FC Barcelona

[avscol]

Vastus teemale \'Barca\'

Viimane uudis räägib seda, et Etoo kaalub jaanuaris Africa Nations Cupil mängida. See ei oleks küll tore, eriti kui ta praegu nii hoos on. Samas kui ta sinna mängima läheb, siis on põhjust, miks seda cupi vaadata:P

[marrrtin]

Vastus teemale \'Barca\'

Eino, meil Larsson ka mõneks mänguks võtta.

Las läheb! Aga proovigu viga saada!

[avscol]

Vastus teemale \'Barca\'

nüüd ongi selge, et Etoo mängib Africa Nations Cupil. Siis kindlalt ei tohi Maxit välja laenata, Larsson saab ka siis mänguaega.

[Karla]

Vastus teemale \'Barca\'

Praegu näitab Eurosport Barca mänge Meistrite Liigas alates 1991.
aastast

[Saarlane]

Vastus teemale \'Barca\'

Aga sportnet kirjutas, et Larsson on selle hooaja jooksul La Ligas mänginud 20 korda ja selle aja jooksul löönud 5 väravat! Ma armastan sportnetti! Ok, ok. Et siis Larsson minemas tagasi kodumaale, klubid tahavad seal teda võidu taga ajada. Maja olemas juba Helsingborgis ja puha...

[sepakas]

Vastus teemale \'Barca\'

kas sa nagu arvestasid, et larsson ka kevadel äkki mängis?

[Saarlane]

Vastus teemale \'Barca\'

Et ma nagu ütlesin väga selgelt edasi mis seal oli kirjas. SEL HOOAJAL!

[lorenzo]

Vastus teemale \'Barca\'

naljakas, keegi on pannud ules sellise voistkonna Catalunya-Paraguay mangus ulesse:

Catalunya:
PORTERO VALDES (F.C. BARCELONA)
DEFENSAS :
OLEGUER (F.C.BARCELONA)
PUYOL (F.C.BARCELONA)
CAPDEVILA (DEPORTIVO)
ROGER (VILLAREAL)


MEDIOS:
LUQUE (NEWCASTLE)
XAVI (F.C.BARCELONA)
CESC (ARSENAL)
PIQUE (MANCHESTER UNITED)

DELANTEROS:
SERGIO GARCIA (EX BARÇA)
TAMUDO (ESPAÑOL)

on kellegil midagi tapsemat? xavi peaks ju audis olema nojah ja Cesc vist oli veel tana valjakul Inglismaal

[intz]

Vastus teemale \'Barca\'

Tegelikult mängisid siis sellised mehed

Catalunya: Valdés (Arnau, min.53); Curro Torres (Damia, min.46), Capdevila, Lopo (De Quintana, min.46), Oleguer, Celades (Jordi López, min.46), Sergio González (Bruno Saltor, min.74), Corominas (Sellarés, min.82), Roger (Guardiola, min.53), Pinilla (Serrano, min.53) y Sergio García (Jonathan, min.46).

[Karla]

Vastus teemale \'Barca\'

Aga mis tulemusega see mäng siis lõppes?

[intz]

Vastus teemale \'Barca\'

Algselt postitas Karla


Aga mis tulemusega see mäng siis lõppes?

Mäng lõppes 1:1
Skoori avas Kataloonia poolelt Jonathan Soriano 58. minutil
ja 10 mintsa hiljem Dante López viigistas.

[lorenzo]

Vastus teemale \'Barca\'

van Bommel siis loodetavasti juba järgmisel nädalal väljakule jooksmas, kuigi arusaamatu on minu jaoks ikkagi mängupäev, sest Barca lehel nagu kirjas et teisipäev, hispaania jalgpalliliidu kalendris aga kolmapäev

[Barca-Freddy]

Vastus teemale \'Barca\'

Introducing the Messiah!

