Out of the Shadows, Thiago Emerges

What an impact an successful tournament makes, isn't it? What an impact a wonder goal makes, isn't it?Two weeks before I was shouting at the loudest voice in another Barcelona blog about the foolishness of letting Thiago slip away inorder to facilitate the signing of Cesc Fabregas. No one cared. But it looks like Thiago's wonder goal in the final of Euro - 21 has done the trick for him. Suddenly Barcelona fans have started to realise that it could be stupidity of monumental proportion to let this kid slip away. Tha Catalan media have suddenly recognised the talent of Thiago and today's cartoon section has a positive warning against selling him for any matter.

This is Sport.es' cartoon



Thiago triumphs with the U21′s

“Those that want me to be ‘exchange money’ need to be careful…because the change from the little bit of money could end up being costly.”

MundoDeportivo.es had this in their humour section:



“Do you think that Thiago can be successful with Barça?”

“If first they make a bad sale to Arsenal and then buy him back again for for millions, then of course!”

Translation Courtesy : Total Barca

Continue Reading...

Happy Birthday Messi

So the little magician from Rosario turns 24 today. Quite an young age for a player who has already achieved so many feats in his career. The two time World Player of the Year was born on 24th of June 1987 in Rosario and we all know very well the journey he took into our hearts. It would an understatement to say Carles Rexach, the sporting director who signed Messi may not have imagined him being such a fine player. After all he realised within minutes Messi's potential and gave him a contract on a paper napkin. Lionel Messi has been elected the World Player of the Year for the last two years and barring some miracle would be winning it this year. That should make for a rare hat-trick of the title. People say that great players starts to show their true capability around the age of 23. So that means whatever we saw till now from messi is just the trailer, bloody hell I can't wait for the full movie. Already he is been compared to the likes of Pele and his own idol Diego Maradona. He may have not achieved their legendary status but when he finishes his career he is guaranteed to have a place along with them. Pele recently questioned Messi's claim for greatness and today said that he could only be compared to Pele if he scores 1200+ goals. Now it may be the typical pele boasting about his achievements, but somewhere we can sense that he believes that this chap could be a serious competitior to his claims of the game's greatest. The only time Pele brings the goal tally in a comparision is when he is pitched against Maradona - Messi's performance is seriously getting under the Brazilian legend's skin.

Continue Reading...

The Cesc Chase Looks to have Ended

It is quite difficult to write something during the summer break. Last season was quite different. The constant Cesc quest produced infinite number of stories and for people like us it was quite good. This season things are back to normal and the transfer market is quietly evolving. But earlier indications looks like we are once again losing the plot with the endless Cesc saga. Cesc Fabregas has been very clever this season to make sure that he doen't alienate either Arsenal or Barca. He recently made it clear that it's upto Arsene Wenger to decide what's his future going to be? That's a statement which made both the camps happy as both of them took it in very positive stride. But it is becoming very clear that despite the enthusiasm, barcelona management are slowly resigning to the fact that they may not be able to sign him. Sandro Rosell, the controversial President made a statement Yesterday cleverly down playing Cesc's importance. Suddenly he realised that the value of Cesc fabregas has gone down somehow this summer and made it clear that Barca will not even match what they offered last season for the midfielder. It looks like an escape plan.

Continue Reading...