“I’d grab a football straight away. That way I could know what it felt like to be the best player on the planet. It must be amazing.”
Tennis player David Ferrer, who plays fellow countryman Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals of The French Open, responds to the question “What would you do if you could be Lionel Messi for 24 hours?”. Ferrer supports Barca, while Nadal is a known Madridista.
While AC Milan is intent on holding onto their stellar centre-back Thiago Silva, a new rumour to surface in Spain suggests that the Italian club may be lured not just with money but with ‘Thiago’? Wait, what, you ask? We are talking about Barça midfielder (aka Xavi’s heir apparent) Thiago Alcantara, who is quite liked by Berlusconi’s team. You want proof? Marca quotes Ariedo Braida, managing director of Milan, with “We like Thiago, he’s a great player.” It wouldn’t be called transfer news if it didn’t have a degree of ridiculousness to it, or so it seems.
Meanwhile, Adriano Galliani, the administrative director of AC Milan, made the unfortunate decision of holidaying in Barcelona and instead of getting a much-deserved break was hounded with questions of “Are you here to sell Thiago Silva?” or “Is that Silva there in your luggage?” To which Galliani said via Com Radio,”Thiago Silva is not up for sale, and will stay at Milan next season for certain.” He added, ”It is Sunday, a non-working day, and I have no plans to meet up with the Barcelona people.” That’s a rude thing to say, if you ask us. You can’t be in the Catalan city and not meet people from Barcelona who are “Barcelona people“.
The 23 players from the Dutch football team, who are stationed in Poland for the UEFA Euro 2012, pooled in money to set up a Johan Cruyff football court in Primary School 93 in Bronowice, Krakow. Radio Netherlands reports that “high-rise concrete buildings abound and so do children apparently [in Bronowice]. There are 6,000 of them, who have to make do with just three playgrounds.” But thanks to a fenced football pitch - 42mx28m – the kids now also have an artificial turf to play on. The official statement from the Holland squad said that it “wishes to leave a tangible legacy to the local community and offer children a safe spot close to home where they can play football.” And who better to name it after other than Holland and Barca football icon Johan Cruyff. The Orange Cruyff Court in Krakow is the 158th of its kind and the 22nd outside the Netherlands.
Netherlands kick off their Euro campaign in Kharkiv, Poland Ukraine facing Denmark on June 9.
Reports in Spain indicate that FC Barcelona are keen to sign defender Jordi Alba before the Catalan makes a formidable impression in Euro 2012 and which will allow Valencia raise his transfer fee. The club is therefore keen to reach an agreement with Valencia to secure the services of the left-back. The trouble is that Valencia, unsurprisingly, want to make the most out of the transfer and are quoting a price of €15 million for the player, who has a €40 million buyout clause. Barca, on the other hand, are willing to pay a maximum of €11 million for the alumnus of La Masia. Alba has a year left on his contract with Valencia and hasn’t yet signed an extension perhaps indicating that he too like Cesc Fabregas wants to return to his boyhood club.
Source: Marca; Image credit: JAIME REINA/AFP/Getty Images
Cules face a dilemma. FC Barcelona players and the club captains Carles Puyol and Xavi Hernandez are two of the 10 nominees for the annual Golden Foot Award, which is awarded to the “best active footballer over the age of 29“. The duo were also in contention last year but lost out to winner Manchester United’s Ryan Giggs, who this year has voted for Xavi, said the club’s official site.
You too can vote for Xavi or Puyol by visiting www.goldenfoot.com. Last date for casting your vote is October 12. The award will be handed out on October 14 in Montecarlo, where the winner also gets to “leave his prints in concrete on the ‘Champions Promenade’, located on football’s famous ‘Walk of Fame.’”
Andres Iniesta, Spain’s standout player in its narrow 1-0 victory over China, was on the receiving end of plaudits from his teammates. ”He’s not really that good, is he?” Juan Mata. “He sees spaces where it looks like there aren’t any and can stop to break in the most difficult areas. He knows how to choose the perfect moment. His head works at an incredible speed. He’s a footballer to enjoy playing beside.”