He\'s football\'s hottest new star, the teen sensation who Maradona can\'t stop raving about and who Argentinians expect to lead them to World Cup glory. Is Lionel Messi the new saviour? This time, do believe the hype...

Interview: Andy Mitten
Additional Reporting: Martin Mazur

Lionel Messi is this year\'s new Maradona, the most exciting teenager in world football, the star shining brightest in a Barcelona team now rivalling Real Madrid\'s galactico status. Who says so? Maradona for one.

Messi is not simply flavour of the month, an over-hyped tabloid creation who will fade away as quickly as he\'s risen to prominence, one more Diego double who fails to match expectations. \"He\'s different to the rest,\" insists the original (and still the best), \"different to Aimar, Riquelme or D\'Alessandro. Messi seems to have an extra gear, a sixth speed. And what most surprises me is that he has no problems with control. The ball remains on the upper part of his foot, like it\'s glued to it. He feels the ball: that\'s what makes him different.\"

So too, does his temperament. \"He can put up with anything,\" adds Maradona, \"even with the \'saviour\' tag that people are already attaching. And best of all, he hasn\'t reached his peak yet. I see a lot of myself in him, but that doesn\'t mean he\'s going to be worse or better than Maradona. He will be Messi. Got it? M-E-S-S-I.\"
Point taken, but comparisons are inevitable. The similiarities between El Diego and Barcelona\'s man of the moment go way beyond them being compatriots with a Catalan connection. The likenesses in the way the pair play are staggering: the low centre of gravity, the lethal acceleration, the ability to dribble past players as though they are training ground dummies. Nor has Maradona exactly been dampening enthusiasm, lavishing Messi with praise on his popular Argentine TV show La Noche del Diez.

\"I\'ve seen the guy who is going to inherit my place in Argentinian football and his name is Messi,\" he told the watching millions during the summer. \"This great football talent has appeared in Argentina and it is beautiful to watch my kind of player filling our white and blue jersey once again. He\'s got something different to any other player in the world right now, and he\'s offering classes in beautiful football for anyone who cares to watch. The best two players in the world? Messi and Ronaldinho.\"

With that billing from the man many Argentinians still consider a deity, is it any wonder they remain unconcerned by England\'s recent victory over their team? The World Cup may be only six months away, but Argentinians know their secret weapon has yet to be unleashed.

Six months ago, Lionel Messi was just another hopeful playing for Barcelona\'s \"B\" team in front of crowds of a couple of thousand at best. Although he featured in seven first team games last season and became, at 17, the youngest player ever to score for Barcelona, Messi totalled just 77 first-team minutes.
Then, in July, he travelled with Argentina to the U20 World Championship in Holland. Argentina lifted the trophy and Messi, unquestionably was the star of the show, top-scoring with six goals in seven games.
Barça had always known they had a potential star in their cantera, but the speed with which President Joan Laporta hot-footed to Holland to improve Messi\'s contract suggests that even they didn\'t realise quite how good the youngster was. With Real Madrid, Internazionale, Rangers and Milan all showing interest, Messi\'s reserve team contract of around £100,000 ($233,000) a year was upgraded to one worth £3 million ($7 million) a year. The deal runs until 2014 and contains an implausible £100m ($233m) buyout clause for anyone looking to tempt him away from the Camp Nou - the same as Ronaldinho\'s.

A first team fortune means first team fame, but Messi cuts a very different figure to Barça\'s other superstars. For one, he still walks to training from his home just around the corner from the club\'s famous Nou Camp stadium, his eyes partially hidden behind a mop that wouldn\'t look lost in a Beatles tribute band.

