Tag Archives: FC Barcelona

Barca’s 3-4-3 formation another tactical weapon for Guardiola

“Sometimes soccer can seem a very simple sport. The great Dutch coach Rinus Michels, the father of the Total Football school of the late sixties and early seventies and the man who took that style of soccer to Barcelona, believed that his side should always play one more defender than the other team had attackers. If the opponent played three up, Michels liked four back; if two up, then three back. To an extent, that has been the theoretical orthodoxy ever since.” SI

Barcelona 5-0 Villarreal: Guardiola switches to a 3-4-3 (diamond) and Barca run riot

“Barcelona demolished a lacklustre Villarreal side in their first La Liga game of the season. Pep Guardiola was without Dani Alves, Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique, so played just one nominal defender, Eric Abidal, and used Sergio Busquets and Javier Mascherano alongside him. Xavi Hernandez and David Villa were benched with Thiago Alcantara, Cesc Fabregas and Alexis Sanchez all starting.” Zonal Marking

Trouble in paradise

“My first, already fading, memories of a Real Madrid-Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu go back to December 1990. After a long history of failed efforts, a bunch of friends and myself finally managed to get tickets to watch the two giants face to face live. It was the second leg of that season’s Supercopa, and even though the tournament was perceived as second-rate when compared to La Liga or the old European Cup, the atmosphere in the stadium was fantastic.” ESPN

Barca and Futbol: A Widely Diverse People’s Passion

“I have always been envious of cigarette smokers – Not for the addiction and host of medical problems – no, my envy of smokers comes from a much more superficial and ridiculous place: parties. How often I’d sit at parties and want to start up a conversation with some strangers only to have absolutely nothing to break the ice with. What did I have in common with these strangers? “Nothing,” I thought, and alcohol can only lubricate a social situation so much.” In Bed With Maradona

Good Day, Bad Day: Ronaldo’s Ben Stiller face & Soldado’s sexy Saturday

“La Liga Loca can count at least seven reasons for an enormous smug cloud hanging above Barcelona after Monday night’s 5-0 win over Villarreal – a cloud so dense and orifice-clogging it may lead to mass evacuations.” FourFourTwo

Barcelona 2 – 0 FC Porto

“Cesc Fabregas scored a brilliant volley to keep Barcelona’s non-stop victory parade going with a UEFA Super Cup triumph over Porto. Fabregas, on the bench until the last 10 minutes, took Lionel Messi’s pass on his chest before rifling home to spark scenes of wild celebration from his team-mates.” ESPN

Guardiola ends the European Super Cup final with six central midfielders
“Usually ZM looks at sides’ starting line-ups for matches, before assessing how the shape changed as the game went on. This is slightly different, however, because the interesting thing about Barcelona’s Super Cup win over Porto on Friday was the way they finished the game, with six central midfielders amongst the ten outfield players.” Zonal Marking

Mata transfer to Chelsea doesn’t bode well for La Liga’s future

“Every time they say goodbye, La Liga dies a little. Now Juan Mata has signed for Chelsea from Valencia, just as Sergio Aguero signed for Manchester City from Atlético Madrid. For fans of City and Chelsea, the transfers are fantastically exciting, two great additions to two teams aspiring to win the Premier League. For the Spanish league, they are frightening. Despite the injection of around 75 million euros, the transfers are confirmation of a worrisome trend.” SI

The greatest disallowed goal of all time?

“Barcelona defeated Napoli 5-0 in the pre-season Joan Gamper Trophy at Camp Nou on Monday, Cesc Fábregas opening the scoring and Leo Messi knocking in a 15-minute second-half hat-trick. But it could all have been so different for the Italians.” Guardian

Spain preview: chasing clubs paying the price

“Like two immense superpowers, Real Madrid and Barcelona keep on piling up the arms in the race to outdo each other. Football may never have seen two squads like this head-to-head before and the battle looks set to be fascinating. It may also turn downright nasty again.” World Soccer

Mourinho tries to counter Messi’s false nine role by pushing Carvalho up the pitch

