You're probably going not going to like much of what I'm going say in this piece, but here is my take on things. To put it plainly, Barca have been callous to Villa since before they signed him. I'm not trying to pick on the club in order to defend the player, and Barca is after all my club that I love and have loved through thick and thin.
These are three of what was supposed to be a five-poster series on Roma's training camp in Riscone di Brunico, a place in the mountains where the team traditionally holds a training camp every summer. Ideally it should have gone up before the team left Riscone but I didn't want to post it before it was complete, and since I never did get around to the last two posters it just never got posted.
A quick word on the whole mess about Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit attending the Clasico at Camp Nou. First of all, I would like to clarify that I would not defend Barca, just because they are my club, against something I believe to be wrong, and know that I was quick to sign the petition organized by BDS Catalunya against Barca hosting Shalit at the Camp Nou for the Clasico and also disseminate the petition on twitter.
Copa Del Rey 2009. La Liga 2009. Champions League 2009. Spanish SuperCup 2009. UEFA SuperCup 2009.
Club World Cup 2009. La Liga 2010. Spanish SuperCup 2010. La Liga 2011. Champions League 2011.
Spanish SuperCup 2011. UEFA Supercup 2011. Club World Cup 2011.
I don't know about you, but just reading that makes me dizzy.
This fad that Jose Mourinhostarted a year ago of screaming CONSPIRACY!off the rooftops every
time a Champions League officiating decision seemsto go in Barcelona's favor has become utterly
ridiculous. Following the waythat, after Barca's 3-1 win over AC Milan, fans of the defeated club
as well asgeneral Barca haters have not let up with their UEFAlona wails, please allow meto address
the issue.
This fad that Jose Mourinhostarted a year ago of screaming CONSPIRACY!off the rooftops every
time a Champions League officiating decision seemsto go in Barcelona's favor has become utterly
ridiculous. Following the waythat, after Barca's 3-1 win over AC Milan, fans of the defeated club
as well asgeneral Barca haters have not let up with their UEFAlona wails, please allow meto address
the issue.
Many times I've consideredwriting a piece on this and then discarded the idea, deciding it better
not toget into something so controversial. But now it's gone beyond the point where Ican take it. I
don't even have the time to be writing this but I am so infuriatedright now that I have to do this,
to vent everything.
This must be the millionth time I've said this, but I can't say it enough, because this team keeps
on giving me reason to. I am so fucking proud of them. I love them so fucking much. This team is
just something else. Such pride, such heart, it's unmatchable. After the last Clasico, where we
beat them 3-1, I was talking to a fellow Culita about how Barca play these games and win them with
their hearts.
This must be the millionth time I've said this, but I can't say it enough, because this team keeps
on giving me reason to. I am so fucking proud of them. I love them so fucking much. This team is
just something else. Such pride, such heart, it's unmatchable. After the last Clasico, where we
beat them 3-1, I was talking to a fellow Culita about how Barca play these games and win them with
their hearts.
Ever since Pep said this: "Because of the injury of Villa we're thinking about promoting
Soriano. Problem is he then can't go back to the B-team" in his press conference today, I've
been getting q lot of questions about Soriano and his possible promotion. I'm going to address
hopefully everything here, adapted from the transfer piece I wrote last summer.
So, Ibrahimovic wrote a book in which he cries about how mean Mr. Pep bullied his existence and
shattered his dreams. Because, you know, we can't expect him to be over it over a year later. Well
I'm here to pick his whining apart quote by quote... starting from where he begins by pointing
fingers at Messi (oh, this is going to be fun):
"Playing at Barca was a childhood dream and I was walking on air.
Every time Thiago scores, Barca fans start to crow "Cesc who, Cesc who!" I don't quite see the
relevance, because it's news to me that we're interested in Cesc as a goal scorer.
Thiago is a phenomenal player and he's been having an incredible preseason, relentlessly netting
goal after breathtaking goal, and to have a midfielder dominating the team's scoring is something
relatively new to Barca.
I thought this was needed, after the endless debates over twitter and repeating the same stuff
over and over. This will mostly collect and expand on transfer-related things I have already
tweeted; but of course not everyone will have seen it all twitter and this way it's easier. It
turned out quite long, but it's very relevant and I hope you'll all read and enjoy.
Prompting me out of months and months of blogging hibernation is the issue in football that bothers
me, disappoints me far more than any loss ever can. I'm no brilliant writer and someone else who is
would be much better at conveying the ideas that I so strongly feel but struggle to put into words,
yet I have to take a stab at this anyway because things have gone too far and I just have to put
this out there.
So, it's been like a week or so since I've updated the blog, and it hasn't been the first lull
since the relaunch... to be honest, I don't know how I thought I'd be able to keep up with this
along with everything else I've got going on, especially what with university just starting.
Basically what I'm saying is, I don't see how this blog can really be all I want it to be.
