The Azulgrana Roundup, Week 13 - Gayo Lues

Vice-president Carles Villarubí gives CNN an exclusive tour of the Camp Nou, the quiz-centric website Sporcle challenges you to name the whole Barça squad in under six minutes, Sid Lowe singles out Javier Mascherano as one of the key pieces in this Barça team…

• CNN. Inside FC Barcelona’s Camp Nou

FC Barcelona vice-president Carles Vilarrubí gives CNN an exclusive tour of the Camp Nou.

• Sporcle. Can you name the current FC Barcelona squad in six minutes?

 

It might be tougher than you think.

• The Guardian. Sid Lowe. Pep Guardiola’s preaching converts quiet man Mascherano to Barça style

“When he [Mascherano] speaks he does so with clarity and conviction, a quiet authority, and with rare understanding and analysis. Yet there is also a kind of wide-eyed eagerness and he is never off message. He speaks with a convert’s zeal, describing team-mates with a kind of hushed awe. “I have never seen anything like Barcelona; it is not that they win, it is the way the win,” he said. “I now know that there’s another way of thinking about football.”

• El Centrocampista. Javier Hernández. Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi: The stats beyond stats

“Everybody knows the current situation of course; Cristiano has reached 40 goals, Messi is just one behind with 39 [now 41 goals apiece]. The Argentinean leads the assists department with 14, compared to Ronaldo’s 11. However, there are a lot more stats behind these numbers that may escape the average fan. Until today that is, as we take the challenge of analysing every aspect of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo during this amazing season.”

 

• The False 9. Kiran Vr. Pep’s Barcelona vs Sacchi’s Milan – Clash of the titans

“The last definitive shift in tactics in football occurred back in the late 80s, when Arrigo Sacchi, the master tactician from Italy decided that a change was required from the five-man backline or the sweeper formation to a four-man backline, which depends more on the offside trap than sheer defensive prowess. While it was Italy’s domination of Europe in the 60s which made the sweeper-formation famous, it was Milan’s domination in the late 80s – early 90s which brought an end to it.”

• The Telegraph. John Carlin and Michael Robinson. Chelsea v Barcelona: How Pep Guardiola completed Johann Cruyff’s tactical revolution at Nou Camp

“Barcelona mark a watershed in the evolution of football. There is a before and an after with this team. They have redefined the way the game is played and caused the football world – from coaches of children’s teams to the technical staff of the biggest clubs on the planet – to return to the drawing board and reconsider their most basic premises.”

• El País. David Trueba. Guardiola El hijo del ‘paleta’

“El catalán es una lengua hermosa que coquetea con el francés para desespañolizarse, que tiene música portuguesa, pero que cuando alcanza la mayor expresividad es puro italiano. En catalán, al albañil le dicen paleta, en ejemplo prodigioso de metonimia popular. La paleta es también el arma del pintor. Para hablar de Pep Guardiola, entrenador del FC Barcelona, es apropiado reparar en esa ambivalencia.”

• The Guardian. Sid Lowe. Chelsea’s dilemma now is whether to stick or twist against Barcelona

“Optimism laced the resignation. Barcelona had been beaten for only the third time this season, but they had not yet been defeated and they felt entitled to believe they would not be either. The natural reaction might have been to insist the second leg will be different; in fact, the European champions insisted it will be much the same. If the final score needs to change, the performance need not.”

source:
News at FCB

Share This Post

Related News You Should Read

.@Carles5Puyol to undergo surgery on Wednesday. He will be sidelined for 3 to 4 weeks

The FC Barcelona captain will undergo surgery to remove a Baker’s cyst from his right knee The player will be out of action for three to four weeks Carles Puyol will undergo ambulatory surgery on Wednesday morning to remove a Baker’s cyst in his right knee. The surgery will take place at the Unitat del

---

Photo gallery: The best photos of FC Barcelona from the 2012/13 season

Over the past week we’ve shown you a selection of what we believe to be the best photos of the first team this season. If you missed any of our end-of-year galleries, don’t worry, here’s an overview of our best photos The ‘best of the best’ photos taken of FC Barcelona’s first team during the

---

PHOTOS – Celebrities who visited FC Barcelona’s training sessions

. . source: News at FCB

---