David Villa
“One of the notable features from the second leg of the Spanish Supercopa was the positioning of Ricardo Carvalho, and his response to Lionel Messi’s movement into deep, slightly right-sided positions. Messi tore Real apart in the 5-0 win last season, despite it being a rare occasion where he didn’t end up on the scoresheet. Real tried to play high up the pitch, but Messi played so deep that Jose Mourinho didn’t know how to deal with him – the two centre-backs stayed in position, but holding a high line. Therefore, Messi could receive the ball in space, turn, then send a ball through to one of the wide forwards coming inside. His two assists for David Villa’s goals were perfect, displaying exactly why Pep Guardiola wants to play Messi in that role.” Zonal Marking

Cesc Fábregas starts with a night to remember at Barcelona
“Cesc Fábregas’s first big night out since returning to his home town ended in a fight but it also ended in celebration. The former Arsenal captain has collected his first trophy as a Barcelona player, just two days after joining the club. It was 1am when he was parading round the Camp Nou pitch with new team-mates and old friends carrying the Spanish Super Cup, snatched from Real Madrid’s grasp in dramatic fashion. At last the clásicos were something approaching a classic – some way from the four games in 18 days that these teams played last season.” Guardian

José Mourinho describes Barcelona as ‘a small team’ in post-match rant
“Real Madrid’s manager, José Mourinho, has continued his verbal attack on Barcelona, labelling the European champions “a small team” after Wednesday night’s Supercopa second-leg defeat at Camp Nou. Another fantastic spectacle between the two Spanish sides was again overshadowed by the antics of Mourinho, who thrust a finger in the eye of Barça’s assistant coach, Tito Vilanova, in a melee in the closing stages.” Guardian – (Video)

José Mourinho turned to violence against Barça to mask his own failure
“Barcelona’s vision has been a problem for José Mourinho ever since he took the Real Madrid job, so gouging the eye of a Barça coach in the latest melee between the two clubs was a Shakespearian act of desperation by a manager now working outside the laws and spirit of the game.” Guardian

La Liga 2011-12 season preview

“You can tell the season is about to start when it might not be about to start after all. With barely a fortnight to go, the Spanish players’ union called a strike over more than €50m of unpaid wages and on Wednesday morning another meeting between the league and the players’ union, the AFE, broke down. According to the AFE president José Luis Rubiales, in the last two years alone 200 players have been affected by salaries that have gone unpaid. So, here we are: three days to go and there’s no football.” Guardian

Eight points on Real Madrid 2-2 Barcelona

“The 2011/12 Spanish season started with an open, exciting Supercopa first leg between Barcelona and Real. Like the Community Shield, a full-scale analysis of a semi-competitive fixture would be a little much, so here are eight talking points from the game…” Zonal Marking

Fabregas’ move to Barcelona is best for all parties concerned

“Mid-August and Cesc Fabregas still hasn’t left the building. He didn’t leave it for Malaysia, he didn’t leave it for China and he didn’t leave it for Germany. Most importantly of all, he hasn’t yet left it for Barcelona. Just two days until the start of the Premier League season, four days until yet another clásico is upon us, and we wait for a final resolution. The good news is that there has been progress — this looks set to be finally over soon. Very soon.” SI

Will Wenger survive the loss of Fabregas?

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Jan Massys, Visit to the Tax Collector, 1539
“Even the most optimistic Arsenal fans – the ones with Denilson on their replica shirts – must have known Cesc Fabregas would go to Barcelona this summer. Better this time, in fact, then have to go through it all yet again next year. But still the fee had to be fair. That was important. It didn’t have to be as much as Ronaldo – but it should have been more than Andy Carroll.” WSC

Barca made to wait over Cesc
“Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes has revealed that talks are ‘very advanced’ for Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas but the Spanish champions will be forced to wait to clinch his signature.” ESPN

Are Málaga The Man City Of Spain?

