Manolo Preciado: The Most Interesting Man in the World

There was a time on Saturday night when Lionel Messi actually became frustrated with himself and his teammates.  There was a time on Saturday night when Xavi Hernández could not find the killer pass through the hard-working, organized defense.  There was a time on Saturday night when Gerard Piqué was absolutely skinned alive by an opposing forward, costing FC Barcelona only its twelfth conceded goal all season in La Liga.

When these previous statements are applicable against Barcelona, one would assume the club on the other side of the pitch that forced the Catalans to toil for a draw was one of the European powers.  It certainly was not Real Madrid, nor Villarreal, nor Valencia.  It was the humble club from an industrial town that plays it football at a stadium named for the old watermill that once stood on that piece of land.

Sporting de Gijón, led by the most interesting man in the world, Manolo Preciado.

Similar to Blackpool’s Ian Holloway, Preciado filters very little what comes out of his mouth, and in almost beautiful synchronicity, both managers spit in the face of accusations that they purposefully set out weakened teams in a “lose the battle, win the war” type of creed.  In Holloway’s case, he made ten changes to his starting lineup against Aston Villa in November, in which that Villa match was the third of four matches Blackpool played in a short span of thirteen days.

Holloway threatened to resign from his post if the Premier League found the club guilty, and when the league handed down the guilty verdict, Holloway was true to his word, handing his resignation papers to Blackpool chairman Karl Oyston.  Oyston duly rejected Holloway’s resignation, but despite all of the strange and bold statements that come out of Holloway’s mouth, he genuinely believes in all of them and stands by everything he says.

Manolo Preciado is no different, and when José Mourinho charged Preciado of fielding a weakened team against Barcelona in September because “they [Sporting] felt they could not win,” in Mourinho’s words, Preciado went on a priceless diatribe that hearkens to the Rafael Benítez “Fact” rant or Diego Maradona’s “suck” castigation:

“I do not like Mourinho and I am going to tell him that to his face.  Who the hell is this guy?  He claimed that we gave away the points at Camp Nou and has since repeated this.  Even if he says this as a joke, it is very bad.  But if he means it, I think he is despicable and a poor professional.  I don’t like it at all.  If Madrid don’t teach him respect, I will.  We deserve the same respect he does.  To say that Sporting, who have killed ourselves to get into the top flight, would give up on a match?  Who the hell does he think he is?”

To say that the Sporting players backed their manager would be one of the understatements of the year.  They had already defeated Sevilla, drawn with Villarreal and Athletic Bilbao and frustrated Barcelona in a 1-0 loss with that “weakened” team, but when Sporting hosted Real Madrid in November and faced Mourinho for the first time since Mourinho made his disparaging comments against Sporting and Preciado, El Molinón developed into a fiery cauldron and a white-hot crucible that has not been matched in Spain this season.

Unfortunately, Mourinho sat in a private box for that match because he was in the middle of a two-match touchline ban for his own firebrand statements about referees.  He would have reveled in the hate raining down on him from the Sporting faithful as the clever and not-so-clever chants created an extra element of flavor and flair in an already combustible atmosphere.  The Sporting players channeled the positive energy from the El Molinón crowd and hassled and harried Cristiano Ronaldo and co. for the whole of the match.  Real expected the initial surge from Sporting, but the pressing and the closing down did not waver as the clock hit the 30th, 60th and even the 90th minute.  Gonzalo Higuaín eventually scored the decider in the 82nd minute to give Real the 0-1 victory, but their win was overshadowed by the effort of the Sporting players and their tangible love for their manager Manolo Preciado.

All that heart and emotion spent against Real Madrid took a toll on los rojiblancos, as they would not win in their next seven league matches, and with each successive game without a victory, Preciado’s leash shortened bit by bit until he was within one loss short of a sacking as was widely reported.  Sitting in the relegation zone and tied on points with the bottom of the table, Preciado’s players rallied behind their coach and reeled off three consecutive victories in January, including a 1-0 over Atlético Madrid and a 0-4 thrashing over Mallorca.

Heading into their home match against Barcelona on Saturday night, Sporting sat in a nominally safe 13th in the table, but with only one point separating them with those in the relegation zone, they were supposed to rely on other results of the round to keep them above the drop line because no one had taken a point off Barcelona away from the Camp Nou this season.

Sporting should have been comforted by the fact that under Pep Guardiola, Barcelona’s record coming of FIFA-sanctioned international matched was a relatively mediocre 5-6-1, and that one loss came at the hands of Hércules in September.  Added to the player fatigue from the internationals was the impending UEFA Champions League Round of 16 first leg against Arsenal this upcoming Wednesday, so if there were a time when Barcelona would not be at their best, Sporting would get them at the perfect time.

