Category Archives: Football
Football notes, courtesy of Unamumo
In his excellent sports column in Tuesday’s El Pais, the incisive Martin Girard draws on the latest book by Alfredo Relaño to remind us how the divergent histories of Real Madrid and FC Barcelona have forged the identity of both clubs. It a subject close to my heart and I expand on it at some length in my new book La Roja: A Journey through Spanish Football which is due out very soon . Relaño notes that Carlos Padros, the founder of Real Madrid, was abandoned by his club during the …
Clemente at the Camp Nou
In the Spring of 1984, one of the ugliest encounters in Spanish football history, the King’s Cup final between FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao was held at the Bernabeu. The clubs had, respectively, Cesar Menotti and Javier Clemente as managers. Barca still had Maradona as a star player. The season had been characterised by a growing debate between Menotti and Clemente about how football should be played. Menotti claimed to be an admirer of free creative football which he contrasted with the defensive ‘brutal’ play favoured by Clemente. Brutality had …
Poetry vs play station
It felt like a nice tonic seeing Barca play as they did last night-creativity, goals, and much presence of La Cantera –not least Messi who was in overdrive. Only hours earlier I had to suffer two cule friends of mine moaning till the early hours about how this Barca was tired and had run out of ideas and that we could be reaching the end of a cycle i.e over to you Real Madrid. I watched Messi , pure poetry in motion, while thinking of what Vicente Del Bosque told me …
Football’s wise senor
It was a privilege to accompany Vicente del Bosque on his 24 hour visit to London yesterday when he flew the flag for his country at the Spanish tourist office, at a Q &A session at the Lumiere Cinema, and much later at Abel Lusa’s ever welcoming and excellent Cambio de Tercio restaurant on the Old Brompton Road. The fact that he is one of the most successful managers in football history has not gone to his head. On the contrary he remains understated and modest, insisting that he would …
Barca’s beauty: A view from the Gods
I have to admit that sometimes I thank God I can watch certain matches in the comfort of my sitting room. This is not because I am a couch potato by nature, or that Madrid is cold and wet at this time of year (as is Bar & Co, the boat on the Thames where I sometimes gather with fellow cules) , but because sometimes TV gives you a perspective on a match which you simply cannot capture sitting or standing in the cheapest seat you can get in …
Barca rules the World
On June 12th 1963, thousands packed the Camp Nou to watch FC Barcelona play Santos FC of Brazil in a friendly , and in particular one player called Edson Arantes do Nascimento Pelé. A year earlier, Santos had won the Brazil Cup, the Campeonato Paulista, the Copa Libertadores and the Intercontinental Cup.The Brazilian national side won the World Cup that same year. In the following season, Santos went on to win the Copa Brazil, the Libertadores and the Intercontinental Cup once again.At the Camp Nou, Barca won 2-0 and yet …
A better Europe with Pep
I have a suggestion to make in the hope that we might just end up the year with some hope for the next one: let’s appoint Pep Guardiola EU supremo for solidarity and the common good. But first let me eat half my hat. In recent days I have been warning that Real Madrid was a much stronger team than last season’s while suggesting that FC Barcelona, looking tired and demotivated, would find it hard to prevail at the first Classico of the season, at the Bernabeu. Last night I …
The beauty of youth
I think it was Oscar Wilde who wrote something once about how the best relationships were those that drew together the energy of youth and the wisdom of experience. I guess not many of you bothered to watch Tuesday night’s FC Barcelona game at the Camp Nou against a hardly glamorous champion from Belarussia. After all , Barca have already qualified for the next round of the Champions League at the head of their group, and you are saving your voice, and your liver for this coming weekend’s Classico. You …
Mourinho has the edge this season
One year is a long time in football and I can safely predict that we shall not see a repeat of last year when Barca next meet Real Madrid at the Bernabeu. There have been some exemplary matches ( the last one against Milan was one of them) but this season’s FC Barcelona has matured but seemed to have got tired and somewhat demotivated in the process. By contrast Real Madrid is looking sharp and dangerous, not least in front of goal and all this with a club that appears …
Let’s not forget Messi is human
There was collective intake of breath last night when Messi, seemingly fouled by a Zaragoza defender, clutched his achiles tendon and then started hitting the ground to deal with what seemed excruciating pain. For a brief moment there was a deya vue – memories flooded back of September 2010 when Messi badly injured was subsequently carried off on a stretcher. Messi continued playing last night and once again his presence proved decisive in motivating a convincing Barca victory. It would seem that the main reason Messi plays more matches than …