David Silva, who scored the goal from Iniesta’s assist, joined in the Iniesta praise fest and said, “Playing alongside Andrés and getting on with him is very simple. He has the ability of doing things easily that seem impossible.”
There was some good news for Spain ahead of Euro 2012. FC Barcelona’s Cesc Fábregas resumed training with his national teammates after recovering from an injury that saw him out of the initial training sessions and friendlies which served as prep work for the Euros. Fabregas along with 22 other players and the coaching, medical and technical staff later left for Gdansk, Poland, which will host the three games of the defending champions in the group stage of the tournament. The door of the plane boasted the message of ‘Orgullosos de nuestra selección’ (Proud of our national team). Marca reports that Ramos’ new hairdo – the long locks have gone – was the subject of much conversation during the flight. From Gdansk, the team travelled to Gniewino, a small town of 2,000 inhabitants which will be the players’ base.
More pictures after the jump.
“I’ve been a Barça fan for a long time. I almost even became the club’s vice president. I ran but ended up third behind (Joan) Laporta’s (former Barça president) nominees. I’ve been a Barça member for a while now and would love to take Richard Krajicek [Dutch tennis player] because he knows everything there is to know about football. “
Former tennis player Sergi Bruguera, a clay court specialist from Spain who won The French Open twice, tells rolandgarros.com who he’d go to a football match with.
Nine of 23 players in the Spain national team of Euro 2012 were part of FC Barcelona’s academy, La Masia. They are goalkeepers Victor Valdes and Pepe Reina, defenders Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba, midfielders Sergio Busquets, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, and forward Pedro Rodriguez.
After Ibrahim Afellay, it was the talents of FC Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets that were put under the scanner ahead of the UEFA Euro 2012. Of the many trophies that Busquets has accumulated since he sealed a place in Barca’s first team, one of the few titles that eludes him is the European championship. The 23-year-old player will be at his best to ensure that Spain defend the title.
“A fixture for Guardiola – even Javier Mascherano had to be relocated to central defence – and Del Bosque, coaches and team-mates appreciate his work more than anyone. “He sweeps up everything, just like a snowplough,” says Gerard Piqué.” Read the complete profile here.
With the 2011-12 season concluded, the CIES Football Observatory declared Lionel Messi as the winner of its gold medal for the Most Productive Player (MPP) in the big-5 leagues. The Argentine beat 908 other players “who had qualified for analysis as a result of completing at least 50% of all playing minutes over the duration of the 2011/12 season“. Messi’s club teammate Xavi Hernandez finished second ahead of Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo. Messi was also the Football Observatory’s most awarded player of the season, winning two golds, three silvers and one bronze.
CIES Football Observatory’s rankings were classified according to players “pitch productivity per minute played in the following areas of the game: shooting, chance creation, take on, distribution and recovery. For the general index, each indicator was weighted according to the strength of the correlation with points achieved by clubs at the end of the season.“ Player pitch statistics were provided by CIES’s partner company Opta.
Continue after the jump for Liga rankings in five categories.
“Rafael Nadal. He’s a fan of Real Madrid. I support Barça, so it would make for a bit of banter. “
Serbian tennis player Janko Tipsarevic, a cule, would want to watch el clasico with Spaniard Rafael Nadal for it’d be fun.
Source and Photo credit: www.rolandgarros.com
“I really admire Lionel Messi, even though I’m not a football fan. I recently had the chance to meet him in Barcelona, and for the first time in my life I was extremely nervous at the thought of speaking to someone. I stammered out a few words, nearly stuttering. It was almost embarrassing (laughing). “
The Slovak tennis player [pictured in red jacket], who beat world no 1 Victoria Azarenka at the French Open 2012, tells rolandgarros.com that Lionel Messi is the person she’d most like to meet again since the first time she was short for words.
