Posts Tagged ‘Fc Barcelona’

That Valencia striker David Villa is a sought after player comes as a surprise to no-one. Barcelona seems to be the obvious choice for the 27 year old and the club has admitted to having had negotiations with Valencia and even placing a bid for him. Valencia on the other hand, would of course hate to loose a player as important as Villa but it is worth keeping in mind that the club battled serious financial problems during the last season and there were rumors about the club selling a large amount of players just to cover up for their debts. It’s probably safe to say that Valencia was hoping that Villa would be one of the hottest players on the transfer market this summer and that several clubs all over Europe would be trying to outbid each other in order to get him. Unfortunately for Valencia, this is not exactly what happened. Only Real Madrid were interested up until a while ago and made two offers that were to be taken seriously, out of which Valencia ended up turning both down. Interest in Villa outside of Spain has been almost non existent and several sales seem to have been put on hold after the record breaking transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid, so if Villa is to be sold anywhere, it is likely that it will be within Spain. Real Madrid is still said to be interested in Villa but after the huge sums that Real has already spent on the likes of Cristiano Ronald and Kaka it appears as though Valencia is not content on settling for much less. Therefore, a Villa move to Real Madrid seems quite unlikely at this point, particularly as Real has only recently signed the Frenchman from Lyon, Karim Benzema, who plays in the same position as Villa. Villa as one of the F.C. Barcelona signings could be highly beneficial to both parties: for Villa because of the opportunity to play alongside the finest in the world and the chance to win domestic and international titles – an unlikely reality for the now financially challenged Valencia, but also just as important for Barca, which with the potential signing of Villa will gain a top form striker at the peak of his career. In fact, such transfer could ultimately prove to be crucial for Barca in the rather likely event that Samuel Eto’o does end up leaving the club (rumors have already linked the striker with almost half of the Premier League sides) and/or that Thierry Henry suffers from injuries or a drop in form, as a result of his age. Therefore it should not surprise anyone if in the next few days we should learn that David Villa has become the newest of the F.C. Barcelona signings.

10. Luis Figo, a world famous football star, who played for FC Barcelona from 1995 till 2000. He was arguably the fans’ most favorite player in FC Barcelona, until 2000. That’s when “it” happened, Barcelona’s biggest rivals, Real Madrid, decided to splash the cash and break the transfer list fees record by getting Luis to Real Madrid.

The move caused outrage among Barcelona fans, Madrid got him for a world record fee of 38 Million Pounds. And that’s when the fun begins, during the match between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, when Luis Figo stepped up to take the corner kick, a pig’s head was thrown at him from Barcelona’s side. Another incident took place during the 2004 EURO Cup Final between Greece and Portugal. A Portuguese fan ran out on the field, managed to outrun the police, and heading towards Luis threw a Barcelona jersey at him, as the whole world was watching.

9. 1996 – African Challenge.

1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, The most surprising gold medals went to the hands of Nigerian football stars after they overcame Brazil in thrilling semi-finals, with a 4-3 score. The finals was between Argentina and Nigeria, well over 2 billion people were watching it, of course most of them thought that Argentina will have no problems getting the gold medal, but most of them were wrong. Argentina was in the driver’s seat after leading 1-0. The goal came on a 3rd minute, scored by Claudio Lopez, on the 28th minute Nigeria managed to equalize, as Babayaro scored a perfect finisher. So it was 1-1 on half-time. In the early second half Hernan Crespo gave Argentina the lead again and Argentina was on the way to get the gold medals, but “not so fast” said Amokachi as he scored the equalizing goal and again gave Nigeria hope. Match was almost over and everybody thought it was going to be decided by the penalty shoot out. 90th minute and Amunike gave the lead to Nigeria, it was a shock for Argentina, time was almost over, Argentina had no chance, so it ended with a final score 3-2. Nigeria won the gold medal, for the first time in Olympic Games history.

8. 1960, First ever UEFA European Football Championship (EURO) held in France. It was won by the USSR, beating Yugoslavia 2-1 in a tense final in Paris. It is however quite interesting to note that earlier in the competition Spain had withdrawn from its quarterfinal match against the USSR due to political reasons. As an interesting fact, USSR also scored the first goal in the EURO history, during the qualification games.

7. 1998/1999 English Premier League season, Manchester United got all trophies possible that season. They became the first ever team in football history to do so in one season. First they got the Premier League title, finishing first in the league table, then they took the F.A. Cup title by beating Newcastle United 2-0, and of course the most famous UEFA Champions League final, when United managed to come back from a 1-0 defeat, and score not one but two goals in an injury time beating Bayern Munich 2-1; it was considered to be one of the greatest comebacks ever witnessed.

6. 2002 World Cup, Korea/Japan. Korean fans will never forget that historic moment, when Guus Hiddink took them all the way to the Semi-Finals of 2002 World Cup. Korean national football team became the first ever Asian national football team to reach semi-finals of World Cup. Nobody expected the underdogs to go that far, as they beat Portugal 1-0 in a group stages, then a famous 2-1 win over Italy, drawing with Spain in a quarter-finals and then beating them 5-3 on penalties. In the end however they couldn’t take on Germany in semi-finals, and they lost 1-0. In the game for the third place Korean team met Turkey, but again they lost. Eventually the Republic of Korea finished 4th in the 2002 World Cup, which was still a great success for the country’s football team.