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“For 15,000 supporters to turn up for the unveiling of a 35-year-old forward arriving on a free transfer, the club in question is either based in a city which is clearly lacking in fun stuff to do, or is an institution that possesses a horde of extremely excited fans. As the side in this particular scenario is in the playboy paradise of Málaga, the masses that turned up to give Ruud Van Nistelrooy a warm hand on his entrance are an indication of a club whose supporters are genuinely living the dream and close to peeing their pants in giddy anticipation at the season to come.” Football365

Paying homage to Catalonian Luis Enrique
“Even before the satirical film An American in Rome was released in 1954 with the legendary comic actor Alberto Sordi japing around Trastevere wearing a baseball cap in the style of Joe Di Maggio threatening to destroy macaroni, Italians have held a curious fascination with the strength, opulence and freedom of the United States.” Fox Sports

Super build-up for Super Cup
“The friendlies are all but over, the endless waffle and piffle concerning Cesc and Neymar have been banished to the inside pages, Karim Benzema has been reborn for the 15th time and Leo Messi is back in Barcelona ready to open another can of whup-ass on Real Madrid. This is the state of play in the Spanish press just six days before what has been branded by one paper’s rather feeble attempt at hype as ‘the most important Supercopa in 14 years’.” FourFourTwo

A Farewell to Cannavara

“A couple of years ago, when Brian was running his ‘Inner Life of … ‘ posts, I wrote to him to suggest that this would be a good representation of the Inner Life of Fabio Cannavaro. Cannavaro may be the calmest defender I’ve ever seen, and his on-pitch serenity stemmed directly from his uncanny positional awareness. One way to think of Cannavaro is as the defensive counterpart to Xavi: just as Xavi with the ball at his feet sees angles and opportunities invisible to other players, so Cannavaro, when he was in his prime, saw attacking developments earlier than anyone else and intervened incisively to stop them.” Run of Play

The Improble Legacy of Los Matadres

“If you were to pay a visit to a home game at the Saniat R’mel stadium in the Moroccan City of Tetouan, you would be forgiven for thinking you were in the domain of a lower league Spanish side. For although this is the home of Maghreb Athletic Tetouan of the Botola League, there is a distinctly Spanish theme present amongst the clubs fanatical supporters. From the banners honouring ‘Los Matadores’ (the matadors) and the passionately waved Spanish flags, to the replica shirts of Athletic Bilbao and Athletico Madrid that echo the Red and White colours of the home team, the tributes are commonplace on the terraces.” In Bed With Maradona

Bad blood as Bojan leaves Barca

“Bojan Krkic was supposed to be Barcelona’s next big thing. He broke into the side in 2007-08, becoming the club’s youngest-ever La Liga player and, shortly afterward, its youngest-ever La Liga scorer. Both records were taken from Lionel Messi. Bojan went on to score 10 league goals in that campaign, a decent return for a debut season. However, demonstrating how alarmingly his career has stalled, 2007-08 remains the season in which he played the most league minutes — 1,459, to be precise.” ESPN

The Rise and Fall of Héctor Cúper

“What do Sir Alex Ferguson, Ottmar Hitzfeld, Carlo Ancelotti, José Mourinho and Josep Guardiola have in common? They are the only members of an elite group of managers who have won the UEFA Champions League twice. As members of the group, they are always guaranteed work at the top level of world football. This season a familiar face returns to Spain, a man who has come as close as anyone to entering this group. Héctor Cúper will probably feel he is the unluckiest manager in football.” In Bed With Maradona

Alexis arrives, Bojan blubs & Kaká runs out of credit

“There was grinning and gushing, shrieking and spurting in the Catalan capital last weekend, as there was finally something for Barça fans to talk about aside from how stupendously superior they are to every other side on the planet and how much they hate those dastardly dastards over at the Bernabeu.” FourFourTwo

Which Striker Should Jose Mourinho Sign?