FC Barcelona player Ibrahim Afellay bolstered his chances to be a part of Netherlands starting XI for the upcoming Euro championships with two goals in the 6-0 thrashing of Northern Ireland. Bert van Marwijk’s team was firing on all cylinders albeit playing against an average opponent who were without their key players in Amsterdam Arena. In their fourth and final warm-up friendly game, Afellay and company wanted to be in full form and ready for their opening Euro 2012 game against Denmark on June 9 in Poland.
The Dutch were 4-0 up by half-time with a header and a penalty kick from from Arsenal striker Robin Van Persie, and a goal from Wesley Sneijder and Afellay each. The 26-year-old Afellay struck the net again in the second half and it was his corner kick that saw central defender Ron Vlaar head the ball into the net. In Netherlands’ second friendly against Slovakia, Afellay played 80 minutes and had a role to play in the first goal. It was Afellay’s strike that resulted in an own goal from Slovakia.
See Afellay’s goals and corner kick that led to the goal after the jump.
Marca published some rarely-seen photographs of Spain national team players including Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets and Cesc Fabregas in their early football days. See more pictures of Barca men as boys after the jump.
Ahead of his country’s 2014 World Cup qualifier against Ecuador at River Plate’s El Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina captain Lionel Messi spoke to the press and one of the topics on everyone’s mind was what did he make of Barca manager Pep Guardiola’s departure after four fantastic years at the club. Under Guardiola, Messi has only blossomed as a player, showcasing his true potential after he was proclaimed as a future star of the game at 17. ”After everything that he achieved, replacing Guardiola is no easy feat,” said Messi at the Argentina training camp in Ezeiza. ”Everything was thanks to Pep and Tito. I wish him all the best for the future.”
The captain of Albiceleste added, “The truth is that Pep’s departure surprised me. It saddens me because I didn’t expect it. I spent four amazing years at his side. Now we’re moving into a new age and I have to live it with the same intensity. It won’t be easy. It’s difficult to say what we expect from Tito. He coached me when I was a kid. Like Guardiola said – they did everything together, and that was a great help to me during those years.”
Former Barcelona midfielder and Juvenil A coach, Oscar Garcia was introduced to the media as the head coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv football club. The 39-year-old Garcia has signed a two-year contract with the Israeli side after resigning as coach of Barcelona’s youth team. This will be Garcia’s first stint with a senior team and he addressed the press gathered at the club’s training complex at Kiryat Shalom with the help of a translator. “I had better financial offers, but I preferred to come here because of the challenge,” Garcia said. “I had the opportunity to become the Barcelona B coach in two years time, but I wanted to come here as I feel ready to be the Maccabi coach. I will certainly try to make Maccabi the Barcelona of Israel.”
The Brazilian centre-half Henrique Adriano Buss, who was signed in summer 2008 and could never manage to break into Pep Guardiola’s side, has been released by FC Barcelona. The club announced that even though there was a year remaining on Henrique’s contract, the player and the club have agreed to amicably part ways and terminate the player’s contract.
Henrique along with compatriot Keirrison was one of former technical director Txiki Begiristain’s few signings that failed to make an impact at the club. The defender was signed from Palmeiras in the hope that he could be a formidable force in Barca’s defense. But not having impressed he was loaned thrice during his stint at Barca: first to Bayer Leverkusen, then to Racing Santander (two seasons) and finally to Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras.
The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) goes where the money goes. After having La Liga matches kick off at noon to cater to Asian TV audiences, the RFEF is taking it a step further or farther whichever way you see it. The federation has agreed to a preliminary deal with Chinese promoter United Vansen International Sport which will see the two Spanish Super Cup matches be played in Beijing from 2013 onwards. One of the key features of the seven-year deal states that five of the next seven finals of the competition will take place in the fastest growing economy of the world.
“He is not human; he’s from another planet. I’ve played against him several times and he’s incredible – he’s not a normal player. In the same way that there’s Barcelona and the rest of the world, there is also Messi and the rest of the Barça players. He does things that only he is capable of doing. He’s exceptional.”
