Oh well.

I made myself a promise that I would not post when either drunk or upset. 24 hours on after the final whistle and I am still struggling to meet keep my promise. Even though I am an avid Barca fan I try my best to remain unbiased, or at least, as unbiased as I can be....

I have nothing against Inter. In fact I find their performance admirable under the circumstances. But it was the semi final of the Champions League and no football was played by the away side. No attempt to attack or score an away goal. I can understand why. What really annoys me is Jose. He creates the whole 'Us against the world' thing but then so does Alex Ferguson. Whilst SAF can rile opponents Jose goes too far. He's personal, arrogant and out for himself. Why at the final whistle did he run across the pitch and not even hesitate to congratulate his players? Straight to the fans with the look of 'Look what I have given you!'.

I appreciate that he has achieved much already with every team he has coached but I think he has burnt a lot of bridges and I would never accept him as our coach. Pep, and Rijkaard before him, hold their heads held high and accept defeat as graciously as possible, going so far as to congratulate their opponents. That is the type of manager for FC Barcelona.

What will life be like if Mou takes the 'Other Team' on? I think we can expect a lot of negative energy being directed at the Blaugrana from the capital. Maybe it is to detract from the fact that he actually isn't God's gift to coaching and he needs the mind games to succeed......

Comeback on .....?

It's the Catalan way to be pessimistic. Maybe I am part Catalan.
It doesn't matter if I am watching Barca or England, if it is an important game we could be 3-0 up with 1 minute to go and I would expect us to throw it away......

How should I feel about the return leg against Inter ?

A lot of pundits fancy us to turn it around. I'm not so sure. Jose is too sharp to allow us an easy ride. I think he'll play it tight and look for the counter attack through Milito and Eto'o. Hopefully Wesley won't play, due to thigh strain, which would help severe the transition between midfield and attack.
It will be interesting to see if the Milito brothers face up to each other as I expect them to. With Puyol suspended and Pique a cert to start it only leaves Marquez and Chygrynskiy (or the outside bet of Toure) as central alternatives. Chygrynskiy deserves his own blog, and yes, I did have to look up the spelling!

I hope Toure starts ahead of Busquets, another blog in the making.

I would be very happy if we were go through but I will keep my pessimistic hat on to prevent too much disappointment.

Let's hope beauty defeats the beast......

St George's Day (Sant Jordi)

23rd April in England is St.George's Day.

England and Barcelona share in a patron Saint, although in Catalan he is known as Sant Jordi.


This explains why there is a St.George cross on the Barca crest.


Also included on the crest is the 'Senyera', the Catalan flag of red stripes over a yellow background. It's sad that I should know this but it is widely believed that the Senyera was created by Charles the Bald. As a means of rewarding the bravery of Wilfred The Hairy (who thinks of these names?) Charles awarded Wilfred with his own coat of arms. The coat of arms was 'designed' by Charles dragging Wilfred's blood stained fingers over a copper shield....thus the four red stripes on a yellow background. Honestly ! (It's not April 1st.....).




Wilfred was count of Barcelona between 878 and 897, just in case you didn't know.

Most influential signing of the last 10 years ?

I started out wanting to discuss the best Barca signings of the last ten years but quickly realised that although we have made some great signings, so many have contributed so much but in different ways that comparison is not possible.

Ronaldinho was arguably the most important player for getting Laporta’s project off the ground, the marquee signing. There is no doubt he contributed to the style, flair and excitement of our play. Dani Alves was a large investment for a defender but without him we tend to lack an attacking dimension.

Eto’o came and scored goals, lots of goals….. Pique has returned and played beyond his years. Belletti scored an important goal in the Champions League final and Rafa Marquez has been consistent.

However, I believe that one player has made a massive impact on our club after only playing for six months (on loan from Juve). After four trophy less years, in the 2003-04 season Barca had been knocked out of the UEFA Cup by Celtic and the King’s Cup by Zaragoza before Christmas. Frank Rijkaard turned to a Dutch compatriot during the winter transfer window in his first year of Barca management when the team were facing the prospect of not qualifying for European competition for the first time in our history. The signing of Edgar Davids in January 2004 turned our fortunes around and gave the midfield the battle that it was missing at the time. I was fortunate enough to watch him play against Mallorca, complete with Eto’o, in the Camp Nou (a match that ended 3-2 in our favour) and he ran the show. Ronaldinho may have been the gloss but Davids was the engine. Barca ended the season in second behind Valencia, after winning the Catalan Cup.

I believe that without Davids’ influence we would have failed to achieve anything that year and where would Laporta’s project be now ?

So close....

Well, revenge is sweet (so far) for the Special One. Whilst I still believe Inter are playing above themselves you can't deny they took a leaf out of Espanyol's book and stunted our attacking play by 'doing a Barca' and closing down from the front. Possession maybe been in our favour to the tune of 70% plus, but it's no good unless the ball hits the back of the net....

