All Hail Raphinha.

The Blaugrana Faithful are enjoying this great start by their beloved Barça. With a new manager, and a young star blossoming in front of our eyes, hopes were high. Barça’s great start to the season has been a wonderful surprise, but the bigger surprise has to be the player leading the charge when most expected him gone; Raphinha.

Barça fans were enthusiastic about the upcoming 2024-2025 season. Hansi Flick was hired to be the man in charge. Lamine Yamal was coming off winning Euro 2024 with Spain where he was voted Young Player of the Tournament, and Barça signed former youth player Dani Olmo, who shined at Euro 2024. Barça fans were also enthusiastic about the possibility of the signing of another key player from that triumphant Spanish side, Nico Williams at the expense of Raphinha being sold to another club.

Fast forward to today, and all the enthusiasm has been rewarded with Barça being league leaders and doing well in the Champions League. The Nico Williams transfer never went through, but thankfully Raphinha has not made us think of Nico once. So far this season, in just 12 matches in La Liga and Champions League, Raphinha has scored 9 goals and has 6 assists.

Raphinha could have easily sulked and complained about his situation and future at the club. Instead, he has been very professional and it had to be noticed by his teammates when they voted him to be one of the captains of the team. Raphinha has been sensational and will be wearing the captain’s armband in El Clasico at Madrid. If Raphinha continues to shine like this, it won’t be long before we start comparing him with other Brazilian Barça legends such as Romario, Ronaldo, Rivado, Ronaldinho and Neymar.

UEFA Forgets Rijkaard’s Barça in UEFA Legendary Moments.

UEFA is celebrating the 60th birthday of the European Cup, A.K.A Champions League, and launched a Legendary Moments video campaign that lets fans all over the world select the tournament's greatest moments. 60 moments were selected by UEFA with 9 of them involving FC Barcelona throughout its history. Yet, UEFA ignored the Barça team of Rijkaard.

UEFA chose 60 videos from the 50’s to the present, with the top five videos voted by the fans to be shown before the Champions League final in Berlin on June 5th, 2015. Barça have 9 legendary moments for fans to vote from. Sadly, there are no Barça legendary video moments from the era of Kubala, Luis Suarez and Ramallets, the era of Cruyff and surprisingly the era of Rijkaard and Ronaldinho.

The 9 Legendary Barça moments are:

• 16/04/86: ‘Pichi’ Alonso hat-trick helps Barça retrieve 3-0 semi-final first-leg deficit against Göteborg.
• 20/05/92: FC Barcelona beat Sampdoria in extra time thanks to Koeman’s fierce free-kickto win first European Cup.
• 02/11/94: Romário and Stoichkhov spearhead FC Barcelona's 'Dream Team' to emphatic group stage defeat of Manchester United.
• 06/05/09: Iniesta’s 93rd-minute effort earns FC Barcelona away-goals triumph over Chelsea and place in Rome final.
• 06/04/10: Messi scores four to take FC Barcelona into semi-finals after Arsenal briefly take 3-2 aggregate lead.
• 27/04/11: Messi scores twice – the second a virtuoso effort – at Barcelona’s great rivals in semi-final first leg.
• 28/05/11: Guardiola’s Barça team beat Manchester United at Wembley to win second European crown in three years.
• 07/02/12: Messi becomes first player to score five in a UEFA Champions League game in 7-1 defeat of Leverkusen.
• 25/11/14: Messi passes Raúl as top scorer in UEFA Champions League history with first goal of hat-trick against APOEL.

I can understand not picking a moment from Kubala and Cruyff eras since the club did not win a title at the time. Yet, Pichi Alonso’s hat trick from the 80’s Barça team made the cut. However, how can the era of Rijkaard and Ronaldinho be ignored? That team was a phenomenal team that left us with many legendary moments. 