In an interview to FIFA.com, Sevilla player Frederic Kanoute is so in awe of Lionel Messi’s supreme skills he thinks that the Argentine doesn’t belong to planet earth.
It is D-Day for 16 European teams to announce their squad for the upcoming UEFA European Championships. Spain manager Vicente del Bosque followed suit and revealed the names of the 23 players who will be travelling to Ukraine and Poland to defend the title. Seven Barca players made the cut including Pedro who after an injury-marred season did enough in the last stint to convince del Bosque of his abilities. Accompanying Pedro will be his teammates midfielders – Xavi, Iniesta, Cesc and Busquets – defender Pique and goalkeeper Valdes. Barca yet again was the club with the most members in the national team. That number would most likely have been NINE if not for injuries to David Villa and Carles Puyol.
Spain kick off their Euro campaign on June 10 against Italy, later facing Republic of Ireland and Croatia respectively in the other Group C clashes.
Full squad after the jump.
The victory over Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey finals on Friday has come at a price for Barca albeit not that heavy given that the 2011-12 season is finally over. What it does is jeopardise the fitness of the three players – Cesc Fabregas, Thiago Alcantara and Isaac Cuenca – for the upcoming tournaments namely Euro and Olympics. Fabregas and Thiago, who were on the bench before getting a few minutes in the match, were both reported to be injured post it. As the club’s official site stated, Fàbregas complained of problems with his right leg. Medical tests confirmed he had pulled the “femoral bicep in his right leg“. The 25-year-old player is expected to be out for seven to 10 days. On the other hand, Thiago ”suffered a knock on his right tibia“. Medical tests showed that he has “an edema in his right leg” and how he recovers from it will determine how soon he’ll be back. Finally, Cuenca ”suffered a knock on the articular surface of his right knee”. Tests indicated that “he has an external meniscal cyst” that will sideline him for 15 days.
Source: www.fcbarcelona.com; Photo credit: David Ramos/Getty Images
Netherlands international and FC Barcelona Ibrahim Afellay had double the reason to be jubilant on Saturday May 26 as the 26-year-old player was named in the final 23 of Bert van Marwijk’s squad for Euro 2012. Afellay will be part of the tournament which will see Netherlands face off Germany, Portugal and Denmark, in what has been termed as the group of death. The 2010 FIFA World Cup finalists begin their quest for Euro on 9 June when they will be up against Denmark before facing Germany and Portugal. All matches will be played in Kharkiv in Ukraine, one of the hosts alongside Poland. Prior to the tournament, Netherlands will play three friendly matches: against Bulgaria (lost 1-2), Slovakia on May 30 and Northern Ireland on June 2.
Full squad after the jump.
Pep Guardiola has left cules with many unforgettable memories that they’d cherish for years to come and appeased many football fans with an attacking style . One of them happens to be British director Paul Greengrass, the man behind The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, who will be directing Barca, a documentary on the club’s four trophy-laden and fantastic years under the outgoing coach Guardiola. During the period, the most successful in club history, FC Barcelona won 13 titles, with one left to play – Copa del Rey on May 25. “I’m excited to tell the extraordinary story of Barca and their magnificent achievements under Pep Guardiola on film,” said Greengrass, a Crystal Palace fan. ”They have given the world a rare glimpse of sporting perfection, and memories that will last for as long as the game is played.”
The season’s ended for pretty much all the clubs. Not for Guardiola’s Barcelona, which has a chance to nab trophy no 14 on May 25. But the press has already moved on to more important matters in hand, which means only one thing – TRANSFER RUMOURS. Yes, if it was up to the press every bright star of a rival club could become a Barca player in the upcoming season. So it hardly comes as a surprise that the names of Gareth Bale, Iker Muniain, Robin Van Persie and Javi Martinez are being linked to Barca, given that all have played a vital role in the success of their respective teams this season.
Ibrahim Afellay has made the penultimate shortlist of Bert van Marwijk’s Netherlands squad for Euro 2012 despite spending most of the season recovering from a knee injury. Having returned to training pitch in April and given valuable minutes playing with Barca seems to have been enough to convince Vasn Marwijk that the 26-year-old player has recovered completely and is ready for the big competition. It was a belief shared by Pep Guardiola, who started the player in the match against Real Betis.
