Lionel Messi plays for Argentina and is currently an integral member of FC Barcelona. He is rare in his prodigious talent, his physical condition (a growth hormone deficiency - Barcelona paid his medical bills as part of the deal to sign him up) and the fact that of the many pretenders to Diego Maradona’s throne, Messi seems capable of living up to the expectations.
Here’s a list of the top scorers in this year’s Champions League (so far), plus their career stats for the Champions League:
Written by Ahmed Bilal. One comment
Football Club Barcelona is not in the best state to go into the Champions League semi final with Manchester United. If you regularly read the Spanish sports press you will know that Barça is a club in crisis. It may also seem that the press always says the same, at least when Barça are not beating the pants off everyone.
However, over the last couple of weeks the situation has reached a point where it feels as though the club is going to explode with one more bad result. Before last week’s goalless draw with Getafe president Joan Laporta appealed to a group of supporters that Barça “are not as bad as all that.” He went on to tell the fans that they should not fall into the trap of listening to journalists who pretended to be on Barça’s side but in fact had other interests.
His arguments might have been valid but the anxious aggressive tone that he used to make them did little to convince the fans, and after Barça once again missed an opportunity to close the gap on Real Madrid by failing to beat Getafe, some of the crowd protested by calling for Laporta’s resignation.
Written by Nic Aldam. 5 comments
The stage is FC Barcelona’s famous Camp Nou stadium. The scoreline? 1-0, although you’d be forgiven for thinking that no-one cared. The reason for this lack of interest? One of the divo’s clothed in red and blue is prostrated pitchside, tears streaming down his youthful face. The moment is frozen in time. Thousands of fans hold their hearts in their hands. A legendary Dutch player, now FC Barcelona manager, looks down at the ground. After just thirty-five minutes of a Champions’ League 2nd leg tie, suddenly Europe’s premier club competition doesn’t seem so important any more. As Nietzsche once wrote, “God is dead”; and in this case, Lionel Messi lies injured yet again.
Written by Hugo Steckelmacher. 2 comments
Tuesday night at the Camp Nou. FC Barcelona have just beaten Celtic and 75,000 fans donning Barca colours erupt with ecstasy. And why shouldn’t they? After all, the premier institution of Barcelona, the symbol and representation of all that is Catalan (and more importantly all that is anti-Madrid) is now in the last 8 of the UEFA Champions League.
Yet there was one man who seemed distant from the celebrations. The customary smile, a clench of the fists, a few seconds of applause, the hurried handshakes and then the swiftly and quietly given post-match press conference and that was all. End of game, end of story. His controlled self-expression doesn’t imply that he doesn’t care - in fact, he cares deeply and perhaps more than anyone else - but it is simply that he remains outwardly passive.
It is Frank Rijkaard’s nature not to demonstrate any sign of excitement either in times of merriment or in periods of doldrums. Yet no one can deny that the 45 year old Dutchman with the quiet demeanor of a priest about to say his Sunday prayers has been at the very heart of the rehabilitation that Barca have undergone since 2003. It has been Rijkaard who has breathed in a new life into the sapless Barcelona life-tree that was once even threatening to die.
Written by Subhankar Mondal. 3 comments
‘Tis a little late, but here are the highlights from Wednesday night’s Champions League ties, in case you missed any of the action. And if you did, well, you missed some exciting moments, great finishes, and near misses, which is where we’ll kick off the highlights.
Written by Eddie Griffin. Leave a response
A lot of people may feel that this is one of the more one-sided of the last-sixteen ties in this season’s Champions League but statistics suggest that Celtic could well cause an upset. Celtic fear no-one at Celtic Park and Barça have only beaten Celtic once in three meetings at Camp Nou, and that was in November 1964 when Barça won 3-1 in the second round first leg of the Fairs Cup. The last two visits were in 2004 and Celtic managed to draw both times.
Written by Nic Aldam. One comment
It’s comic, it’s tragic and it’s pathetic. Every season Atletico Madrid start their season saddled with a sack full of hope, hype and expectation and at the end of every season there’s rue, regret and an all too familiar disappointment wailing all around.
This time too there’s a strong suspicion that Atleti are here for good; that they are seriously looking to consolidate their position in the top four, that they might even make a run for the title challenge, that they do possess the strength and depth in their squad pre-requisite for a title contender.
Written by Subhankar Mondal. 4 comments
“Soccer is a world made of numbers”. A phrase which would make any mathematician proud, with the eternal claim that you can find mathematics anywhere.
And where better to find numbers than Goal Totals: the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS), the famous (and often criticized) organization that chronicles the history of football, has just published its World’s Top Goal Scorer of 2007 ranking.
No, the results are further from probably anything you may expect.
Written by Marco Pantanella. 13 comments
Camp Nou cathedral is no Jerusalem and Lionel Messi is no Jesus Christ. But that doesn’t make the diminutive Argentine anything less than a Saviour. If FC Barcelona is més que un club (more than a club), then Messi is more than another soldier in the Catalan army. He is the leader, the spiritual inspiration, the Messiah. Without him, the Catalan flock is lost.
Written by Subhankar Mondal. Leave a response
Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Lionel Messi are all up for the FIFA World Player of the year. The three players have been shortlisted for the award which is announced at FIFA’s world player gala in Zurich on December 17. It’s the first time any of the three have been up for the honour.
Written by James Massoud. 51 comments
Barcelona handed out a pummeling to struggling Levante as Henry finally opened his league account for the Catalan club and Lio Messi continued to distance himself with his brilliance from absent Ronaldinho, whilst looking more and more like the REAL next Maradona.
Written by Hugo Steckelmacher. 11 comments