Last autumn, as he made his way to work one morning, he heard what he thought was an Argentinian voice calling to him: \"Che, boludo\" [Hey, mate]. He turned to see a smiling Ronaldinho, best Argentinian accent to the fore, waiting to introduce himself. The pair have since become inseparable, Ronaldinho calling Messi \"my little brother\". Barça\'s dressing room is L-shaped, the regulars taking one half, the new boys, the other. Messi used to change in the quieter section with the rest of the new first-teamers, until Ronaldinho insisted his protégé sat with him, Deco and Xavi.
\"All the players have been great with my son, but especially the Brasilians,\" says Messi\'s father, Jorge. \"Sylvinho behaves like a second father and Deco takes him shopping and to the hairdresser where all the Brasilians go.\"
\"I get on really well with all the Brasilians,\" Messi tells FourFourTwo when we meet him deep in the bowels of the Nou Camp. \"Ronaldinho gives me a lot of advice and praises me permanently. He\'s a phenomenon. We have fun in every training session.
\"And the really cool thing is when they invite me to the \'Brasilian\' table in the hotel or at the training ground when we\'re eating.\" he adds, warming to the subject. \"They always joke - \'Hey kid, you\'re the only Argentinian we will put up with\' - but I know that they are my friends. Sylvinho is a special guy - everyone in the dressing room says he\'s like a second father to me. That\'s how good our relationship is.
\"But I admire these guys for their football as well as for their humanity. I mean Deco, what a player he is. The team simply cannot function without him. How many guys in the world can do the dirty work of tackling and marking but still come up with something spectacular as soon as they have the ball? He is the engine of Barcelona. Ronaldinho is world class, and he\'s got an ability to control the ball which makes me jealous. At any moment during a match he can do something special to win it - that\'s what I must aim to do\"

Born and raised in Rosario, 200 miles north-west of Buenos Aires, Messi moved to join La Masia, Barcelona\'s youth academy at the age of 13. It\'s now the stuff of local legend that when he sat on the bench, at just 4ft 8in, he was the only player whose legs were not long enough to reach the floor. Nicknamed \'the Flea\', he had been taking hormone since growth problems were first diagnosed aged 11, injecting himself everynight for two years. \"For a year, social security paid for his treatment, but then it got very complicated,\" recalls father Jorge. \"It was very expensive - about US$1,800 ($2,400) every two months.\"
At the time, Messi was affiliated to Newell\'s Old Boys, the Argentinian club whose legendary talent-spotter Jorge Griffa had unearthed gems like Gabriel Batistuta, Juan Roman Riquelme, Carlos Tevez, Gabriel Heinze and Roberto Sensini. Even compared to that elite band, Messi stood out. \"The things this kid used to do!\" gasps his former academy manager Enrique Dominguez. \"My Lord, they were against the laws of physics. The only kid i\'d seen playing like that was Maradona\"
But Newell\'s refusal to pay for his hormone treatment would cost them dear. There was an approach from River Plate, but Messi\'s family had both Italian and Catalan roots and on a visit to see his cousins in Spain, Messi\'s life took a whole new direction.
Alerted to Messi\'s potential by one of their Argentinian scouts, Barcelona invited the youngster to a trial. \"It took me less than 10 minutes to be sure that he was a future star,\" says coach Carlos Rexach, a former manager of Barcelona. \"In my 40-year career I hadn\'t seen such a talent. But I can\'t give myself medals for noticing him, Messi discovered himself alone. Anyone with minimal knowledge of football could see his ability.\"
So impressed was Rexach that he invited the youngster to symbolically sign a napkin as a contractual bond. Then Messi and his family returned to Argentina and made plans to move to Catalunya. \"I remember when w left our neighbourhood in Rosario all the neighbours and our friends came out to say goodbye.\" he recalls quietly. \"Everybody on the street was with us, My mother and father and my two brothers and sister were all getting ready to go in a taxi to the airport, all crying.
\"When we arrived in Barcelona, we went straight to the Nou Camp. It was so impressive that it felt like we\'d made the right decision to go through so much sadness and pain. Everyone told me that Barcelona would look after us but I was worried it would turn out to be a lie. It was February and it was cold which didn\'t help us settle and we knew nothing - not even that Barcelona was by the sea. In Argentina I lived near a river, but the beach was an amazing discovery.\"
But as Messi settled into Catalan life, his sister Maria Sol, had a hard time adjusting to her new school. \"She was only five and she struggled to intergrate, so my mother, my sister and my brother Matias went back to Argentina. I miss them a lot.\"
Barça paid for Messi\'s treatment and he grew by a centimetre a month for almost three years, reaching 5ft 6in. By then, other clubs had spotted his talent, including Arsenal. \"A man introduced himself as an assistant of Arsene Wenger,\" recalls father Jorge. \"He said: \'If you suffer problems here, remember Arsenal are very interested\', but we preferred Barcelona.\"
The Spanish Federation also came knocking. \"I couldn\'t play in certain youth tournaments because they were Spanish-only,\" recalls Messi. \"Then, one day, a man asked if I was interested in playing for Spain.\" That man was Gines Menendez, Spains\' U16 coach. \"For a 15-year old, he was the best i\'d ever seen.\" says Menendez, \"but we couldn\'t call him up because he still hadn\'t obtained Spanish nationality.\"

