Author Archives: Jimmy Burns

I can’t recall a Barca victory having such a bitter-sweet taste about it as last night’s crushing defeat of Rayo Vallecano. It was good to see Barca scoring goals, with Messi breaking his own drought, as well as watching  substitute goalkeeper Pinto make some dramatic saves-but Pujol  showed himself a true captain when he urged  Alves and Thiago Alcantara to desist in their celebratory Brazilian dance . Sure this was a match that Barca needed to win if only to lift some of its shattered  morale after losing the La …

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We will probably never know for certain when exactly  was the moment when Pep Guardiola  decided to quit as manager of FC Barcelona. But the Guardiola  who spoke to the media after Barca’s defeat by Chelsea on Tuesday was I think no longer committed to another season. Some commentators suggested he was exhausted. To me, Guardiola looked liberated. Much has been said of Guardiola  as a person who , both as player and manager, had always chosen his next move on his own terms.  And yet circumstances I think combined …

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Never thought I would end up supporting and praising a German team, but I did last night. The precisoun, flow, spirit, and energy of their assault on Mouirinho´s Real Madrid contributed to making last night´s semi-final the best game so far of this season´s Champion´s League. I doubt the final will come anywhere near this. If Bayern  repeats this performance, it will destroy Chelsea. In Sitges last night the sports bars were mostly empty. Those that were not,  resonated to ecstatic cries of celebration. For Barca fans,  seeing Ronaldo´s blunder in …

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So I eat my hat. Barca are not through to the Champions League final in Munich this morning as I had predicted days ago they might be, and sitting here writing this in Sitges, I share in the collective Catalan hang-over. My heart and soul tells  me that Chelsea did not deserve to win. That a team that played for much of the game just defending their own goal line against a much more skilled and talented team that simply was unlucky on the night will make the final a …

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I am happily disconnected much of the time from modern comms at present but have wondered down to the village cafe mindful that my silence post El Classico might be misinterpreted. Barca lost because Guardiola got his starting line-up wrong and he is missing Villa. Now, I rarely make football predictions as you know but today is one of those exceptions. Barca will beat Chelsea with a sufficient margin to go through to Munich. Guradiola has told us his players are going to win. Oh, yes, and Pique is back.

I had twittered my expectation of  ballet in the mud. Well, it turned out  less than that,  this latest encounter between FC Barcelona and Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. It was for sure wet, damp and cold sitting with a group of Barca fans just to the right behind the goal at the visitor’s end-the kind of conditions that remind one that watching even the best  team in the world live sometimes involves a large degree of masochism. Just a yard and a line of stewards separated us from the nearest home …

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Anyone yet to be convinced of the value of Lionel Messi to the world of football need to have gone no further than watching him react to the  two goals he scored against Levante last night. The first had him picking him up the ball from inside the goal and running back to the centre of the pitch with an attitude of total selflessness and determination. Barca had been trailing, 0-1 down. They still needed to win to have any possibility of keeping open the race for  La Liga. The second …

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Easter weekend had been watching two local youth teams battling it out  on the outskirts of a very typical English provincial town. I have deliberately resisted naming the teams or the town as I would not want their reputations  unfairly tarnished. Suffice it to say that I was shocked by the poor quality of football played compared  to similar level games I have seen played in villages and towns across Spain, and I blame this on poor coaching and facilities rather than the lack of any potential talent- although it …

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