When I look back at that era, you had some classic moments. There is the Ronaldinho game winning goal against Milan at the Camp Nou in 2004, Ronaldinho’s second goal against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in 2004, Eto’o scoring that gem when he lobbed the ball from outside the box and over the Panathinaikos keeper at the Camp Nou in 2005, Barça’s awayand home clashes against Chelsea in 2005-2006 Champions League knockout stages, and the unforgettable final in Paris in 2006 when Barça came back from a goal down to beat Arsenal 2-1 with goals coming from Eto’o and Belletti. 

UEFA got it wrong there with forgetting about the 2005-2006 team and that Final. The game is a classic that turned in Barça’s favor once the legendary goal scorer Henrik Larsson came off the bench and assisted on both goals. UEFA ignored the legendary Ronaldinho and the Barça team coached by Rijkaard and that is unfortunate.

Will there be an inevitable divorce between Barça and Messi?

A week ago, there was panic in Barcelona over the comments made by Messi and his father about his future with Barça. A week later, we are celebrating Messi becoming the all-time goal scorer in Spanish league history and UEFA Champions League history. It has been all smiles for Messi but the question remains; will there be an inevitable divorce between Barça and Messi? History has shown that it is likely.

First of all off, congratulations to Messi on breaking two historic scoring records. Messi made his debut ten years ago and it was unfathomable that he would go on to accomplish so many feats with the Blaugrana. Where he ranks amongst the greatest players of all-time is up for debate. What is not debatable is that he is Barça’s greatest player of all time.

Barça have had many great players over the years and the majority share one thing in common; unhappy exits from the club. Throughout the history of the Blaugrana, many big name stars have exited the club for different reasons. It is very rare to see players retire as Barça players. Paulino Alcántara, Rexach, Migueli, Luis Enrique and Puyol are just some that come to mind that did. Some players in their mid-30’s, such as Cesar Rodriguez, left where their services were not needed and the players felt they still had some football left in them . Pep was 30 and wanted to play in other leagues. Kubala, the man the Camp Nou was built for, retired as a Barça player to become a youth manager before becoming the first team manager. However, his Barça coaching career did not last long and he was dismissed. Kubala wanted to still play for Barça but the club was not interested and he became a player manager for Espanyol where he teamed up with Real Madrid legend, Alfredo Di Stefano.

Barça’s first ever Golden Ball winner, Luis Suarez, exited the club because of financial reasons. The club had to cash in on their star player after they fell upon hard financial times. One of Barça’s first superstars, Josep Samitier, starred for Barça between 1919-1932. Unfortunately, he would become the first in a long line of Barça players who clashed with the board and left the club as a result. Samitier and the club had their differences and he left to join Real Madrid.

Maradona and Schuster both clashed with egotistical Barça president Núnez in the 80’s that saw Maradona get sold to Napoli while Schuster followed in Samitier’s path and joined Real Madrid when his contract ended. Others, such as Michael Laudrup and Romario had differences with Barça manager Johan Cruyff. Romario was off loaded after being in Cruyff’s doghouse following the 1994 World Cup success, while Michael Laudrup also joined the ranks of former Barça players to depart the club and join arch rivals Real Madrid. Laudrup was not selected by Cruyff for the 1994 European Cup Final because of the foreign players quotas at the time, so he joined Real Madrid the following season when his contract ended. There is also rumor that another reason why Cruyff dropped him was that Laudrup was fooling around with Cruyff’s daughter. Cruyff also had his problems with Barça president Núnez who ultimately fired the legendary manager.

Brazilians were no exception either after Romario. Brazilian legend Ronaldo also left the club after just one season after contract negotiations for a new contract fell apart and Inter ended up breaking the transfer fee record for him. Rivaldo on the other had problems with both the board and the manager Louis van Gaal and in the end, Rivaldo’s contract was terminated when Louis van Gaal was brought back to manage the club for a second stint. Ronaldinho went from savior to persona non-grata after many, including manager Pep Guardiola, thought he had lost his way and had become a negative influence on Messi. Brazilian born but Portuguese naturalized Deco had a quiet exit and joined Chelsea.

