Comments on: Barca rule Europe, and have done it their way

By: BD Condell

BD Condell — Fri, 29 May 2009 09:26:06 +0000

Good, balanced article Neil. Agree with all your observations. Well done Barca, as worthy a Champion as you could ever hope to find.

No need for doom and gloom at Utd. but some things need addressing and I’m sure Fergie will be onto it.

By: fearflash

fearflash — Fri, 29 May 2009 06:22:43 +0000

up until united lost their final game most people where thinking the same continuity of greatness for this current team. united have won the league with three generations of players during Sir Fergusson’s tenure. The CL is not the only barometer of this as no one yet have won it twice in row with all the great players who have played since it been called the champions league. Let’s not undermine this crop of red devils just yet because they lost this year. As long as united maintain their football philosophy just as barca does, we must never count them out as well as all the elite clubs in europe. Football like many sport is like chess, for any playing style or ‘philoshpy’ there is always a counter style or tactic to achieve the ultimate goal- to win. But at the end of it will all the unexpected twist/luck/refereing decisions the players still decide it. That’s why we the game. Anything can happen.

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 29 May 2009 06:12:39 +0000

I said it after the semi-final and I’ll say it again. Barca benefited from not having Abidal and Alves as their fullbacks, as their replacements were naturally more tentative than the first choice players, simply because they were that – replacements. That tentativenesss caused them not to attack as much as Alves/Abidal would have, meaning they were aailable to close down Rooney/Park more often. That was my observation.

By: Daniel Chung

Daniel Chung — Fri, 29 May 2009 04:57:07 +0000

The kind of football Barcelona play now is the same brand that they played when they won the European Cup for the first time in Wembley in 1992. The controlling midfield linking the defense to the attackers but the only difference is that back in the 90s with the Dream Team is that Pep Guardiola was the focal point supported by players like Guillermo Amor and Jose Marie Bakero… but now you have two focal players in Xavi and Iniesta whose individual skill bring a different dynamic (like having two Guardiolas). It’s no coincidence that this current squad (with different foreign players) can play this one touch attacking football because it is the philosophy of the “cantera” where the vast majority of these players (Iniesta, Xavi, Puyol, Pique, Sergi Busquets, Krkic) learned their footballing trade. That is the greatness of Barcelona’s legacy and this third Champions’ League title is the crowning jewel. Almost half of their team was homegrown and from a new generation. Manchester United have homegrown players in Scholes and Giggs, but they can’t boast a new generation yet that can maintaing a continuity of greatness. For Messi’s attacking prowess you still have the midfield geniuses in Xavi and Iniesta. It’s refreshing to see this side play a style that brings back memories of the Cruyff years. And should they continue in this way we will see another generation that achieves this kind of feat.

By: fearflash

fearflash — Fri, 29 May 2009 03:12:17 +0000

good article but like you said most points are taken in hindsight after the game. barcelona have played the same style of football even before pep guardiola was there. They got knocked out by liverpool(2007), man u(2008) and squeaked by chelsea this year and ultimately became champions playing their ‘barca’ way. In retrospect, everyone would realize that the only way of beating this posession/’beautiful’ football is by playing anti/’ugly’ football like chelsea/numancia did this season. In the end the only thing that matters is who wins. Greece and Italy did it during the euro and world cup. Barcelona deserves all the accolades for what they accomplished this year. I doubt next year would be the same. If they repeat this monumental task again next year pep/this barca team should be considered one of the greats in the annals of football, but not just yet.

By: garth10

garth10 — Fri, 29 May 2009 02:20:19 +0000

It has to be said that the author has not highlighted the effectivness of Messi… all the ramblings have been directed to an ‘off night’ of ronaldo and co.
well it has to be stated that a big reason as to why Iniesta and Xavi playd with such abandon freedom was due to the scrutiny the man u midfielders placed on Messi (which was warranted). This proved invaluable as the man u midfield did not have time to exploit Barcas ‘makeshift’ defense. Ronaldo playd well but with barcas footbal philosophy messi fits in like an irriplacable rare gem that gives the glow of the beauty of beautiful footbal!

By: Ganapia

Ganapia — Thu, 28 May 2009 23:02:31 +0000

I want to take this opportunity now that Barça won the CL to claim against one of the worst media writers: Matt Lawton from Daily News. I believe there a thousand of kids prepared and ready to write and killing to get an internship in a newspaper so I can’t understand why this guy is still alowed to write anything about football.
In January after the FIFA WP awards he became famous by writing “the four best players in the world (and Xavi)” and today after Barça’s win he writes things like “Majestic Xavi”. Honestly, he is really a F*****G DISGRACE to journalism.