you glib and exaggerated tales of the secret lives of girls, why Coldplay is insufferable, and why your parents are all too bourgeois. Like a protagonist in a Nick Hornby novel, Ronay chooses his words carefully even when he makes a mess of things. I feel the same way about reading Christopher Hitchens, whose endlessly quotable and cutting prose is substantiated by trenchant observations about the crassness of some seemingly unassailable public figure. For Hitchens even Mother Teresa is fair game.” Run of Play
Arsenal 2 Barcelona 1: match report
“Lightning rarely strikes once against Barcelona. Here it struck twice. One-nil down to the best team on the planet, struggling to see the ball, let alone the goal, Arsenal responded in sensational style, scoring twice in five minutes late on. This was a turnaround born of resilience, a victory rooted in character. Arsène Wenger made some tactical tweaks, setting Barcelona new tests with the introduction of Andrei Arshavin and Nicklas Bendtner, but what happened between the 78th and 83rd minutes stemmed from a simple refusal to surrender.” Telegraph – Henry Winter
Arsène Wenger promises Arsenal will ‘go for it’ in Barcelona second leg
“Arsène Wenger believes a vital psychological barrier has been breached with the defeat of Barcelona. Wenger, who will take his Arsenal team to the Catalan capital next month with a 2-1 lead, said: “We are not favourites. We believe we have a chance. Barcelona are still favourites and we know tonight that we can beat them – which we did not know last year.” Guardian
Modern football reaches a pantheon as Arsenal prevails in attack vs attack
“This was a match where every detailed seemed to matter just that bit more. Every pass was stressed. Every shot was scrutinised. Every contested challenge, dribble and interception was crucial. Every bounce of Lionel Messi’s hair. The timing of Theo Walcott’s runs. Refereeing decisions. Pep Guardiola’s catwalk struts down the touchline. Every unscrewing of Arsene Wenger’s bottle cap. Every inch Victor Valdes left exposed at his near post. Every substitution. Each moment of ascendancy had to be taken. Those were the margins and fortunately enough, a huge dose of Lady Luck went Arsenal’s way also.” Arsenal Column
We did it to ourselves, we did. And that’s why this really hurts: Arsenal 2, FCB 1
“If Barça Nation was a nail-biting, hair-pulling, edge-of-its-seat sitting bunch before this match even kicked off, well, now we’re collectively curled up in a ball of self-loathing. And rightfully so. Because, for all Arsenal’s determination – and let’s take the hats off our rapidly balding heads and salute them for wanting the match more than us – this was a mostly self-inflicted wound.” The Offside
“The previous tie between these two sides was a classic. One of the best games of last year, it was fascinating technically, aesthetically and tactically – this meeting offers Arsenal a chance to demonstrate that they’ve learned their lessons from the 6-3 aggregate defeat. There will be significant personnel changes from last year – injury and suspension meant that neither side played anything like their first-choice XI in the second leg, when Lionel Messi ran riot with one of his finest performances in a Barcelona shirt. Robin van Persie, Jack Wilshere, David Villa and Andres Iniesta didn’t play a part in last year’s tie but all will be key here, whilst four of Arsenal’s back five will be different from the game at the Emirates.” Zonal Marking
“Even the most extensive database on earth can find no solution. Try typing into Google, “How to stop Messi” and while it produces 2,660,000 search results, none come anywhere close to answering the million pound question. When Arsenal faced Barcelona in the Champions League last season, they resisted the calls to treat Lionel Messi with special dispensation but instead, they considered him the same as everyone else and the results were disastrous. Messi was instrumental in the first leg as Arsène Wenger’s side survived an onslaught in the first twenty minutes but in the second leg at Camp Nou, delivered what he so promised at the Emirates as he ran amok to complete a devastating twenty-one minute hat-trick.” Arsenal Column
“Below are the power rankings for the UEFA Champions League heading into the knockout stage (round of 16). We will release a new rankings list after each round of the competition (until it reaches the semifinals).” The 90th Minute