Even during Pep Guardiola’s era, Barça still had messy divorces with star players. This was however because of the manager, and not the board. Pep Guardiola tolerated the likes of Eto’o and Ibrahimovic for one season before ridding them from the club following clash of personalities. Even the return of the so-called prodigal son, Cesc Fábregas, lasted a few season before he was sold to Chelsea. More recently, Victor Valdés’s exit left a bitter taste for many Blaugrana faithful. Valdés never indicated his reason for leaving but there were whispers that he was not fond of the current Barça board, especially after not hiring his choice of goalkeeper coach when the position became available.

In a rarity, Hristo Stoichkhov left the club twice during the 90’s. The first time because of a deteriorating relationship with manager Johan Cruyff, and he was sold to Parma. He returned when Bobby Robson was the manager but his second exit, this time because of another Dutch manager, van Gaal, where the manager’s tactics were criticized by the Bulgarian Golden Ball winner. Hristo would leave the team and play in different countries before concluding his career in the MLS.

So what about Messi? Will he remain a Barça player till the day he retires or will he end up playing elsewhere else? As much as I am a football romantic, I am also a realist. History has shown us that the chances of Messi retiring as a Barça player are slim. Not one Barça Golden Ball winner has ever retired with this club. The comments from Messi and his father served as a warning shot to the board to not mistreat the player. It also enforced the belief that Messi will never leave the club unless the club wanted to sell him first. Hopefully, the next Barça board to take over from this inept board, and soon,  will make sure Messi stays with the club for a long time…….before he leaves Barça near the end of his career to play in Argentina for his childhood club, Newell’s Old Boys. At least that way, it will not be a messy divorce.

Fix Camp Nou or Build a new one?

To build or renovate? That is the question that Barça president Sandro Rosell brought up last month in the General Assembly was the suggestion of building a new stadium. This sparked a great debate about what should Barça do regarding their home. Should they renovate the Camp Nou or time to build a new stadium?

Last month, the club presented a proposition to the members about the status of the Camp Nou.  Javier Faus, the vice-president of the Economic and Strategic Area of the Club proposed two options regarding the home of Barça; Renovate the Camp Nou or build a new one. The first option would cost close to 300 million euros, and the second option wouldn’t surpass 600 million euros. He also assured that if a new stadium was built, it would not be built outside of the Barcelona city limits. Ultimately, 89% of the socios approved on having a referendum about this topic.

This topic struck a nerve with many passionate Blaugrana fans. Many, including myself, were not in favor of seeing Barça play at a new stadium, but to stay at the Camp Nou and just go ahead and renovate the stadium where it is needed. Others though believe it’s time for a new stadium.

The argument for the new stadium wasn’t just an argument about a new playing surface but it was also more of a sign that the club needs to step forward and become more modern like other teams. A new stadium would mean more VIP seats – reminds me of the Sky Box seats arguments US franchises used to build new arenas/stadiums – and could also generate more income by selling the naming rights of the stadium.  Bottom line, the new stadium would mean a step in a direction of the club becoming more of a professional organization and not just a club.

However, there are many, including myself, who believe that Barça’s only home should be the Camp Nou.  The Poll on the Miami Penya website saw 5 out of 20 in favor of building a new stadium. Most of the responses I got from fellow fans were that the club should stay in the Camp Nou. Why? The stadium is magical with such a vast history. This is stadium that has seen the likes of Kubala, Luis Suarez, Cruyff, Krankl, Simonsen, Maradona, Lineker, Stoichkhov, Laudrup, Romario, Koeman, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Guardiola, Ronaldinho, Eto’o, and the current crop of amazing talent such as Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta and Messi call home. We have also witnessed great games at this pitch with the likes of a few 5-0 wins against Real Madrid, the magical comeback of Barça against Atletico Madrid in 1996-1997 Copa Del Rey encounter, numerous Champions League victories, and many great celebrations.

