Spanish Football thread

[Bevab]

50 league goals is just amazing work!!

Messi is a real legend.

 

[War]

End of an era at Barca. I feel Guardiola's work there will always be under-appreciated.

This is thing i dont see why Pep's departure should signal the end of an era for Barca.

Barca are a great team with players with tremendous natural ability. Its a bit Australia cricket team with Warne, McGrath etc who was coached by John Buchanan.

AUS team coach was just a figurehead, the players were great enough to be able to do that job on the pitch. I've always viewed Pep as this. Pep didn't give Xavi or Iniesta or Messi their natural ability, he just had to make sure they played in the right formation (a formation any sensible fan could have picked) to maximize the best of their abilities.

This team has been playing a lot of football of late and the Chelsea defeat is one of the few times (Inter Milan, Man Utd, Chelsea before) was one of the few times in the last couple years - when team have used the bullying/ultra defensive tactic to topple Barca.

It could happen again, but i still expect Barca to dominate club football in general, even if they don't win all competitions all the time.

 

[puddleduck]

I'm with you. The Barca setup is very continental in that it applies throughout the club and it runs itself to an extent. The academy trains players in certain ways to play football a certain way, and the team aim to play that way so that the young players coming through can fit straight in.

It's not like say Arsenal, where players go there to play for Wenger, they go there because it's Barcelona and that won't change... even if the next manager is Sam Allardyce

 

[JBlues08]

Mauricio Pellegrino(former assistant of Rafa) will be taking over Valencia next season after signing a two-year deal. Think it's gonna be tough for him to replicate Emery's achievements of consistently finishing in the Top 3 every season.

And speaking of Emery, read that he is going to take over Spartak Moscow but yet to decide on it as he wants to manage in one of the top European leagues.

 

[Auwais]

Would be nice to see them slip out of the CL places after that, would give those fickle Valencia fans some perspective on where they really stand in the current climate and how good a job Emery did in getting them third consistently.

 

[thedon5]

Dozy Athletic Bilbao fans miss Europa League final after Budapest balls up | Metro.co.uk

Lol.

 

[Haarithan]

Villarreal are relegated!

Edit: Madrid's title celebration has been a treat to watch. They sure do know how to celebrate!

 

[shravi]

When is the last time a team played the Champions League and got relegated from their domestic league in the same season?

 

[Auwais]

Sampdoria did it last season.

 

[Bevab]

They did not play Champions League, they lost in the qualifiers.

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And also all of the 3 promoted teams stayed up this season, nice job.

 

[JBlues08]

Totally tragic to see Villarreal getting relegated. Everything just went against them in the final few minutes with Atletico scoring and then Vallecano netting a late winner against Granada.

 

[KBC]

Abidal seems to have announced his retirement. Really sad but not Surprising. Just wish a good life for him ahead. One of the best left backs to have graced the Catalans' shirt.

 

[Haarithan]

NIKE strikes again!

 

[thedon5]

NIKE strikes again!

I want to gouge my eyes out.

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I still miss the good old days of modern kits back when Liverpool was still sponsored by Carlsberg (the best sponsor for a shirt) and Barca was still sponsored by Unicef, another great one for the shirt. The new sponsors are terrible. Plus that old Liverpool kit had a cooler collar, and the Barca one was actually Barca, unlike this new bullshit.

 

[puddleduck]

I want to gouge my eyes out.

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back when Liverpool was still sponsored by Carlsberg ("probably" the best sponsor for a shirt)

Fixed