“After the venerable Sid Lowe’s interview with Barcelona and Spain maestro Xavi, Robbie Savage decided to sit down with our Clive Longbottom-Fellow, Esq. to give another view about how football should be played. All this took place in a parallel universe. Robbie shared his thoughts on Blackburn’s dominance under Sam Allardyce, his footballing philosophy, Blackburn’s Champions League loss to Barcelona, and Lee Bowyer’s stunning move to the Catalan giants.” Nutmeg Radio
“They say there are things in life money can’t buy. Love, happiness, health and it now seems we can add the La Liga title to this list. Real Madrid now sit 7 points behind fierce rivals Barcelona in the league. A points tally which is increased to 8 when you take into account the head to head with the 5-0 dubbing they encountered at the Camp Nou. But perhaps because of that game and Barcelona’s current unstoppable form, psychologically it may feel like 18 points.” The Oval Log
El Tel, Archigol and Los Ingleses
“So strong has Barcelona’s production and promotion of young talent been over the last few years, it is easy to forget that the club has traditionally had a more multinational feel to it. Of the team that started the 5-0 demolition of Real Madrid in November, eight were Spaniards and the same number graduates of the famous La Masia academy.” The Equaliser
“Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has committed his future to the club for another 12 months, extending his contract through to the summer of 2012. Guardiola, who would have been out of contract at the end of this season, has led Barca to an unprecedented 16 consecutive victories in La Liga – they have not dropped a single point since drawing at home to Mallorca on October 3 – which eclipses the record set by Real Madrid in 1960-61.” ESPN
Josep Guardiola
ESPN – Pep Guardiola
“Don’t take one defeat as a sign of decline, after ten straight years in La Liga, the Yellow Submarines show no sign of relenting. Welcome to IBWM Ross Mackiewicz.” In Bed With Maradona
Pedro
“Who are your top 3 players in the world? Naturally it changes every couple of years as new stars emerge. At the end of 2011? Here’s Luke Colbourne on a contender.” In Bed With Madadona
Ronaldo
“Does anyone know who’s leading the Liga? No, not La Liga; the Liga, the Primeira Liga—Portugal’s first tier of domestic football. Does anyone know? Does anyone care? Heck, even I’ve been known to look past the Primeira Liga, and I’m Portuguese. That’s the lure of the fast-paced, money-rich, crowd-packed Premier Leagues and Bundesligas and La Ligas of this world, whose fan-friendly cable packages are often too much to resist when the alternative is a game between Paços de Ferreira and Olhanense in an empty back-lot stadium that wouldn’t make it in League Two in England. Most teams in the Championship have bigger attendances and heftier budgets than, oh, around 12 of the 16 teams in the Primeira Liga.” Run of Play
“There may have been comical goalkeeping, half-empty stadiums and a ticketing fiasco that marred the final, but the 2011 Asian Cup in Qatar was also able to boast some fine football and a handful of breath-taking matches. Football Further looks at some of the tactical points of interest at the 15th edition of Asia’s showpiece tournament.” Football Further
“If the Premier League’s final day of the winter window was a giant paella of SKY TV excitement, la Liga’s was a manky grain of rice sitting at the side of the pan with just six piddling transfers being made in the final few hours in Spain. Perky Carolina from Gol TV had been sent to the offices of the LFP where she made the giddy-eyed promise of fax machines whirring away, churning out contract details of Andrés Iniesta heading to his secret love team of Espanyol and Cristiano Ronaldo enjoying the Pamplona experience so much, on Sunday, the forward had decided to opt to play for Osasuna for the rest of his days.” FourFourTwo
“It isn’t a lack of strikers that sees Real Madrid seven points behind Barcelona and Marca’s back page on Monday instructing the Spanish FA to blast the message from their HQ with a megaphone that the Catalan club can ‘pick up the trophy from our offices, whenever you want’.” Football 365