Preciado and the El Molinón crowd did not have any qualms against Barcelona, but subconsciously, Preciado wanted to prove Mourinho wrong and show that Sporting believed they could beat Barcelona, even though he firmly denied Mourinho’s indictments about his team in their first meeting against the blaugrana earlier in the season.

The same intensity that Sporting showed against Real Madrid resurfaced against Barcelona in the first twenty minutes of the match, but whereas the impetus against Real arose from hatred and disgust, the vigor displayed against Barcelona came more from fear as the threat of relegation looms for the bottom eight La Liga clubs.

Sporting employed a high defensive line and a suffocating on and off-ball pressure that defines Barça’s defense, and this strategy forced Barcelona into some uncharacteristic turnovers and lack of composure on the ball.  After Sporting foiled another Barça offensive move, the subsequent counter-attack ended with Gijón taking the shock 1-0 lead.

Diego Castro sent a ball down the left wing for David Barral, and Barral did the rest.  Gerard Piqué is one of the most complete defenders in the world, but he is not blessed with blistering pace, so when he went against Barral in a one-on-one battle down the left wing, Piqué was always going to finish second best.  Barral cut in from the left wing, leaving Piqué in his wake, and when Gabriel Milito tried to help out Piqué in the box, Barral ran laterally past Milito with Milito stumbling to the floor in the process, and Barral struck a shot to the right far post that Víctor Valdés had no chance of saving.

1-0 to Sporting, but what were they going to do for the final seventy-four minutes plus stoppage time?

While they stood by their high pressure for a few minutes after the goal, they predictably began to sit back more and more in their own half of the pitch as the game wore on because they could not keep up the high intensity for the whole of the match.

When Sporting converted into a 4-6-0 formation later in the match, they plugged every hole and covered every hint of open space in which Barcelona wanted to exploit.  Preciado was almost serenely calm (feisty for normal folk), and the faint possibility of three points slowly became more and more of a reality.

Then the local boy done good, David Villa, broke his people’s hearts with a deft twenty-yard chip over goalkeeper Iván Cuéllar with ten minutes remaining, and Barcelona somehow came out of El Molinón with a point.

Ever since Pep Guardiola took over FC Barcelona in the summer of 2008, every team has tried to find the magic formula or blueprint to contain and ultimately defeat Barça on a somewhat consistent basis.  Has Sporting Gijón, of all clubs, provided the plan for others to follow when they encounter Barcelona?

High pressure and the early goal for the opposition has been the common theme when Barcelona has struggled, and Sporting completed these two tasks.  Unless the team has players that can fight with this intensity for the entire match, eventually they will have to sit back and withstand the inevitable Barcelona onslaught.  Without the early goal, Sporting would likely have tired at a much higher rate, and Barcelona would have found their goal sooner or later, but with the thought that they could actually defeat Barcelona dancing in their heads, they transcended their own physical and mental limits for the cause.

While Sporting did not finish the way they wanted, Preciado had nothing but effusive praise for his whole team, and the individual players reciprocated that love back to their trainer.

Sporting Gijón fell three spots to 16th despite the point earned and perilously stand one point above Osasuna for the final relegation place.  As the Asturian club claws their way toward safety in La Liga for another year, the luscious mustache from across the border in Cantabria soldiers on, running his team in his way, regardless of others from the outside have to say about he and his team.  La Liga would sorely miss his graveled, stern voice and his larger-than-life character if Sporting were to go down, and if Mourinho stays with Real Madrid for the foreseeable future, who else will keep him in check?

Fueras de Juego

- If Quique Sánchez Flores has not been sacked, he should just resign if he wants to keep his sanity.  Valencia came up with another late-goal winner to rise to third in the table, and Atlético Madrid’s schizophrenia has morphed into a chronic depression that has little chance of curing at this point.  Diego Forlán missed a penalty that would have given Atlético a 2-1 lead, and he falls further into the doghouse with both the Atlético fans and the coaching staff.  It might be time to blow up this team and start over, and Quique will not want part of any of that.

- Sevilla found another way to blow a match, and all of the blame for Manuel Arana’s first-time forty-yard loop with the outside of his right boot game-winner should fall on Andrés Palop, who went on an absent-minded walkabout outside of his area and left the goal wide open.  The goal nearly left Arana in tears, and back to the future new boss Marcelino García Toral shrewdly decided to run in ecstasy on the grass after he nearly broke his butt celebrating Racing’s second goal on the slippery technical area.  Sevilla now is fourteen points behind Villarreal for the final Champions League spot, and Gregorio Manzano looks like he is on the hot seat and the next manager to go after Quique Sánchez Flores with the bookmakers.

- Villarreal’s inexplicable poor play for a second week as they fell to a deserved Deportivo La Coruña team that needed three points with relegation a real possibility for the Galicians.  The Depor ball kids must have watched Osasuna defeat Real Madrid a couple of weeks ago because with a few minutes remaining on the clock and Villarreal in a dangerous attacking position on Daniel Aranzubia’s goal, the Depor ball kid threw a second ball on the pitch, and referee Rafael Ramírez Domínguez had no choice but to stop play.  On the drop ball, Depor kicked into the Villarreal half, and all of the attacking momentum disappeared.  Anything for a win apparently.