Besides, Messi\'s dream was to play in the U17 World Championship for Argentina - not that his countrymen knew. Exiled in Barcelona, Messi was out of sight and very much out of mind. Then he received a call from Argentina\'s best selling sports magazine, El Grafico, who wanted to write a story about him. Seeking an independent opinion of this unknown wonderkid, the journalist assigned to the piece called Hugo Tocalli, the Argentina U17 boss, asking what he knew. \"Someone gave me some video footage,\" replied Tocalli, indifferently, \"but for this competition, we\'re working with players born in \'86. He was born in 1987.\"

When Tocalli arrived at the World Championships, he realised he must have made a terrible mistake. Spain\'s journalists bombarded him with questions, incredulous that Argentina could afford to leave out such a prodigious talent. Spurred into action, the Argentinian FA swiftly arranged an U20 friendly purely as an excuse to call up Messi. His Argentinian future was secure.

In July 2005, a second phone-call turned Messi\'s world upside down. Argentina had just knocked Brasil out of the World Youth Championships when Messi was handed a mobile phone and told that Maradona was on the line. He thought it was a practical joke, until he heard the voice say: \"Hello monster [an Argentinian term for a big, big player], this is little Diego.\"
For any Argentinian footballer, this was the equivalent of a Papal blessing. \"As I held the telephone I looked in the mirror and my eyes were full of tears, so it was hard to speak even when I regained my composure a little bit,\" recalls Messi, still star struck.
To Messi\'s amazement, Maradona then invited him to be a guest on La Noche Del Diez, the show in which El Diego has played head-tennis with Pele and danced with a world champion Flamenco performer. Messi accepted \"I was more nervous than in any football match,\" he remembes. \"Until a door opened and Maradona was standing there. \'Be cool,\' he said, but I still felt like my chest was going to explode.\"

It didn\'t show. When Messi and Carlos Tevez faced Maradona and Uruguay legend Enzo Francescoli at head tennis, the young pups defeated the host for the only time in the series. \"And that was despite the referee wanting them to win,\" laughs Messi.
Maradona also had plenty of advice for the young hero. \"Don\'t pay attention when journalists compare you with me,\" he said, ignoring his own statements. \"I\'ve seen what you\'ve done in the U20 World Cup. You knew Argentina was just you and you coped with that without problems. Only a few players can stand that sort of pressure.
\"You just hang on in there and keep playing as you\'re playing. The Italians may scythe you and kick you, but they\'re like that. If they don\'t see the ball, they hit anything that moves. That\'s your business - preventing them from seeing the ball!\"