“José Mourinho has already splurged €55m on five players this summer but the Real Madrid coach and newly appointed ‘sporting manager’ wants one more. In an echo of last year’s narrative, the Special One is desperate to sign another striker so he doesn’t go have to go out hunting with Karim ‘the cat’ Benzema, as he complained last time round when Gonzalo Higuaín knacked his back. Here are the four frontrunners whose names have been bandied around in Spain as the main men who could join the Santiago Bernabeu strike force.” Football365

Arsenal give Barcelona 10 days to sign Cesc Fábregas

“Arsenal have given Barcelona until the end of next week to sign Cesc Fábregas.Arsène Wenger is not prepared to countenance any deal for his 24-year-old captain unless he has time to reinvest the fee in a replacement before the transfer window closes on 31 August.” Guardian

IBWM and World Soccer: Writers Wanted

“Providing detailed analysis and featuring articles from the likes of Sid Lowe, Tim Vickery, Jonathan Wilson, David Conn and Brian Glanville, World Soccer is the oldest and most respected football magazine on the planet. Now into its 51st year, World Soccer is read by thousands each month including players, coaches, managers and many of the most influential names in the beautiful game. IBWM is the award winning home of world football which reaches more than 150 countries and is visited by more people each week than you can cram into the Camp Nou on a matchday.” In Bed With Maradona

Barca press cry ‘scandal’ over fixture list, while Zidane puts the kettle on

“Last Thursday marked the pre-season’s first bout of conspiracy theorising and childish screams of ‘it’s not fair!’ in the ongoing media war between Real Madrid and Barcelona. It was the day after the fixtures for the 2011-12 campaign were announced and the loonier parts of the Barça press thought they could smell a rather pungent rat as they cast their eyes over Barcelona’s opening few games, which kick off with a trip to a beefed-up Málaga.” FourFourTwo

Transfer activity this summer is frenzied so far despite FFP rules

“This summer is quickly turning into one of the most frenzied transfer periods in recent years. In the Premier League alone, Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool have already spent a combined £77 million ($122.9M) on new players, a figure that could easily double before the end of August, as even bigger moves (Samir Nasri to Man Utd, Wesley Sneijder to Man Utd, Ezequiel Lavezzi to City, Stewart Downing to Liverpool) potentially come to fruition. Then there’s Chelsea, yet to sign a new high-profile recruit, and Arsenal, who’ll be eager to add to the £9 million ($14.3M) outlay for Gervinho in the wake of some high-profile departures. It’s feasible that total spending among the 20 first division English teams will top £400 million ($638.8M) this year.” SI

The 50 greatest managers of all time

Joan Bleau – 1645 – Cumberland
“Alex Ferguson looked on, realising a big lesson was needed here. He had been sitting in the Carrington canteen, chatting away to an old friend but keeping a vigilant eye on the Manchester United youngsters lining up for lunch. As underage forward Robbie Brady opened his mouth to order, he was suddenly cut off by someone cutting in. Cristiano Ronaldo, just in the door and having just received the 2008 Ballon D’Or, presumed the place in the queue to go with his new prize.” The Football Pantheon

Tourney of greatest club teams

Gerd Muller and Paul Breitner. Germany in the 70s.
“THE IDEA: Is the present Barcelona side the best team ever? The debate feels futile: this side was great going forward; this side was great at the back; this side had so many great individuals it was impossible to stop them scoring; this side was so good defensively it could stop anybody from scoring. So let’s add a structure; let’s design a tournament in which the best sides can compete against each other, analyzing virtual games between the best teams there have ever been. It’s guesswork, of course, but at least it’s educated guess work.” SI – Jonathan Wilson, Pt. 1, SI – Jonathan Wilson, Pt. 2

High Five: Top Five FC Barcelona Defenders In The Last Decade

“It is quite natural for offensive players to hog the lime-light. We, at TheHardTackle, do not deny that and have already paid our tribute to them. However, trophies are won on the basis of a great defence. It is not a coincidence that teams with stingy defensive lines usually end up winning league titles. Yet, defenders are sadly a neglected lot. They rarely get the spotlight or awards, despite performing well. Here’s a little homage to the top five Barcelona defenders in the last decade.” The Hard Tackle