I think part of the reason why some of the fans said don’t build a new one is because they have yet to experience a match at the magical stadium, including myself.  For those who have been to the Camp Nou on numerous occasions, perhaps the magic aura of the Camp Nou has rubbed off and it is just another stadium to them. So is that selfishness on our part not to have a new stadium built? Probably yes. However, I also have a tough time believing a new stadium is really needed. The current Camp Nou holds 99,000 seats and supposedly the new stadium will have 10,000 additional seats and of course, the ever so important VIP seats. However, the club only averages close to 75,000 fans in attendance so what guarantee is there that the new stadium will have more fans? Will there be more amenities?

If the club is averaging close to 75,000 fans to see one of a kind amazing talent such as Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and company, then I shudder to think what will happen in the new stadium when most of these players will be done with football and working on their golf games or working on their coaching badges.

The Camp Nou is not only the home of the football team, but it also contains the club’s offices, the Botiga – Official Barça shop, and the FC Barcelona Museu, the club’s museum. In the end, money talks, especially under this president who wants to make the club more fiscally responsible. However, I don’t know if spending 600 million euros for a new stadium is the right approach. The New York Yankees decided to leave their own Camp Nou and built a new Yankees stadium and some would say that the move has not been as successful with overpriced seats, empty seats, and a lackluster fan atmosphere that no longer intimidates opposing teams.

In my opinion, you can’t replace a landmark. VIP boxes area a great idea and great source of income but with the current state of the Spanish economy is going, what guarantee is there that those seats will be sold off to corporations since they are the ones who usually buy those types of seats and US teams suffered during the poor economy because companies couldn’t afford those tickets. Also, if the club is not selling out every match now with this great team, then what guarantee that a new stadium with 10,000 additional seats will have a higher attendance? By the time this stadium is built, the great era of this team might be over so fans won’t be paying to watch the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, and perhaps even Messi. If it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it. However, if minor repairs are needed, then renovate.

In the end, the fans will have the final say on what should happen. Part of me wants to have the club remain at the holy grounds of the Camp Nou and part of me thinks that the club should always be proactive and reactive to change such as modern facilities and modern approaches in how a club should be run. So if you’re still waffling on when to go to the Camp Nou, you might want to do it sooner than later because it seems that the Camp Nou days are coming to an end.

 

FC Barcelona's Competition for The Upcoming FIFA Club World Cup

 

The FIFA Club World Cup will kick off tomorrow in Japan when Kashiwa Reysol host Auckland City FC. FC Barcelona won’t be playing till next week when they face the winner between Espérance and Al-Sadd. This will be the club’s fourth attempt to win this trophy and third time participating in the FIFA Club World Cup. Barça won this competition two years ago after defeating Argentinean club Estudiantes and will attempt to become the first side to win this competition twice. Here is a little background info on the other teams that Barcelona is competing with for the cup.

The tournament will kick off tomorrow with a match between Japanese League champions Kashiwa Reysol hosting the 2010–2011 OFC Champions winners, New Zealand’s Auckland City FC. The winner of that match up would then face the Mexican club, Monterrey, who are the 2010-2011 CONCACAF Champions League winners in the Quarterfinals. The winner of that Quarterfinal match meets the Brazilian club, Santos, the 2011 Copa Libertadores winner, in the Semifinals.

Tunisian club, Espérance, the 2011 AFC Champions League winners will face the Qatari club, Al-Sadd who won the 2011 AFC Champions League in the only other Quarterfinal. The winner of that Quarterfinal match will meet our beloved Barça, 2010-2011 UEFA Champions League winners, in the other semifinal. As usual, many have predicted that the final will be once again between the champions of Europe and South America, but as last year’s edition proved when Congolese club TP Mazembe pulled the upset when they defeated Brazilian side Internacional, so you never know. Here are the clubs competing in this year’s tournament:

Kashiwa Reysol (Japan)

Founded in 1940.

The Japanese club just won their first ever Japanese league title last week after their first back from the second division. They have something in common with Barça in that Hristo Stoichkov played for both clubs in the 90’s. Hristo Stoichkov joined the club for a season in the late 90’s, after he had left Barça, and before coming to the MLS. Former Brazilian striker Careca also played for them in the early part of the 90’s.

They qualified for this tournament as current champions of the host nation.