5. June 2003, Chelsea FC was bought by the Russian Billionaire Roman Abramovich for a record fee of 140 million pounds. Back then it was the biggest sale of an English Football club. Straight away Roman wanted to make Chelsea the best and strongest club in the world. He began buying players for a record braking transfer fees. First season with a new owner Chelsea FC finished as a runner-up. But next year, the 2004/2005 English premier league season, Chelsea became champions of England, for the first time since 1954/1955 season. 2005/2006 Season they took the premier league trophy again as they were crowned the champions of England for the second time in a row. These 2 seasons were the most successful 2 years in the club’s history.

4. January 11th 2007. It was confirmed that David Beckham will be leaving Real Madrid to play for the United States “soccer” club, Los Angeles Galaxy. Beckham’s decision was a shock to many, as one of the world’s best football players moves to United States of America, where “soccer” is not that popular. He was the first big player to enter Major League Soccer.

3. 6th February 1958, the Munich air disaster. It was the darkest day in Manchester United Football Club history. On the board of the plane was Manchester United football team along with the club supporters and journalists. 23 of the 44 passengers on board died. Captain James Thain, the pilot tried to take off twice, but both attempts were aborted due to engine surging. When a third take off was attempted, the plane failed to gain adequate height and crashed into the fence surrounding the airport and then into a house. Now every year on this day Manchester United holds a memorial to the people who lost their lives in the Munich air disaster.

2. 2006 World Cup Final produced one of the most famous moments in football history, when Zidane’s head-butted on Italian defender Marco Materazzi. It was Zidane’s last international appearance for the French national team and 3 billion people around the world were watching it. The next day newspapers all over the world were not writing about how Italy won their 4th World Cup title, but they were writing about how Zidane pulled the “stunt” on Marco. Definitely that was one of the biggest moments in the history of football.

1. Edison Arantes do Nascimento, aka Pele, the world’s most famous name in football. Football is probably the most famous sport in the world, and Pele is the man who made it what it is today. Pele made 669 appearances in club football, scoring 626 goals. He also made 92 appearances for Brazilian National football side and scored 77 goals. He made his first club appearance when he was just 15 years of age. He made his first international appearance for Brazil when he was 16, and won his first World Cup when he was just 17. Pele is hailed in Brazil as a national hero. The number one moment in football history is when Pele managed to score his first international goal for Brazil, just three month before his 17th birthday.

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If you had been asked which Spanish player was going to be voted player of the tournament before Euro 2008 started, can you honestly say you would have said Xavi Hernandez? If the answer is yes, then I hope you had a good bet on it because the odds must have been tremendous.
And yet, by the end of the tournament everybody could see what Barcelona fans had known for years – Xavi Hernandez is a playmaker supreme.
Born in Terrassa in January, 1980, Xavi is another of those priceless players who have come all the way through the ranks at Barcelona. For all the attention that ‘big signings’ inevitably draw, players like Xavi act as a lifeblood to Barça – linking the supporters with the players in a very special way. Fans like nothing more than a footballer with whom they can completely identify – and Xavi fits that bill totally.
Although his grandfather had played successfully for local rivals Espanyol in the 1960s, it was Barça who snapped up the promising 11 year old Xavi Hernandez. Earmarked for stardom right from the beginning, he was carefully nurtured through the youth ranks. After a successful spell in the B side, Xavi made his debut in 1998 in the Spanish Super Cup game against Mallorca – even scoring – and the following season Louis Van Gaal trusted the player enough to start him in 17 league games.
Similarly to Cesc Fabregas at Arsenal, Xavi’s big idol was the midfielder – and current manager – Pepe Guardiola, and it was his injury and subsequent transfer that enabled Xavi to make the playmaker’s role his own. Such was his importance to the team that he made his 300th appearance before he was 25 years old. He now has more than 430 first team games to his name.
Internationally, Xavi was a part of the Spanish team which won the FIFA World Under 20 Championships in 1999, and then he won a silver medal at the Sydney Olympics the following year. Since his first senior international appearance against the Netherlands in 2000, Xavi has been a permanent member of the national team. Alongside Barcelona team mate Andrés Iniesta, the two players bemused supporters in England – wondering how on earth Spain could not include Fabregas in the starting eleven. The two Barcelona players, however, demonstrate an almost telepathic awareness of each other arising from hours spent on the training ground and in matches together.
Xavi is one of those players that managers will always admire; he protects the ball so carefully and just hates giving it away. During numerous Euro 2008 matches, the statistics showed that Xavi had more touches than any other player on the pitch and just never seemed to give the ball to the opposition. A good tackler, a superb one touch player and with a capacity to keep running for the whole game, Xavi is a classic midfield playmaker, capable of dropping back to cover and also of making lung-bursting runs past the strikers into the penalty area. Furthermore, he’s not bad at dead ball situations, either – but in the Barcelona team there’s a few others you could say that about!
Still at the peak of his form and fitness, Xavi should be an integral part of the Barcelona and Spanish midfields for many years yet.