Let me honest. It’s been a long time since I felt as proud of being a Barca fan as tonight when FC Barcelona beat Bayern Munich 3-0.
This was a game played by two great sides, charged with emotion, pursued with strength, and delivered with grace by the best player in the world that worked his magic a amidst giants of the game.
This was a first leg that should have been a final but will still endure in the memory of any true football fan as a master class, where Pep Guardiola, now a manager of the German champions, in the end capitulated to the best Barca team effort since he won the Champion’s League with his native Catalan team at Wembley.
It was great to see Bayern and former Real Madrid’s Xavi Alonso be the first to congratulate Messi at the end of the game, a noble veteran saluting the genius poet that created his best lines and brought real joy back to the Nou Camp.
Have you read this book?
La Roja is bestselling author Jimmy Burns tremendous opus on Spanish soccer. From its early beginnings when the first soccer on the shores of Bilbao and Buenos Aires was played by British sailors and engineers, through to the influx of South American stars, and similarly inspirational Italians, Dutchman and Scandinavians.