“It may seem rather obvious to point this out, but in January 2011 it’s good to be Gerard Piqué. Still just 23 years old, the stylish Spanish center back has won the World Cup, two Champions League titles (with Barcelona and Manchester United) and three league crowns in Spain and England. He was recently named one of the world’s top four defenders in the 2010 FIFA/FIFPro World XI, and his Barcelona team is on course for a historic season in European soccer. Piqué is the rare central defender who has the chance to become a breakout global sports star. He’s good at what he does. He wins. He even scores a few goals. And away from the field he’s a handsome guy who gives interesting interviews in Spanish, Catalan and, yes, English, as I found out when we spoke for half an hour on Tuesday.” SI
“You’ll forgive me if I ramble a little this week, or even if I fail to tickle your interests, but I’ll try. I’ve been in England all week, and have only just come back. I missed the Valencia versus Malaga game on Saturday night (4-3) which sounded like a cracker, but I did manage to take in the Villarreal versus Real Sociedad game on Sunday evening (2-1), which was also very entertaining fare. In midweek, whilst Betis were doing the unthinkable and beating Barcelona, I was eating my takeaway curry and watching the FA Cup replay of Leeds v Arsenal on the hotel telly.” ESPN
“Barcelona need a goal. Oleguer, that rare Marxist of a utility player, lumps the ball forward. It drops harmlessly onto the head of Ricardo Carv…actually, no; John Terry’s perennial sense of defensive propriety kicks in, and Barça are back in possession. Our protagonist can’t (yet) bring the ball under his spell, but Andrés Iniesta, a spritely 20-year-old with the hair to prove it, keeps his cool; tempting Terry out of the backline like an anaemic pied piper. A simple pass to Ronaldinho, and the scene is set.” Ghost Goal
“Playing Málaga just after seeing Real Madrid drop two platinum-precious points against Almería could have gone one of two ways for Barcelona. Pep’s Dream Boys could have choked and had their own Primera wobble. Or they could have humped the opportunity to pieces by mauling Málaga. Seeing as this team is strong like some kind of graceful ox-type creature, Barça did the latter. The title is now officially theirs to be lost.” FourFourTwo
Barca Half-Win La Liga As Real Slip…
“After nearly two months of inactivity, the slumbering, blubbery beast that is Spain’s title race momentarily showed signs of life on Sunday night with an effulgent fart and a boisterous burp before rolling over to whack the snooze button and go back to sleep, perhaps to the end of the season if Bar軋’s astonishing form continues.” Foolball 365
Grand Bleu
“It’s proving increasingly difficult not to like Villarreal. The team is in a distant third place behind Barcelona and Real Madrid in La Liga and therefore receives relatively little media coverage outside of Spain. But in a league that has been simply too predictable this season, Juan Carlos Garrido’s side continues to excite with its beautiful, attack-minded football.” ESPN
“Or rather, ‘Argentines in Spain and Portugal,’ with a few quick additions, since there wasn’t a lot to write home about elsewhere aside from Carlos Tevez’s goal in the FA Cup. Ben Shave and David Cartlidge, though, are here to keep us up to date with the weekend’s happenings. In the wake of his FIFA World Player Of The Year coronation, I’m also adding a video of Lionel Messi’s hat trick in the Copa Del Rey on Wednesday night. Enjoy.” Hasta El Gol Siempre
Nicolaes Pietersz Berchem – View of an Italian Port
“Pep’s Dream Boys – as officially endorsed by FIFA on Monday night, according to the local press – beat Deportivo using the most basic trick in the tactical book against the Galician outfit: staying awake for the whole ninety minutes when facing their terrifically tedious opponents.” FourFourTwo
Real Madrid 4-2 Villarreal: Real battered in first half, but press higher to dominate the second
“Cristiano Ronaldo scored three goals and assisted another for Kaka, as Real came back from 1-0 and 2-1 down. Jose Mourinho used his usual 4-2-3-1 system. Sami Khedira was dropped with Lassana Diarra playing instead, whilst Kaka was again on the bench. Juan Carlos Garrido played Villarreal’s usual 4-4-2 / 4-2-2-2. Nilmar is still unavailable, so Marco Ruben started upfront. Marcos Senna and Carlos Marchena were also out – Jose Catala played at the back. Villarreal were excellent in the first half – by far the better side, and Jose Mourinho admitted after the match that the away side deserved to be leading at half-time.” Zonal Marking