In fact, Messi seems unfazed by the close attention he now receives from defenders. \"In professional football nothing really happens because there are referees. At school was where kicks were real kicks.\"
As if to prove he isn\'t going to be pushed around (or perhaps to prove that he really is the new Maradona), Messi was sent off just 44 seconds into his full international debut, after coming on as a substitute against Hungary (the same team Maradona made his international debut against). Dribbling past two defenders, Messi was grabbed by the jersey and brushed the arm away. Referee Markus Merk interpreted it as an elbow and brandished the red card. Messi left the field in tears.
It was a rare blemish on a career with Rooney-like upward trajectory. He is already a hero of Barça\'s discerning crowd. \"Meeeessssi, Meesssi,\" they holler whenever he takes the field. Only Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto\'o, Xavi and Henrik Larsson command such vocal affection from the match-going socios. What staggers most is his rapid development as his confidence grows. They see him improving month by month and gasp at his sublime raw talent.

His debut goal against Albacete on May 1, 2005 was a chip from a Ronaldinho assist that was taken with such nonchalance that most of his peers stood there laughing, shaking their heads. Messi ran to his brother in the seats. \"He made me climb on his back in front of the entire crowd,\" he recalls, slightly embarrassed.
Barça coach Frank Rijkaard is certainly impressed. \"Players with quality are easily recognisable,\" says the Dutchman. \"Lionel is only 18, but the squad knows he has something extra special. Lionel doesn\'t realise that, he just plays naturally, but he\'s growing every day as a player and a person. Age is not an issue. I don\'t see someone at 17 or 34. He plays because he deserves it.\"

\"He\'s very shy and does not speak much but on the pitch he transforms.\" says captain Carles Puyol. \"It\'s a pleasure to see him play because when he has the ball you know something will happen. He does the opposite of what you expect him to do and he has the mentality of a winner. He\'s always searching for goals.\"

Arnau, his capitain on the B team, recalls a shy young man. \"Leo [Messi\'s preferred nickname] would sit on the coach to away games and not speak for five hours as we travelled to Benidorm or Pamplona. He wasn\'t rude, he\'s just really quiet. But put him on the field and he\'s like a bomb.\"
Nor is Messi overly worried about the \'new Maradona\' tag. \"It\'s an honour, but I\'ve never enjoyed these kind of comparisons and I\'d rather not get involved talking about that.\" he says.

Comparisons between the two will continue, but Messi\'s lifestyle shares few of the indulgences which blemished and ultimately curtailed Maradona\'s career. The two personalities contrast acutely. Messi would rather sing his nephew to sleep than indulge in the kind of nocturnal excesses which disfigured Maradona in his prime. He\'ll happily sit alone for hours playing computer games (at no point did Maradona go on record extolling the virtues of Manic Miner on the ZX Spectrum). And reckless for Mess is a cup of mate, the strong Argentinian tea drunk through a straw.

Like many of Barça B\'s team players, he lives in a modest rented flat in Les Corts, a middle class barrio close to the Nou Camp with his older brother, Rodrigo, 25, who works as a cook in a Barcelona hotel and who recently became a father. Sister-in-law Florencia is Lionel\'s surrogate mother, serving up his favourite meal, breaded slices of meat covered with tomato sauce and cheese (\"It\'s delicious.\" says Messi)
\"We use a webcam to talk to our family in Argentina,\" he adds. \"Even my mum has learned how to do it. I know that every time she sees me playing football on the television she cries, but every day we talk and that keeps her happy.
\"I spend every day with Roberto and I look after baby Augustin while my sister-in-law makes lunch. The club tells me that I need to have a good sleep every night so it\'s a bit difficult with the baby crying, but I pretend that I don\'t lose any sleep.\"
Messi doesn\'t care to join his team mates and Barcelona\'s beautiful people at Buddha bar or Danzetoria. \"I don\'t go out much,\" he says. \"I enjoy being alone at home. I listen to music, watch TV, use the internet, sleep good siestas or play PS2 on the sofa. Perhaps I can start an English course, I want to learn English because it\'s useful and to use some of my spare time.\"