Five Stunning Signings In Spain

“In gathering together this list of five of the best signings in Spain over the past five years, a number of criteria were used. The most important was, of course, personal preference. But others did include a complex formula of cost multiplied by resale value (if appropriate) divided by how important the player was to the club. There was also some other stuff thrown in for good measure.” Football 365

Pep Guardiola: Obsession Down Memory Lane

“Pep Guardiola is oft-lauded as a character of certainly revolutionary manner; with his deployed tactics of choice and on-field innovativity, one could be taken for a fool to presume otherwise. But beyond the surface of wizardry, Catalonia’s number one visionary succumbs to retromania and comes off as a champion of conservatism.” In Bed With Maradona

A football revolution

“Every tiny aspect of a football match can now be recorded and scrutinised. FT Weekend Magazine commissioned artist Giles Revell to create a series of images of the recent Champions League Final between Barcelona and Manchester United, using exclusive data extracted from the game by the analysis company Prozone” FT – Simon Kuper

ZM’s European Team of the Season 2010/11

Horatius Cocles Defending the Bridge, Charles Le Brun
“A self-explanatory list of eleven starters, and eleven substitutes.” Zonal Marking

Valencia’s Mata looks likely to exit

“Once the tipping point is reached departures become inevitable and the slide becomes harder to arrest than ever; what starts as an emergency solution risks becoming a permanent situation, the enshrinement of inequality and the inability to compete. Handled well, the effects can be palliated but, barring a sudden shift, the trend is unavoidable. Spanish soccer has reached that tipping point. Valencia certainly have.” SI

Review of the Season: No plan ‘B’ for Barça & Mourinho’s blacklist

“Real Madrid ended October above Barcelona after perfect month – essential in a league where dropping a single point is as advisable as jamming your todger in a toaster. Pep’s Dream Boys carelessly threw away two precious points at the Camp Nou in a 1-1 draw against Mallorca, prompting mass panty-bunching panic in the Catalan capital.” FourFourTwo

A meeting with Spain: Alonso, Arbeloa and Silva get candid

“It’s not often U.S. fans get the opportunity to mingle in the presence of footballing royalty. So when adidas organized a meet-and-greet recently with nine members of the reigning World Cup champions in advance of Spain’s recent friendly against the U.S., plenty were on hand at the “We Got Soccer” store to get a glimpse of Spain’s stars up close and personal.” SI

U21: 8 players to watch at the European Championships

“As we tied up the last remnants of the 2010/11 season, packed up the suitcases and prepared to hit a few well deserved weeks in the sun, we realised… football isn’t ending just yet. This weekend in Denmark, Europe’s finest young players will be showcased in the U21 European Championships, so here are eight of those players – one from each team – that you should be looking out for.” backpagefootball

Ten Spanish La Liga talents that could be on the move this summer
“And so it starts. There hasn’t even been much of a break for the national team. No sooner had the season finished — even before the season had finished — than they were talking about the new signings. In doing so they confirmed a basic and ultimately destructive trend: Madrid and Barcelona not only have the most voracious appetites in Spain, but they are the only ones with the wallets to satisfy those appetites. Sometimes there is not even much of a plan, just an attitude that says: he’s good, let’s get him before anyone else does.” SI

La Liga Team Of The Year 2011

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“I’ve taken the decision to name my team of the year without any mention of Barcelona or Real Madrid players. You know about them already, so it’s time for the rest of La Primera Division to get an honourable mention.” Footy Matters

Review of the season: Pep & Zlatan fall out as Madrid move for Özil

“The month began as most do in la Liga – with a big, stinky controversy fishier than a Valencia pavement café which was only cast aside by the Spanish press when José Mourinho said something particularly outrageous and offensive. This particular bit of dodgy business focussed on Hércules – one of the more colourful clubs in la Primera last season – with reports suggesting particular members of the Alicante side may have ‘encouraged’ opposition teams to perhaps not try as hard as they might during the club’s promotion campaign from la Segunda the previous season.” FourFourTwo

Brian Phillips: Are even Barcelona unable to save football?