- Real Madrid had one of its best performances of the season, even with Iker Casillas receiving his marching orders from referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz in the second minute.  Emmanuel Adebayor gelled with Cristiano Ronaldo and the other Real attackers and fit in seamlessly in José Mourinho’s team.  Karim Benzema might have to be comfortable sitting on the bench for the rest of the season save for some substitute appearances.  Pepe deserved man of the match honors because he made a multitude of stellar defensive plays, and he had to pick up the slack of Ricardo Carvalho, who had a rare off day in the center of defense.  Seven points down to five, and La Liga seems realistic for Real.  For now.

Josep Guardiola, known for his cool demeanor inside and outside of the technical area, channeled his feelings for all things Madrid when he refused to give Cristiano Ronaldo the ball for a throw-in on the half-hour mark.  Unlike his outspoken and demonstrative counterpart José Mourinho, Guardiola usually keeps to himself, shouting and dictating to his players on the pitch on rare occasions.  Monday night’s match was El Clásico, however, and normal circumstances and situations have little bearing.  The ball had gone out of play, and Ronaldo wanted to take a throw-in quickly to continue what little momentum Real Madrid had going forward.  The ball fortuitously came to Guardiola, and in one of his less sporting moments, he held the ball away from Ronaldo and then eventually rolled it away from him.  Ronaldo took exception to such behavior and shoved him in the chest, starting a little fracas as the Barça players came to defend Guardiola while the Real players took Ronaldo’s side.

Mentioning how normal circumstances fly out of the window during El Clásico, Víctor Valdés, Gerard Piqué, and Carles Puyol would be the ones who would immediately soar into the affray because of their combative personalities, and on cue, Valdés received a yellow card for coming out of his penalty area to confront Ronaldo.  Who was the first one, however, to challenge Ronaldo for his behavior?  The mild-mannered and unassuming Andrés Iniesta.  Iniesta was the nearest Barça player to the situation, but Dani Alves, Lionel Messi, and Sergio Busquets were also around, saw exactly what Ronaldo did to Guardiola, and did not immediately react as Iniesta did.

By the time the Guardiola – Ronaldo showdown occurred, it was already 2-0 in favor of the Catalans, and that situation was the only fight that Real Madrid could muster throughout the whole of the match.

Before the match, Mourinho had to make one forced change to his settled starting eleven, as Gonzalo Higuaín failed to pass a late fitness test due to a back muscle injury, and the much-maligned Karim Benzema deputized for Higuaín as the lone center-forward.  Benzema had become 75th – 80th minute replacement for Higuaín in most of the matches this season, and he had provided some decent performances in those short stints.  He needed to fill Higuaín’s boots from the start of the match against their toughest and most important opponent, however, and Benzema’s few starts for Real Madrid this season were nothing about which to write.

Guardiola sent out his optimum eleven, which meant that the slightly more defensive Éric Abidal started at left back over the Brazilian Maxwell.  With Ángel di María and Cristiano Ronaldo on the flanks and willing to switch at any moment, Guardiola wanted the defensive assurances of Abidal to cover the Barça left wing.

From the opening minutes, this version of El Clásico did not resemble the tight, cagey matches from the previous season where both teams found it hard to penetrate the opposition’s defensive lines.  At least for FC Barcelona.

Lionel Messi, who had never scored against a José Mourinho-trained club, provided the ominous, early salvo in the sixth minute.  From the right edge of the penalty area, Messi audaciously chipped a ball to the left far post over Iker Casillas and pinged off the post for a momentary let-off for Real Madrid.  Gerard Piqué was making a late run to that left back post, but Messi’s universal skills could only mean that he intentionally went for the shot over Casillas rather than crossing for Piqué that happened to beat Casillas and clang the post.

Four minutes later, Barcelona would breakthrough with the opening goal by a combination between the two best midfielders in football, Andrés Iniesta and Xavi Hernández.  After another twenty to thirty pass move, Iniesta cut in from the left and drove a pass through the Real defense, and Marcelo, desperately sliding to intercept the pass, could only deflect it to Xavi, who had made a relatively rare darting run into the box, and with his feathery touch, volleyed it over Casillas with the side of his right boot to open the floodgates.

Barcelona would score again eight minutes later when Xavi returned to his maestro role in the midfield and gave David Villa a perfectly flighted forty-yard diagonal ball to the left wing.  Villa was the only debutant in Barcelona’s starting eleven to El Clásico, and he showed no signs of nerves as he cut into the box against Sergio Ramos and got the best of both Ramos and Casillas as his squared ball across the six-yard box avoided Ramos’ lunging tackle and crept under Casillas’ gloves to an open Pedro “Don’t call me Pedrito anymore” Rodríguez, and with an empty net in front of him, Pedro knocked it in from two yards out to extend the lead to two goal before twenty minutes had ticked off the clock.

