Tag Archives: Barcelona

“Penalty! Holland have a penalty! And we are still in the opening minute of this long-awaited World Cup final!” In many ways, the amazing 10th Fifa World Cup in 1974 bore an uncanny resemblance to its 1954 counterpart. In Germany like in Switzerland, Fifa played the second round as a …

Ex-England Premier League and Trinidad and Tobago World Cup goalkeeper and ESPN analyst Shaka Hislop talks to Burdie and Barney about his takeaways from the Tokyo Olympics, the Soca Warriors (and the Caribbean) at the Concacaf Gold Cup, the Harry Kane transfer saga, Barcelona FC’s fire-sale and athletes versus the …

Uefa banked €3.25 billion (TT$26.7 billion) in commercial revenue for its showcase tournaments last year.  The lion’s share of Uefa’s money, €2.55 billion (TT$21 billion), went to the clubs that viewers switch on their television to watch. The Champions League, which involves 79 teams, got €2.04 billion (TT$16.7 billion) while …

Financial Fair Play (FFP) is one of those topics that invite controversy. There are those who believe that it was written to preserve the status quo of large clubs by preventing the nouveau riche from spending money to challenge the established players. Others say it is an attempt to control …

Twenty-three year old James Rodriguez became the most expensive Colombian footballer of all time yesterday when the former Monaco attacker was unveiled as Real Madrid’s latest Galactico. Rodriguez marked his coming out ceremony at the Estadio Bernabeu by kicking footballs into the crowd and saving one exuberant spectator from being …

On the last occasion that Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova took his eye off Real Madrid boss José Mourinho, he almost lost it. Vilanova was assistant to Pep Guardiola for the second leg of the 2011 Spanish Supercopa when Mourinho inexplicably yanked at the former man’s face during a fracas. In …

It is a new La Liga season but prepare for the same old José Mourinho. As Real Madrid tries to recover from last Thursday’s 3-2 first leg Spanish Supercopa deficit, the highly successful but equally controversial Portuguese coach returned to one of his old classics by accusing rival Barcelona of …

“Are you a football fan?” I asked the taxi-driver, who collected me at the Barajas Madrid Airport. “Yes,” he said. “Real Madrid.” His eyes searched mine through the rear view mirror for a few seconds. It resembled the look of a man who had just shown off his girlfriend and …

When Barcelona’s soon-to-be-ex-coach Pep Guardiola related his “waiting for that eureka moment”, as he described his coaching ideology, many in the football world may have thought it pretentious. The would-be philosopher-coach would find the tactical strategy necessary to overcome any and every team in Barcelona’s path through a flash of …

In football, more often than not, one plus one does not yield two; never was this more evident than in the most recent Clásico, which was played on Saturday. It’s always something of an anti-climax when you write about an event at a time when all and sundry have had …

Some 90,000 Catalans bayed for blood in the Nou Camp; Saturday April 21 was the day they expected Barcelona to put the Real Madrid’s Galácticos to death, a slow, merciless death. But they reckoned without the special one himself, José Mourinho. We covered several tactical topics prior to the game …

Spain’s finest and two of the world’s most renowned football clubs, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, go head-to-head in this mouth-watering winner-take-all encounter. To fully appreciate the true value and importance of this championship decider, one must start by identifying the ingredients that have the whole football world on edge …