The 36-player list was further narrowed down to 27 with Afellay making the cut. The nine players to miss the trip to Ukraine and Poland are Urby Emanuelson, Hedwiges Maduro, Alexander Büttner, Jasper Cillessen, Ola John, Erwin Mulder, Nick Viergever, Stefan de Vrij and Georginio Wijnaldum. Afellay won’t be able to join his national teammates at the training camp in Lausanne, which begins today, due to club commitments – Barca take on Athletic Bilbao in Copa del Rey final on May 25. As a result, the player won’t be available for Holland’s friendly against FC Bayern München on May 22 and will miss the match against Bulgaria on May 26 too.
The Sun, Rupert Murdoch-owned British tabloid, reports that Barca are considering to sign Chelsea forward Didier Drogba on a free transfer. The 34-year-old player from Ivory Coast, whose contract with the English club expires at the end of this season, was considered to be eyeing a move to China, United States or Milan even though Chelsea has offered him a two-year contract. But with Barca knocking on the doors, Drogba may reconsider given that Chelsea has to beat Bayern Munich at Allianz Arena to qualify for the Champions League next season as they only finished sixth in the Premier League behind Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspurs and Newcastle United.
According to The Sun, La Liga club is willing to offer Drogba a two-year deal worth up to £5 million a season to say goodbye to Chelsea and share the locker room with the likes of Messi, Xavi and Iniesta. The publication also cites an unnamed Barcelona source to lend authenticity to the exclusive. “What the team needs is an attacking player who has the presence and strength to trouble defenders,” says anonymous “Drogba has that profile and is one of the players the club are looking at.”
Former Barcelona B coach Luis Enrique, who joined as head coach of Italian club AS Roma last season, has confirmed that he will quit his job and take a year off. Enrique’s start in first-team coaching didn’t live up the lofty expectations that were set given that he had coached Barca B for three seasons. AS Roma suffered 14 defeats in Serie A, finished seventh in the league and therefore couldn’t secure a spot in the Europa League – enough for many to proclaim Enrique’s season a failure.
“I’m going because I’m tired, I’ve always given 110 percent but I don’t think I’m able to recover my strength before the beginning of next season,” said Enrique, a statement that echoed the mental state of departing Barca manager Pep Guardiola.”That’s also why I know I won’t coach anywhere else. I need to recover after this difficult but beautiful experience. I’ve used up all my energy to try to get results and I’m sorry that we didn’t manage to get third place.”
Andres Iniesta Lujan celebrates his 28th birthday on May 11, 2012.
The technical profile of Barca’s no 8 on the club’s official site offers some interesting details:
“Intuitive, vertical, fast and intelligent, Andrés Iniesta is a man of many virtues. The midfielder started out in defence for Barça B and before that the club’s youth teams. But as he gained in first team experience, he was also moved into a more attacking role. He is now a full-on striker, and is also able to play as a midfielder or on either of the flanks of the Barça forward line.”
totalBarca wishes Andres Iniesta many happy returns of the day and hopes that he has a fantastic, injury-free and trophy-laden year ahead.
Following the footsteps of his friend Josep Guardiola, Manel Estiarte, Barça’s head of external relations, announced that he too will leave FC Barcelona at the end of the season, as was confirmed on the club’s official site. “I told the President three days ago that I was leaving- It’s been an amazing time that we have enjoyed together and I want to give an enormous thank you to the Club, the board who have shown their confidence in me and especially to Pep”, said Estiarte to Barça TV.
One of the world’s finest waterpolo players, Estiarte joined Barça’s head of external relations in 2008, when Guardiola took over as the manager. About his departure, he said, ”I feel very sad but also pride in the fact that I am following a friend“, referring to Guardiola’s decision to leave. “Maybe I’m wrong, but I have always done what I thought was best for the Club.”
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