He\'ll do it too, he says, as long as he can drag himself away from the computer games. \"When Pro Evolution Soccer 4 first came out, I\'d play the entire day against my brother,\" he laughs. \"I played as Barcelona and put myself in the team, then I tried to go past everyone without passing the ball. It sounds strange, but it gave me confidence to be playing in the first XI, even though it was a computer game. Mind you, if the games became difficult, I took myself off. I still can\'t believe i\'m in a computer game alongside Ronaldinho or Eto\'o.\"
Ronaldinho has since invited him to play with Barça\'s other gaming stars. \"He\'s good, but I beat him often\" says Messi cheekily.
\"That\'s a total lie,\" grins Ronaldinho, \"He\'s not bad, but he hasn\'t got a chance.\"

As World Cup year begins, life is good for Lionel Messi. But the next few months will provide answers to a lot of questions. Like the young Maradona and the young Ronaldinho, Messi\'s best position is not yet clear. He favours his left foot, yet Rijkaard tends to play him on the right. \"He\'s an attacking player,\" says the coach. \"He plays as a forward on the right, but he\'s left footed. It\'s not a problem, on the contrary, it makes him versatile. I could also play him on the centre or on the left. Besides, his mobility makes him capable of reading the moment and seizing the opportunity.\"
\"When I play up front, I interchange my position,\" adds Messi. \"I guess playing on the right is where i\'m happiest, as that lets me cut inside more easily.\"

Of most immediate concern is a dispute over whether he should even be allowed to play for Barcelona for the remainder of the season. Deportivo La Coruna and Alaves have asked the Spanish Federation to cancel his playing licence after considerable legal wrangling over his Spanish passport. It was finally granted in September after being fast-tracked by the government, but with Barça only able to field three non-European players, he was sidelined for the first month of this season until his passport came through - four weeks after the deadline for registration to the Spanish league. The complaints are still pending.

It would be a crying shame if fans around the world were deprived of the opportunity to enjoy Messi\'s precocious talent because of petty bureaucracy. It would be even sadder if Messi were deprived the chance to stake a claim for the World Cup. Put him on the global stage and \'the Flea\' from Rosario could be one of the stars in Germany. Argentina certainly want him involved. Head coach Jose Pekerman describes him as \"a blessing to Argentinian football\" while former star Ricky Villa insists: \"He can\'t miss the World Cup. His qualities are incredible and he has a lot more to offer. We\'ve just seen the beginning.\"

Others are more cautious. \"It\'s difficult to see an U20 player triumphing in a World Cup,\" says former Argentina coach Carlos Bilardo. \"Only Owen and Pele have done that. Messi is a great player, but i\'m not sure if he could rise to the occasion.\"
\"He\'s very young and we\'re going to have to keep the pressure off him,\" says Juan Roman Riquelme, Argentina\'s sublime, if paceless, playmaker. \"Messi should have fun and enjoy himself whenever he steps on the pitch, but in Argentina as soon as a player has two or three good games people clamour for him to be called up. Or he has to be like Maradona...\"
Those closest to him have every confidence, however. \"From five chances he gets, Messi nets four,\" says Carles Rexach. \"That, in the end, pays. I\'m sure he could make his mark at the World Cup.\"
\"Lionel is a brilliant kid,\" adds Ronaldinho, \"and he amazes me with his quality and his growth. I have no doubt that he will be a key player for Argentina. In the World Cup next year? Why not?\" ▪





Kes viicib, see lugegu läbi. See on Messi intervjuu ja elulugu ja kõik muu
Ülihea lugemine. Karp on peale selle lugemist igal juhul lahti Hull vend...

[Mikusiku]

Vastus teemale \'Barca\'

Väärt lugemine jah

[Barca-Freddy]

Vastus teemale \'Barca\'

Ja karikamäng Zamora vastu toimub ilma Ronaldinho, Eto\'o, Larsson, Edmílson, Deco, Motta ning Messita. Nemad naasevad treeningule alles esmasp.