Apr 19, 2010

Inter vs Barca Preview - The Italian Job

Inter Looks To Stop FC Barcelona from reaching Bernabeu

FC Barcelona will travel to Milan by road after UEFA insisted that the Semi-Finals should gon on despite the disruption of air traffic. San Siro will play host to the first leg of the high profile clash between Spanish Champions Barca and Italian Champions Inter Milan. FC Barcelona has the definite advantage of playing the second leg at home. But Barca should not forget about what happened to Chelsea last season and in this season also. Inter Milan was the one who booted Chelsea out of the competition eventhough they had to play the second leg at Stamford Bridge. Jose Mourinho will be expecting his players show the same spirit as they have displayed against Chelsea. Inter Milan comfrotably saw off Juventus in their weekend fixture whereas FC Barcelona were held to an away draw against Espanyol. Jose Mourinho would have been studying the FC Barcelona vs Espanyol match and would have already come up with some tactics to stop this Barca brigade. The last time these two teams met was in the group stage and FC Barcelona won that one comfortably - FC Barcelona -2, Inter - 0

Apr 16, 2010

Joan Laporta, Man who Brought Glory back to Barca

Joan Laporta will step down as the president of FC Barcelona at the end of this seaosn. He oversaw one of the most successful period of the club, successful in all aspects. When Joan Laporta took over as Barca President in the summer of 2003, the club was lying at the sixth place in the league, missing the Champions League action and was trophyless since 1999. Coming to the end of his tenure, Barca has already won 11 trophies, has a chance to add two more and has once again the most feared and respected football club in the planet. Many may argue that Laporta was plain lucky to ovesee such a golden period. But I firmly believe that Success is a result of constant struggle, not of any accident. And Indeed Laporta struggled. Halfway through his first season, Barca lied in the mid-way position in League table. Fans were calling for the sacking of Frank Rijkaard, laporta's chosen one. Credit must be given to Laporta for continuing with Rijakaard and he soon turned the fortunes of Barca upside down.