The only legitimate shout for a potential goal for Real Madrid came in the 39th minute when Ronaldo and Valdés came together in the penalty area, and referee Eduardo Iturralde González ruled that Valdés just got a finger on the ball before Ronaldo got to it and thus it was a fair challenge.  The replay proved inconclusive as it looked as though both arrived at the ball at the exact same time.

MARCA, of course, disputed Iturralde González’s decision, and for MARCA‘s more “detailed” analysis of Iturralde González’s performance, click here.  If you cannot read Spanish or do not have a website translator, MARCA did do a decent job of somewhat maintaining neutrality, but they did mark the penalty shout as a “clear penalty” as well as emphasizing Messi’s yellow card just before the break for simulation following Ricardo Carvalho’s supposedly accidental shoulder to Messi’s face.

José Mourinho did make a halftime change in the hope of turning the match around, but curiously, he took off an admittedly ineffective Mesut Özil for the midfield destroyer Lassana Diarra.  Real’s defense did not improve, and within the first fifteen minutes of the second half, Barcelona doubled their lead to an astonishing 4-0.

Lionel Messi took the role from Xavi as the midfield general as he provided two assists for David Villa that both Iniesta and Xavi would gush over.  Villa’s first goal, Barcelona’s third goal, came about through a “simple” through ball in between two Real defenders, but the foresight Messi needed to visualize the pass was impeccable, and although Villa looked to be a quarter of a body length offside, the linesman did not raise his flag, and the rout ensued.

Villa’s second goal, Barcelona’s fourth goal, was all about Messi, as he delivered the best pass of the 600/700 that Barcelona executed in the match.  Xavi started the move by causing the turnover on Lassana Diarra in midfield, and Diarra cynically pulled Xavi back to prevent the counter-attack, but Barça maintained possession, and Iturralde González correctly played the advantage when most referees would have blown the whistle.  Messi then dribbled for a few yards when he saw Villa make a run down the left wing.  He executed a pinpoint thirty to forty yard diagonal pass on the ground through four Real players for Villa in stride, and Villa took the shot first-time with his right foot, in between the legs of an onrushing Casillas, into the back of the net for an improbably 4-0 lead.

Jeffrén Suárez would add a fifth at the end of the match to complete the humiliation, but the action did not end there.

Sergio Ramos was ready to take no prisoners.

Sergio Ramos decided upon himself to avenge his fallen teammates by scything through Lionel Messi’s left leg, then pushing Carles Puyol down by his face once referee Eduardo Iturralde González had flashed the red card at him, then tweaking Xavi’s chin as he left the pitch and into the tunnel.  In a match sprinkled with bouts of unsportsmanlike conduct, Ramos took that conduct to the highest (or lowest, depending on perspective) level with his one-man Rambo-like rampage in an act of petulance that should land him at least a three-match ban if not more.

Despite this 5-0 romp and the added satisfaction of embarrassing their eternal rivals, this match only counts for three points, and in the cold light of statistics, Barcelona only has a two-point lead over Real Madrid and a seven-point lead over Villarreal.  Guardiola and his players all spoke about how this result did not mean anything if they end up losing the championship, and they somewhat quelled the euphoria of the win with their levelheaded statements in the post-match press conferences.

A humbled José Mourinho gave all the credit to Barcelona and stated that it would be easy to move on from this match because they were outplayed in all aspects of the match, and no outside influences (refereeing decisions, close calls, etc.) would have made the difference in this edition of El Clásico.  He also mentioned that because they were blown out, the loss was easier to swallow rather than a close loss.  Of course, Mourinho would try to add a positive spin to an otherwise dire performance, but the gulf in class on this particular night should alarm Mourinho.  Even if a one-goal loss would have been harder to take, at least they would know that a small adjustment here or there could have made the difference among a loss, draw, or even a win, but a five-goal blowout only indicates that Mourinho still has plenty of work to compete with FC Barcelona if they are to capture La Liga for the first time since the 2007-08 season, a barren spell for los blancos.

Josep Guardiola and FC Barcelona vividly showed how the game of football could be so simple yet equally spectacular at the same time.  While it only meant three more points in their coffer, the confidence they can take from this stellar performance can carry them into the dregs of midseason and the long, winter months.

Xavi, Jorge Valdano, and others felt that this match should not have been played on Monday because it would lose its soul, but it gave everyone in Spain as well as around the world the chance to focus solely on these two teams, and the only conclusion that the viewers of the match can make is that FC Barcelona is truly the best team in world football.

Can Unai Emery lead Valencia to their first title since 2004 when Rafael Benítez steered the ship at the Mestalla to their second title in three years?