“Nearly two years ago, the Daily Mail’s Matt Lawton published a piece under what should surely be considered one of the most dunderheaded headlines in recent football journalism: ‘The best players of the world (and Xavi): Ronaldo crowned king of football.’ In the wake of Cristiano Ronaldo’s ascension as the world player of the year in 2009, Lawton took the time to cheekily ridicule Xavi Hernández, a player whose patience, measure, and impeccable sense of the tempo in attack and defense has helped to make Barcelona the best club side in Europe (arguably) and Spain the best national side in the world (most certainly).” Run of Play
“Barcelona progressed to the quarter finals of the Copa del Rey on away goals with a 1-1 draw in Bilbao. In a pulsating cup tie played in front of a packed San Mamés, Athletic Bilbao left it too late but go out of the competition with great credit having held Barcelona to two draws.” Spanishfootball
Athletic Bilbao 1-1 FC Barcelona – Video Highlights, Recap, and Match Stats – Copa del Rey (King’s Cup)
The 90th Minute
“Everyone knows the impact that Johan Cruyff had footballing philosophy of Barcelona. But what if there had been another totemic figure present at the Camp Nou? What if El Tel had decided to depart a season early? Alex Dimond, ladies and gentlemen.” In Bed With Maradona
“In previous editions of ‘Long Player,’ we have soundtracked games in the NBA and the NFL, in an attempt to tap into their essence. In doing the same for soccer, one cannot currently look beyond FC Barcelona, whom many are earnestly bracketing with the greatest teams of all time. So dominant are they at present that one can even talk of there being such a thing as a generic Barcelona game. So who better to turn to than — —, player with [Generic Barcelona Opponents], who has kindly agreed to provide us with this playlist, reflecting his experience against the fearsome Blaugrana machine.” Norman Einsteins
“What better way to kick off 2011 than a six hour journey, north by northwest, from our traditional Spanish festive season HQ in Salinas del Manzano to Valladolid for a slice of Segunda Division action. This is European Football Weekends, it’s what we do, and – after the briefest of mid-season winter breaks – we’re not just back, but back with a bang, an explosion, a thermo-nuclear explosion at that.” European Football Weekends
“Barcelona have shuffled their pack in 2010, starting to prefer to Messi to play centrally rather than in the inside right role. Not formed in the archetypal central forward role, his pee-wee frame would perhaps lead some central defenders preferring to battle against the Lilliputian Argentinian.” Talking About Football
Good Day, Bad Day: Perfect Pedro and Awful Atlético
“The league has got to such a barmy bipolar state that panic breaks out across the Spanish sporting media unless Barcelona thrash another side a billion nil. In the English Premier League, sides such as Manchester United have off days – ones where they eke out points rather than rubbing their tackle in their opposition’s faces for 90 minutes – without everyone flapping their arms about in panic. But in Spain, this simply isn’t tolerated. Barça weren’t great against a disciplined Levante, but Pedro was with two goals that gave his team the three points, which is all that matters really.” FourFourTwo
“It appeared that the biggest cultural change to life in Spain since the controversial 1986 deregulation of the ham market was just too much for a small chunk of the country’s work force. Being unable by law to smoke in bars – without exceptions or loopholes, this time – from the 2nd of January and having to play football on the same day apparently caused such a rumpus for Spain’s dilettante, pipe-puffing footballers that their union went to court to request the suspension of any activity, on Sunday, involving kicking a ball about in front of paying punters – even the meagre handful who bother to turn up to see either Getafe or Mallorca.” Football 365
Andrea Pirlo
“Here’s the first in four-part series reviewing the matches of the year. As ever, the focus is upon tactics rather than entertainment or importance, though naturally the ‘bigger’ games are featured prominently. It’s also limited to games that were covered on ZM, though that includes most of the contenders for the game of the year.” Zonal Marking
“When he was first making his name with Santos, former Manchester City striker Robinho often spoke of his big ambition to be elected Fifa World Player of the Year. True, he was seeking to place himself in a tradition of some of his illustrious compatriots, but even so I always found it a depressing declaration. For what it is worth, my view is that far too much attention is given to these individual awards.” BBC – Tim Vickery