Auckland City FC (New Zealand)

Founded in 2004.

Auckland have won four league titles and have won three Oceania Club Championships 2005-2006, 2008-2009, & 2010-2011.

They qualified for this tournament as current Oceania Club Championships champions and marks their third appearance in this tournament. Coincidentally, they have participated in this competition every time Barcelona have also participated; 2006, 2009 and this year’s edition.

They lost to African Champions, Egyptian side El Ahli 2-0 the first time in 2006 and then lost in the fifth place play-off 3-0 to Asian Champions League winners, Korean side Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. They finally won their first game of this competition back in 2009 when they defeated the hosts, UAE league champions  Al-Ahli before falling to CONCACAF Champions League winners, Mexican side Atlante who then lost to Barça in the Semifinals.  Auckland City did end that tournament on a positive note when they defeated African Champions, TP Mazembe, to decide fifth place.

Monterrey (Mexico)

Founded in 1945.

Monterrey have won their league four times - México 86, Clausura 2003, Apertura 2009, & Apertura 2010.

Monterrey have won the CONCACAF Champions League twice – 1993 & 2010-2011.

Club de Fútbol Monterrey qualified for this tournament as the defending CONCACAF Champions League winners. Some of Monterrey’s players have faced Barça in the past with Chilean striker Humberto Suazo playing against them during his short stay with Real Zaragoza during the 2009-2010 season. Argentinean forward Cesar Delgado also played against Barça during his playing days for Lyon in the Champions League during the 2008-2009 season in both legs of the first round of the knock out stages. Full back Ricardo Osorio has experience playing against Messi, Dani Alves and Mascherano from his international playing days for Mexico.

Espérance (Tunisia)

Founded in 1919.

Espérance have won the Tunisian League 24 times; 1942, 1959, 1960, 1970, 1975, 1976, 1982, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2010, & 2011.

Espérance have won the African Champions League twice - 1994, & 2011.

Espérance Sportive de Tunis are competing in this competition for the first time after winning the African Champions League and have had as many as eight players get recent call ups to the Tunisian national team.

Al-Sadd (Qatar)

Founded in 1969.

Al-Sadd have won the Qatari League 12 times: 1971-1972, 1973–1974, 1978–1979, 1979–1980, 1980–1981, 1986–1987, 1987–1988, 1989–1989, 1999–2000, 2003–2004, 2005–2006, & 2006–2007.

Al-Sadd have won the Asian Champions League twice: 1989 & 2011.

Al-Sadd Club qualified for this are competing in this competition for the first time and they too share a common link with Barça. They both had Brazilian goal scorer Romário play for both of them. Romário however only played 3 matches with them back in the 2002-2003 season. They are managed by the well traveled Uruguayan, Jorge Fossati.

 

Santos (Brazil)

Founded in 1900.

Santos have won 19 Campeonato Paulista titles: 1935, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1973, 1978, 1984, 2006, 2007, 2010, & 2011, and have won 8 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A titles: 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1968, 2002, & 2004.

Santos have won the Copa Libertadores three times:  1962, 1963, & 2011.

Santos won the predecessor of this competition, Intercontinental Cup, twice back in 1962 and 1963.

Santos Futebol Clube qualified for this tournament after winning the Copa Libertadores and are one of the most well known clubs in the world due in large to being Pele’s club during his playing days in Brazil which spanned over 600 games. Currently, their best players consist of Paulo Henrique Ganso, Elano, Leo, Borges, and a certain Neymar that Barça is rumored to be close to signing.

Barça’s Keirrison played for Santos on loan last season. Barça also had other former Santos players play for them such as defender Marinho Peres in the mid 70’s and Giovanni Silva de Oliveira who moved from Santos to Barcelona in the late 90’s. Argentina’s World Cup winning manager, César Luis Menotti, played for Santos back in the 60’s before managing FC Barcelona in 1984.

Once again, the competition kicks off tomorrow with FOX Deportes and Fox Soccer Channel broadcasting the games. They will play their first game, on Thursday, December 15, at 5:15 AM Miami time and if they win and advance to the final, they will play the final on Sunday, December 18, also at 5:15 AM.