Through the first six rounds in La Liga, Valencia CF led the way at the top of the ladder with sixteen points, one point ahead of Villarreal, two points ahead of Real Madrid, and three points ahead of FC Barcelona.  Along with Real Madrid, Valencia remained only one of two teams still undefeated in the league, and the early murmurs among the Spanish press signaled that Barcelona and Real Madrid would not run away from the others as they did last season.

Valencia’s surprising start has less with whom they lost in the summer and rather with what they gained in those absences.  The club earned a total of €84.2 million in transfer fees, with headliners David Villa garnering €40 million and David Silva €30 million.  €22.7 million of the €84.2 million went into buying players to replace those sold, including a new strike force in Aritz Aduriz and Roberto Soldado and reinforcements in the midfield Mehmet Topal and Tino Costa.  The rest of the money went toward scaling down the massive debt that the club continually increased over the past decade.

How did Valencia maneuver itself to owing €550 million to various creditors?

Click here to see a significant chunk of that debt. Without securing the sale of the current Mestalla, then-President Juan Bautista Soler gave approval to the construction of the Nou Mestalla, a 75,000 seat, state-of-the-art stadium that would compete with the Camp Nou and the Santiago Bernabéu for revenues and the hosting of European finals.  Building of the stadium halted in February 2009 when the funds went dry, and the Nou Mestalla currently sits as the white elephant in Valencia as a symbol of financial irresponsibility.

As with most of the high-profile European clubs, player and manager wages accounted for a substantial part of the budget.  As late as the 2008-09 season, Valencia’s player wages outweighed their total revenue earned throughout that campaign.

The ghost of Ronald Koeman still haunts the Mestalla, even though he was sacked in April of 2008 after a disastrous campaign that saw the two-time champions mired in a relegation battle when Valencia made the change.  Even though his previous stints as manager with Ajax, Benfica, and PSV Eindhoven brought little compared to expectations, Valencia felt Koeman would fare better than Quique Sánchez Flores, who was a mere four points off the top spot when Flores received his pink slip in October 2008.  As part of the deal to bring in Koeman from PSV, one of the clauses stated that if Valencia qualified for the UEFA Champions League in the three seasons following Koeman’s move, Valencia would pay PSV €1 million.

Despite earning a Champions League berth by finishing third last season long after Valencia fired Koeman, the clause still applied, so the total expenditure on the transfer, appointment, and discharge of the former Barcelona great stood at €2.8 million.

(On a side note, AZ Alkmaar did not learn from prior history because they took a chance on Koeman after Louis van Gaal left following their first Eredivisie crown since 1981 to become the manager of Bayern Munich.  Koeman was gone in December after floundering in mid-table.)

All these financial transgressions transpired throughout the course of the past few years, and yet they had a chance to legitimize their credentials as a top-table team on Saturday against an FC Barcelona that has looked less than their absolute best in La Liga.

Valencia’s early season schedule has not been the most strenuous, and against Atlético Madrid, their toughest opponent in their first six matches, they squeaked out a 1-1 draw late, even though Valencia virtually controlled the entire match.

Against Manchester United in the Champions League, Sir Alex Ferguson looked happy to settle for a 0-0 draw at the Mestalla and sat back while Valencia kept a large majority of the possession.  Valencia could not capitalize on the chances they created, and the one decent opportunity that Manchester United had, Javier “Chicharito” Hernández buried the ball into the back of the net in the final quarter of the match to hand the Red Devils the three points and temporary control of the group.

If Valencia were to further Barça’s shocking woes at the Camp Nou, Los Che would need the courage to press Barcelona, close the margin of possession that Barcelona typically has against their opponents, and convert on their scoring opportunities.  In the first half, Valencia accomplished the first two objectives, but while they did score a goal to lead at halftime, they missed a promising opening at the end of the half to double their advantage and further plant seeds of doubt and panic into a Barcelona team that has hardly had to deal with such emotions since Pep Guardiola took over the club in the summer of 2008.

The opening forty-five minutes played out as though both team switched uniforms because Valencia scoured the pitch with a penchant for suffocating defensive pressure, an ability to recover possession quickly once it was lost, and an assuredness with the ball when they had possession, whereas Barcelona almost planned to sit back in their own half of the pitch and break on the counter-attack.  A strange combination of nervous murmuring and breathless hush enveloped the Culés in the Camp Nou, as Valencia seemed to have all the answers.

After Pablo Hernández opened the scoring in the 38th minute, they fashioned an even better opportunity to add a second three minutes later.  Éver Banega, the influential playmaker who made his first appearance in a month because of an ankle injury, fought down the right wing with two Barça players to slide the ball to Roberto Soldado at the right edge of the penalty area.  Soldado slid it across to Pablo in the middle of the penalty area, and with the whole left side of the goal open, Pablo tried to fool Víctor Valdés and go behind him to the right near post, but Valdés was up to the task and parried it out for a corner kick.