There are gripes in our favour, not all of which I agree with. The pitch wasn't watered, it was a hard journey, the second Inter goal should never have happened due to a prior foul on Messi (I'm not convinced this is the case and need another replay), the third Inter goal was offside (referee's assistant must have had volcanic ash in his eye) and Alves should have had a penalty....our shirts weren't not distinctive enough (It's 'salmon' Jinxy !!)

Most (if not all) Chelsea fans would claim it is about time Barca did not have the favour of the referee. What comes around goes around and all that. I accept that. But it is galling for football fans, regardless of the team supported, to have their dreams influenced in such a way. I have sympathy for Chelsea fans still crying over recent Barca clashes.....but the beautiful game won - get over it :-)

Eight days later and we'll discover if we are really that good and deserve to remain at the pinnacle of European and world football. Alternatively we could end up trophy less. Suppose we won enough last year.....

Champions League Semi 1st Leg (Inter Milan)

Revenge for Inter or the driving seat for Barca.

How many times do we see returning favourites haunt their previous employers? How often do we see it so soon? Ibra and Maxwell for Barca; Motta, Eto'o and, to a lesser extent, Jose for Inter.

The question is, will Inter get their revenge for the 0-0 draw and 2-0 defeat in the group stages?

The likelihood is that after the travel plans enforced on the Blaugrana they are bound to be jaded. I'm bored to death after an hour on a coach, never mind 15 hours and over 600 miles.... The Other Team, Depor, Espanyol now a jolly coach trip. Not ideal preparation and a hard two weeks. Is this an unfair advantage for those home teams in European competition during the recent Icelandic intervention? Has it removed the benefit of having the second leg at home, especially if air travel has returned to normal by then? Should UEFA enforce a similar type of travel for the 2nd leg to ensure fair play? Fat chance...

Personally, I think that Inter will be starting to believe that they can win the competition, especially after dispatching Chelsea without really looking like they were in trouble at any point. They maybe faltering in the league but then so are we.....and we have some tough games to come.

So, as a fan would I be happy with either the La Liga championship or the Champions League?
Both please.

Expection has become all consuming and greedy. Before the second year of Rijkaard's reign would we have been happy with one or the other? Damn right ! Now we have been spoilt with quality football that produces trophies it is hard to comprehend when we don't win the competitions entered, and yet it is totally unrealistic to expect to do so.

I will expect Inter to put up the shutters (or 'Man Wall' Lucio) and rely on the pace of Eto'o and Milito with the guile of Sneider. Why did The Other Team ever release Sneider? A quality player who is always dangerous from set plays.

I would be very happy with a draw, especially a score draw.

Why do I support FCB - the unanswerable question.

I don't know.

Whenever I meet someone and I get asked that question the answer is almost always ...."erm". There is no logical reason. Some could say I'm a glory hunter but the truth is I started to support the Blaugrana way before they were the world beating outfit they are today. In fact my first true memory of Barca was the Dream Team 4-0 mauling at the hands of Milan in 1994, so my introduction was hardly a high. I started to truly support Barca upon the introduction of La Liga by Sky Sports in the mid to late 1990's.
I suppose I could just as easily fallen for the other La Liga team, but it just didn't feel right. The other team didn't have the character. An early memory (and I would love for someone to tell me exactly when it was) was that of De La Pena driving the medical cart around the pitch, having been subbed with injury, with team mates on board celebrating either a league or cup victory. Maybe I owe my devotion to the 'Little Buddha' with the enthusiasm, entertainment and joy he brought that night.....

There is something about the club and it's humanitarian and sporting ethos that has got under my skin. I can't explain it.

The evidence against :

• I am not Catalan or Spanish.
• I don't live in Spain. I live in the UK, 200 miles from Manchester so I should really be a Man Utd fan !
• I can't speak or read Spanish. I have taken a course but have come to the conclusion that I'll never be able to ask for anything other than "two beers, please" (even if I am on my own).
• My personality is against the Catalan type.
• I'm not a worldly traveller which would enable simple associations and understanding of culture. (My first foreign excursion was in my early 20's)
  

I am fortunate.

I get to watch almost all of their matches in the comfort of my own home (more regularly than any English fan can claim to see their team). I have been able to watch my team play a number of times in the UK. I am even more fortunate to have seen them play in Camp Nou. Rather unfortunately the cost of watching a 'home' game rather racks up the pennies so with a wife and children what is a loving husband/father to do ? But then when a home game is in such a magnificent city it is truely worth it........

Do you have support for a club that has no logical grounding ? I would love to hear your reasons so that the next time I get asked "Why do you support Barcelona?" I can eradicate the word "erm" from my answer...............at least for a few "umms".