 

Qué Pasa Barça? – Time to Adjust, not panic!

Greetings fellow Barça fans and hope you all were able to put the club’s latest loss behind you and not let it stress you out just as I have. I want to first thank FC Barcelona Supporters Club Miami-Penya Barcelonista de Miami for allowing me to do this and look forward on doing more in the future. My name is Ibrahim Ayyub and I have been a Barça fan since 1994, when I was teenager in Lebanon, and have been following them ever since. Big reason was thanks to the 1994 World Cup where I fell in love with Romario and Stoichkov and then discovered they were teammates at FC Barcelona thanks to the World Cup Panini sticker album for allowing me to discover this bit of information.

Growing up in a war country pre-internet era made it tough to follow football and back then, I only cared for international football and only cared for, and still do, follow the Dutch national team, yet I couldn’t believe it that Romario, Stoichkov and Koeman were all on the same team. Back then, I had just missed out on the glory years of the Dream Team but these years of following Barcelona have rewarded me with great football, great players and great experience of being with the club when things are great and when things are disastrous.

From Lebanon to America, I still have been following Barça and the icing on the cake for me was this past summer when I went to Chicago to see my first FC Barcelona game against Chivas and then went to the team hotel and was fortunate to meet Dani Alves, Iniesta, coach Guardiola and club president, Joan Laporta. That day ranks up there with my wedding and graduation from law school.

Just in case you were wondering who is my all time favorite player, then that honor goes to Luis Enrique, who displayed great passion and leadership that I think is at times missing from this current club.

This season was supposed to be a season of change and adjustments. Gone was the era of Frank Rijkaard and a new era of Josep Guardiola was ushered in. Many thought the move was a bit risky since Guardiola had only one years’ worth of experience and that was with the Barça Atletic / Barça B team in the lower divisions. I actually welcomed having Pep as the coach and actually wanted him to replace Rijkaard before the Champions League encounter against Manchester United.Pep is a legend of the club and is a true Culé, so he know what the expectations were and what the club’s history and legacy is all about. Sadly the team started off slow and everyone was criticizing him.

However, the results started going his away and soon enough the club was off to one of the greatest starts in the club’s history. Come late December, they had defeated Real Madrid at home and had a 12 point lead, were comfortable in their Champions League pursuit and managed to stay alive in Copa Del Rey. Unfortunately, that 12 point lead has now shrunk to four points and questions and tempers have flared about what has happened to the club.

What happened to this club is that they are human. These guys have played more games than their direct rival Real Madrid and fatigue and wear and tear is starting to set in. That’s the cost of trying to win cups. Barcelona are still in the hunt for a treble while Real Madrid crashed out of Copa Del Rey back in October and might crash out of the Champions League next week. Barcelona players were bound to get tired and it seems that’s just the case.

The defense in the new year has allowed 14 goals already following that gut wrenching loss to Atletico Madrid that I was fortunate not to have seen. The offense has been a bit stagnant, midfield not providing service, and the keeper Valdes starting to resort to his old shaky self. They have been playing twice a week for a while now because of International friendlies along with Copa Del Rey and Champions League games. Injuries have forced some players to play more than usual and thus, fatigue is a becoming a big cause of concern. Rotations cannot be implemented when players are hurt and because of that, players are playing more than they should with less time to rest and recover.

The bottom line though is that should not be an excuse. To win titles, these are things a club must be ready to face and endure and the club captains should show the leadership to not allow the players to relax. Inter Milan and Manchester United are in the same situation and they still are hanging in there. I believe the lack of leadership is why this club has thrown away points. Some would say it’s injuries; some would say it’s players creating distractions by what they say through the media – Eto’o and Yaya’s agent’s comments to the media; or some would say it’s because of Victor Valdes, and I would like to throw in the curse of Kobe Bryant declaring he is a Barça fan thanks to that ESPN Magazine cover back in January. It’s not that farfetched when you look back at what happened in 06-07 season. He declared back then that he was a fan too during the California visit of the club’s USA preseason summer tour and then look at what happened next. Bad Karma repeating itself again?