From that moment forward, Barcelona took over the match with a gusto and innovative flair that had been absent in the early days of this season.  Andrés Iniesta and Xavi Hernández’s one-two that mesmerized four Valencia players accounted for the equalizer two minutes into the second half.

David Villa, wanting to shine badly against his former team although he played that down during the week, provided a pinpoint squared ball across the six-yard box that would have been a tap-in for Iniesta on the left back post if Jordi Alba had not somehow cleared it over his own crossbar from three yards out.  Another Iniesta through ball scythed the Valencia back line and sent Villa free for a one-on-one with César Sánchez, which César won by taking the ball away from Villa’s foot as Villa made his final move to try to get around César in the penalty area.

Carles Puyol, of all people, scored what turned out to be the game-winner after Xavi sent in another accurate cross from the right wing, and Valencia never really looked as though they could re-gather themselves enough to mount a serious challenge at squaring the match.

2-1 fulltime, and Barcelona found the invigoration and elixir that should propel them to boost their season.

Should this loss discourage Valencia?  Absolutely not.  Barcelona outplayed them in the second half and deserved to win the match, and when the superior team plays at its best, all Valencia can do is shake their hands and say, “Good match.”  Despite the talent they had to sell before this campaign, Valencia is a solid bet to finish in the top four.  Their title credentials, however, took a big hit with this loss to Barcelona on Saturday.

One match out of thirty-eight this might have been, and teams have won championships when they have not fared well against the established top two or three teams, but in their three most stringent tests in all competitions, Los Che have come out with one point out of nine.  As Valencia president Manuel Llorente stated:

“Now we are going to Barcelona at a good time, with a high rank and a different team from previous years.  We have a squad with a high capacity to work and it gives us enormous options.”

With Valencia at the top of the table and Barcelona under par in comparison to their normal high standards, Valencia played Barcelona at the perfect time, and through forty-four minutes, the confidence from within the organization was justified.  Championship contenders, however, put away teams when they have a foot on the throat, and Valencia enabled Barcelona to slither away from that foot and counter that threat with an attack of their own.  Valencia could not respond to Barcelona’s challenge.

Manuel Llorente announced that Valencia cut their overflowing debt from €550 million to €400 million, and manager Unai Emery and he are leading this historic team in the right direction.  In a couple of years, with more of this fiscal responsibility and outstanding play on the pitch, Valencia will contend for titles as they did in the first half of the 2000s decade, but for now, their goals should center on maintaining a top four finish and steady progression in the Champions League.

Fueras de Juego

- Cristiano Ronaldo scored two and assisted in two goals as Real Madrid rolled over a potentially dangerous Málaga side 1-4.  José Mourinho is known for building up players to stratospheric heights.  At Chelsea, he declared Frank Lampard the best player in the world.  At Inter Milan, Mourinho trumpeted that Zlatan Ibrahimovic was the most indispensable striker in world football.  At Real Madrid, Mourinho has done the same for Ronaldo, saying that it was clear to him that he is number one in the world with Lionel Messi number two.  The confidence shown by Mourinho to Ronaldo, even when Ronaldo found it hard to score in the opening matches of the season, now has come to fruition in the last few games, and expect more destruction from Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid as they look poised to dethrone Barcelona in La Liga.

- Espanyol defeated Mallorca 0-1 at the Iberostar Stadium despite the ejection of Pablo Osvaldo late in the first half to rise to sixth in the table.  The “other” team from Barcelona might be the most anonymous team in Spain, and in the eye of no one’s radar, their six goals scored in seven matches with an overall goal difference of -3 has los periquitos as the surprise team so far this season.

- In each of the ten stadia that held La Liga matches this weekend, they had a minute of silence prior to their matches in honor of Atlético Madrid legend Juan Carlos Arteche, who died from cancer on Wednesday night.  The Atlético hard man in central defense terrorized strikers in the 1980s with his physical style and “questionable” tackling, but he might best be known as a man that took a serious disliking to former Atleti president Jesús Gil, so much so that he retired at a relatively young age of 32 due to his conflicts with Gil.  Any man who stood up to the controversial, authoritarian, and misanthropic Gil was a brave man, and courage was never lacking with Arteche.  Rest in peace, Juan Carlos Arteche.

David Villa became the talisman for the Spanish national football team, scoring five of Spain’s six goals in the tournament.  Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta controlled the midfield with their incisive passing and ball possession.  Fernando Torres could not get into stride as he struggled for form from his April knee surgery and was eventually benched in favor of Pedro Rodríguez against Germany.  The Cesc Fàbregas saga between Arsenal and Barcelona continued to rage as Fàbregas insisted on returning to the club of his youth while committing to Arsenal as their captain at the same time.  Telecinco sports journalist Sara Carbonero somehow “distracted” boyfriend Iker Casillas before the Switzerland game and directly led to Spain’s only loss of this World Cup.