“Xavi Hernandez, the world’s finest midfielder, remembers the advice he received when, at age 10, he made a first tentative journey to La Masia, the 18th century farmhouse in the shadow of the Camp Nou where Barcelona school their youngsters.”‘My coach said, ‘Watch how Pep Guardiola plays. He is perfect in his position – your position.’ And he was right. If Pep was still playing he’d be in the side ahead of any of us.” Xavi’s progress meant he eventually played alongside Guardiola, now the first La Masia graduate to coach the first team.” The National
David Villa
“There’s a special feeling of euphoria, a kind of Olympian giddiness, that soccer fans experience while watching F.C. Barcelona. Soccer takes great athletes and makes them artificially clumsy—forces them to show what they can do, in effect, with both arms tied behind their backs. It’s a game of tricks, one that turns the simplest action, just keeping possession of the ball, into a perilous high-wire act.” Slate – Brian Phillips
“Another week another five-star performance from Barcelona, when you see such artistic brilliance every game it is easy to get complacent. It’s very difficult to take in and appreciate at times, you could question the level of the opposition which is what many do but that would be wrong as these are very good sides. The fact of the matter is if you put this Barcelona up against a Tottenham, Juventus or Bayern Munich next week the result would be very much the same. That’s not to say when they come up against Arsenal in February that they will do the same to them, a lot can change by then and as this team has been trained to reach two peaks in the season following the World cup.” Laligathemidlandsview’s Blog
La Liga Lowdown, Jornada 16: Barcelona hit five in emotional Catalan derby
“El derbi Barceloní, as it’s referred to in Catalan – the meeting of FC Barcelona and Espanyol, one of Spain’s fiercest rivalries, took place at the Cornellà-El Prat stadium this weekend. However, this time round Espanyol were fighting for more than just their pride. They were fighting to stay in 4th place in the race for Champions League qualification.” Just Football
“Welcome to the 11th Fiver Christmas Awards. Or is it the 12th? Oh, we don’t know, but if you squint hard enough you might see us being bundled out of the VVIP area of Boujis as Frank Lampard and Christine Bleakley avert their eyes.” The Fiver
“Barcelona scored five for the third time in their last four games. Mauricio Pochettino played a variation of his usual 4-2-3-1 – Luis Garcia started out on the right and Jose Callejon switched to the left. Pep Guardiola chose what seems to be his first choice XI, the same one that started the legendary 5-0 victory over Real Madrid.” Zonal Marking
“When is it reasonable for the next global superstar to be the first name on a teamsheet? Can one goal define a career? Bojan Krkić, still waiting to make that final step up, must be hoping it cannot. Alex Dimond wonders whether momentum is slowing.” In Bed With Maradona
“It’s been an historic year in the life of Spanish football. On the evening of the 11th July, with one swing of his right foot, Andrés Iniesta lit up Johannesburg to win his country its first World Cup and confirm Spain’s place at the very pinnacle of the global game. With La Liga commencing its annual winter hiatus next week, I thought I would use this week to review the year and give out some prestigious awards – Los Equalisers de Oro (The Golden Equalisers), as I like to call them.” The Equaliser
“With the squad’s best players such as Borja Valero, Mario Su疵ez and Ariz Aduriz sold off, the club slipping into administration over the summer and subsequently thrown out of the Europa League by UEFA, a position won after a fifth-place finish last season, Mallorca were expected to be one of the strugglers in la Primera, this time around.” Football 365
“For a man whose love of a logo is so strong he’s more turned on by the drivers’ brand-plastered overalls than the pit girls at Formula One races, Monday couldn’t have been better for Sandro Rosell. It was easy to tell just by looking at Rosell’s perky, beaming face just how tickled pink the Barça president was to have another logo to stick up on the walls of the Camp Nou club, as well as the institution pocketing some easy cash in the process.” FourFourTwo
Scissors Kick 