Seriously, the club’s leaders need to make the players focus and not lose track of what is important.

Now is not the time to talk about contracts but time to think of the next game. All Pep should do is play last season’s 4-1 loss to Real Madrid to wake them up. Just the part where they welcome the Madrid players alone should let their blood boil. My life motto is “It’s not how you start, but how you finish.” This club started well but that means nothing if you blow it in the end.

Pep has a big task ahead of him and must adjust and not panic. I still have faith in him and think he tries his best to accommodate and appease everyone. Coaching is not just about tactics, but also about managing egos and keeping spirits up. Basically he is a manager, a father and a psychiatrist. He can get the job done but the players have to step it up. Eto’o, Xavi and Valdes need to play better. The defense needs to stop playing sloppy and the midfield needs to provide better service. Eto’o and Henry have eight and seven goals in this new year, with Henry scoring in six games while Eto’o has only scored in five games in this new year. Too many goals have been conceded from dead ball situations.


Time for now is to adjust and not panic. Maybe Pep needs to be a bit more considerate of protecting a lead and not expanding one. If you’re winning 2-0 or 3-0, then slow it down and control the game and be more counter attacking than continuing to look for more goals. I am not saying to become negative football and depart from the club’s beautiful football, just be smart in when to play beautiful and when to sit back and then go for the kill. Protect the lead with two defensive midfielders. Adjustments and not panic means maybe playing Pedro on the wing and giving Eto’o a breather and let Henry or Bojan start as the center forward. Now would be a good time to let Caceres play in place of the injured Abidal and not over use Puyol as a fullback. Maybe it also means time to bench Valdes for Pinto.

A long time ago, I defended Rijkaard’s decision in playing Valdes over the Turkish keeper Rustu. He was young and smart and benching him would only ruin his confidence and he repaid that opportunity by leading this club to two league titles and a Champions League trophy in that magical night in Paris. However, it now seems that no matter what, Valdes will never stop looking shaky. Four consecutive shaky performances where he has let down the team with his decisions have cost the club. He is 27 now and just don’t see him ever letting go of his cartoon Johnny Bravo image; the image of he looks good but is oblivious to what’s going on. Valdes is a good goal keeper but there are times where you just wonder what was he thinking. Pinto has been playing in Copa Del Rey games which are never short of pressure, experience in the Champions League with Celta Vigo and is a past winner of the Zamora for those who want the argument that Valdes is a past Zamora winner and should start this weekend in my opinion and go the rest of the way. By the way, Casillias just won his first Zamora award last season and don’t tell me he wasn’t the best until he won that award.

The fans need to support the players too and not jeer them when the going gets tough too. Jeering Valdes is not going to help his confidence at all. Mallorca semi-final leg away this Wednesday will be vital indeed and then have to get ready for Athletic de Bilbao at home this weekend. Good news for us fans is that these two games a week will be getting less. Advancing to the Copa final or being eliminated will mean more rest for the players and of course we all want them to advance. Additional good news is that Iniesta will be back soon too.

Finally, I would like to address one thing before I sign off. FC Barcelona updated their official site not too long ago and one of the new features that they added was a legends section. I think that was something that the old site lacked and was great to see this feature added. However, when looking through the listed names of the players, I could not get over the fact that there was a one glaring omission. José Mari Bakero.

The club has updated that page since its introduction but Bakero’s name still is not there. This man was a member of the “Dream Team” and won 13 titles in his time as a member of the blaugrana. His last second header goal against Kaiserslautern helped save the club from elimination through away goals rule in the Champions League (back then was the Champion’s Cup) which they would go on to win that year. Hopefully the club will add his name to that list soon and if anyone knows those in charge of that section, please mention it to them.

Well I hope you enjoyed this and please stay positive and remember that the season is not won or lost in February, but in May. Until next time, keep the faith Barcelona fans and don’t give up.

Visca Barça!