All these stories followed La Furia Roja throughout this World Cup, but the under-reported story with this team is the effectiveness of the back four, in particular the leader of the defense, Carles Puyol.

Spain has conceded only one goal in their six games, and in that goal, they allowed against Switzerland, it took a disorganized scramble and a fortuitous bounce for Gelson Fernandes to tap the ball into the open net.

For those who put any stock into the Castrol Index rankings, the top four ranked players in this World Cup are the four Spanish defenders, with Sergio Ramos slightly edging Carles Puyol for the top spot.

Save for Ramos, who tends to relish the limelight, especially off the pitch with his party boy reputation, these Spanish defenders love that the vast majority of the attention falls upon their other teammates.  With championship teams that are known for their offensive flair, they can only operate to their fullest extent if their defenders are solid enough for them to throw men forward.

Although the Three R’s (Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, and Rivaldo) headlined Brazil as they won their fifth World Cup title in 2002, the work rate of Lúcio, Roque Júnior, and Edmílson gave Cafu and Roberto Carlos the freedom to become de facto wingers and the three R’s to dazzle the world with their Samba flair.

The legendary 1989-90 Real Madrid team netted a staggering La Liga record 107 goals, with Hugo Sánchez scoring a record 38 goals in one season.  Real Madrid ran away with the league, winning by nine points (Note: in those years, wins accounted for two points instead of the current three points, so using the current point system, Real were fifteen points better than second-place Valencia) not only due to the brilliance of Sánchez up front and Emilio Butragueño and Míchel creating behind him but with the three central defenders that commanded the back line: first-year defender and eventual Real legend Fernando Hierro, elegant sweeper Manuel Sanchís, and gritty Oscar Ruggeri.

The 2008-09 FC Barcelona team that won all six tournaments they entered included a trio of forwards that propelled their team into the most feared club in Europe: Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry, and Samuel Eto’o.  With Xavi and Andrés Iniesta providing perfection for the front three to finish those patented Barça moves, they forced teams to defend with nine and ten men for the full ninety minutes.

While this team kept possession of the ball as well as any team that ever graced the pitch, there were times when they would turn the ball over in midfield, and the opposing counter-attack would sail into full-flight.  Dani Alves, Gerard Piqué, and Éric Abidal closed the ball down as quickly as schoolchildren running to beat the class bell, but Carles Puyol was their leader.  In the 2009 Champions League final against Manchester United, when the Red Devils scrambled and threw more men into attack to pull themselves back into the match, Puyol appeared everywhere, as he cut down potential attacks from Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes, Dimitar Berbatov, etc. as well as flying forward on more than one occasion to augment the attack.

Although Iker Casillas has been the captain of the Spanish national team since Euro 2008, Carles Puyol continues to lead the back line with his tenacity and braveheart defending.  Vital blocks on potential shots on target from Miroslav Klose, Bastian Schweinsteiger, and Mario Gómez, organizing the defensive four, and his ever-running engine proved significant in keeping the Germans out, but the goal he scored will be the moment that most will remember from this semifinal that sent Spain into further uncharted territory: a FIFA World Cup Final.

Earlier in the match, Andrés Iniesta whipped in a high-velocity cross into the six-yard box for Puyol, and he could not keep his diving header underneath the crossbar as it flew over it for a goal kick.  That opportunity was arguably Spain’s best scoring chance before Puyol redeemed himself in the 73rd minute, and the manner in which he scored Spain’s lone goal is reminiscent of a central defender’s dream goal: a flying header from a corner kick.

With Spain’s lack of height, Xavi usually decides to execute a short corner routine, and Germany caught on to this tactic and sent an extra man around the corner flag.  Xavi, however, sent a bending ball from the corner into a dangerous area, where Puyol had a running head start to the penalty spot, and with his flowing curly locks, he powered his jumping header past a helpless Manuel Neuer as Spain’s patience paid off in an unusual fashion.  The extra man sent to mark Iniesta for the short corner combined with Germany’s zonal marking gave Puyol the opportunity to have an unmolested attempt at the header.

While many expected this Spanish team to dazzle with their midfield maestros and their creativity, David Villa has been the only player to finish consistently.  Because of this, Spain has scored more than one goal only twice in six matches, and the team had to be vigilant in defense in case of a well-timed counter-attack from the opposition.  With the sputtering in front of goal, Spain had to find different ways to score as well as maintain focus in the back when their teammates played keep-ball for minutes at a time.

This Spanish team, although constituted mainly from the Euro 2008 winning side, will not reach those same scoring heights as that team because national teams have had two more years to prepare for these unique set of characters, and Spain manager Vicente del Bosque is intent on playing this possession game set forth by previous manager Luis Aragonés.