“Football has been murdered, resurrected, strangled, saved, thrown in a ditch, pulled out of the ditch, bought, sold, given away, wrecked, and redeemed so many times that nothing’s really shocking anymore. But even by the standards of the modern game, the contrasts presented by the last ten days have been eye-opening.” Life’s a pitch – Brian Phillips

Lionel Messi assures his place in the pantheon of the greats

“‘Lionel is the best player I’ve ever seen, probably the best ever. He made the difference. Messi is unique, a one-off….’ Pep Guardiola looked to be drifting off into predictable territory with his eulogy of Lionel Messi after the UEFA Champions League final but he suddenly slipped into a more sombre note when turning his attentions to Lionel Messi: the human being. ‘….Messi is unique, a one-off,’ he continued. ‘I just hope he doesn’t get fed up. When he doesn’t play well it is because something is wrong with his environment. Let’s hope he can continue playing well.'” The Arsenal Column

Messi the perfect combination

“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

It’s the Sids 2011! The complete review of the past La Liga season

“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

What makes Barcelona such a formidable team? – Part 1

“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

Goals of the Season 2010-11

“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

The 50 greatest European club sides

“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

La Liga Review 2010/11: Levante’s Miracle and Málaga’s Near Disaster

“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

FC Barcelona: Culminating With a Dream

“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

Sergio Busquets: Barcelona’s best supporting actor sets the stage

“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 End of Barcelona

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

The tale of how Guardiola and Barcelona fell in love

“‘Citizens of Catalunya, now we have it here with us,’ were Pep Guardiola’s words to the celebrating masses on 24 May 1992. Barcelona had been to Wembley and come back with the club’s first European Cup. The skin-and-bones No 10 with the full head of thick, jet-black hair was 21 years old. He had marched up to take charge of the extra-time free-kick from which Ronald Koeman would score, only to be pushed away by Hristo Stoichkov, five years his senior.” Independent

Five things to watch in the Champions League final Story Highlights
“It’s here: the biggest game of the year in world club soccer. Five things to watch for in Saturday’s UEFA Champions League final between Barcelona and Manchester United (2 p.m. ET, Fox)…” SI

Can’t England get United behind the red half of Manchester in the Champions League?
“On the day of the game, when Manchester United last played in Lisbon in 2007, Sir Alex Ferguson commandeered a crew from in-house broadcasters MUTV and headed out to Oeiras, west of the city. In the Jamor sports complex, surrounded by woodlands, lies the Estadio Nacional, an oval arena, medium-sized, that is the traditional setting for the Portuguese cup final. Ferguson had the crew film him walking out on to the pitch and at various points around the stadium.” DailyMail

Champions League Final Predictions: What the bloggers say
“There’s nothing predictable about Saturday’s Champions League Final between Manchester United and Barcelona – but ITV have asked a selection of the top football bloggers to give it a go anyway…” itv

Lessons from the 2009 final (part one)

“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

Football Culture Clash: a debate with Paul Hayward

“On a flight back from Spain, a chance meeting with Paul Hayward, Chief Sports Writer for The Observer, led to a lengthy discussion on the cultural differences between the English and Spanish game. Our conversation took place in the aftermath of the Champions League semi finals that did little to enhance the reputation of La Liga in the eyes of the British press and public. With this Saturday`s Champions League final bringing our two footballing cultures together, Paul Hayward and I thought it would be interesting to continue our comparisons of attitudes and approaches to the sport via email and publish them here. Here`s the first couple of exchanges between Paul and I. Please join in the debate and check back later in the week when our focus turns to the big game between Manchester United and FC Barcelona at Wembley…” Guillem Balague, (2)

Varied tactical options for Man United to deploy against Barcelona

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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

Good Day, Bad Day: Disaster for Depor and a record for Ronaldo

“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

Lionel Messi: Boy Genius

“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

Málaga 1 – 3 Barcelona

“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

Cataloons

“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

Barca back-ups draw blank

“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

Leo Messi’s Groin and the Glamour of Journalism

“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

Good Day, Bad Day: Disaster for Depor but ecstasy for Osasuna

“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