The Dutch will likely provide a different test not encountered by Spain this World Cup because of their hardened midfielders Mark van Bommel and Nigel de Jong.  If Germany could be blamed for having too much respect for Spain, the Netherlands will not fall into that same trap because van Bommel and de Jong will have no problem flying into tackles and pressuring high up the pitch to prevent Spain’s hypnotic ball possession.

Sunday’s final will be highly tactical, especially if the match remains goalless for the first hour.  Regardless of how the Dutch and Spanish attack each other, the job remains the same for the Spanish defense: quickly retrieve the ball when Spain loses possession.  Spain will find it difficult to score on the Netherlands, and if Spain concedes the opening goal, the Netherlands will surely defend for their lives with all ten outfield players.  While David Villa and Xavi have been the two best players for Spain in this World Cup, Vicente del Bosque will rely on his star defenders to stave away the potent Dutch attack, and it will be they who decide the winner on Sunday.

When Spain fell to the hands of Switzerland in the opening match of World Cup 2010, the vultures suddenly appeared from the sky and circled around their “dying” carcass.  No team has ever won the World Cup after losing its first match.  The ghosts from yesteryear are rising from the dead and haunting this current team about their ancestors’ past failures.  Previous entrenador Luis Aragonés ranted about Vicente del Bosque and indirectly undermined most of what Vicente del Bosque has done with this team.  Although Spain has only made it to the quarterfinals after defeating 1-0 over Portugal in Cape Town yesterday, La Furia Roja’s form suggests that rising to the occasion will not be the same problem as it has in previous international competitions.

Spain’s only injury concern before their match against Portugal was Xabi Alonso’s sprained ankle he suffered against Chile, but del Bosque slotted him in the center of midfield after passing a late fitness test.  Del Bosque saw no reason to change his starting eleven, but if he had any reservations about one of his players, it would have been Fernando Torres because of his erratic play in the group stage.

99% of the time, Torres would be an automatic starter, but still recovering from knee surgery in April, his lack of match sharpness became painfully obvious in his starts against Honduras and Chile when his first touch disappeared on him on numerous occasions, and his finishing would have the usual Nike T90 ball well off target, much less the unpredictable Adidas Jabulani ball.

After a strong first few minutes where he made threatening runs into the penalty area and curled a shot from the left side of the penalty box that forced a diving save from Eduardo at his far right post, Torres’ contributions were minimal.  Fernando Llorente came in for Torres in the 58th minute, and after Llorente lit a second spark for the Spaniards after the hour mark, del Bosque might need to reconsider who plays alongside David Villa in the quarterfinals against Paraguay.

As for the other twenty-one players on the pitch, the eleven from Spain exhibited no sliver of the tentative attitude they displayed in the first twenty minutes against Chile, as they pinned Portugal’s eleven into their own half and peppered Eduardo’s goal with shot after shot, especially working the left wing.  Portugal has used three different right backs in their four games (Paulo Ferreira, Miguel, and new Valencia signing Ricardo Costa), so the scouting report must have emphasized attacking this vulnerability.

Portugal manager Carlos Queiroz would not have worried about Spain’s possession or his team’s ability to organize themselves defensively because of their strong defensive record, one goal allowed in their last eleven competitive international matches to be more specific.  Whether he tried to build his players’ confidence or he was delusional, he described the match against Brazil and his ultra-conservative gameplan as a “football feast” where Portugal attacked and Brazil defended.  Using that same blueprint against Spain, Queiroz would have felt that Spain was falling right into his strategy.

And fall they did as Spain’s possession became ponderous, and Portugal felt more assured to throw some men forward in the counter-attack.  Tiago popped an effort from twenty-five yards that Iker Casillas needed a second handle to slap away from an on-charging Hugo Almeida, Cristiano Ronaldo struck a dipping free kick from over forty yards that Casillas somewhat fumbled, and Almeida botched a header from a precise Raul Meireles cross that could have easily given Portugal that precious first goal.  Spain did what they wanted, but Portugal did what they wanted better than Spain.

After the halftime break, the status quo reigned for the first fifteen minutes of the second half as Spain could not penetrate the defense, and Portugal remained dangerous on the counter.  The match changed when Torres came out in the 58th minute and in stepped Fernando Llorente, the Athletic Bilbao target man making his first appearance in this World Cup.  He immediately made an instant impact with his first touch when his diving header from de facto right winger Sergio Ramos’ cross forced a brilliant point-blank save from Eduardo.

Then the combination of FC Barcelona midfielders Andrés Iniesta and Xavi Hernández with future Barcelona forward David Villa occurred with such Catalunyan flair that a picture diagram is necessary to complement the authorial description.

A one-two with Fernando Llorente gave Iniesta the space to dribble around the “D” to find Xavi coming back into an onside location.  In no position to go towards goal, the indomitable Xavi used all the resources of his spatial-temporal reasoning to visualize David Villa’s diagonal run from the left corner of the penalty area and back flick Iniesta’s pass first-time into space, where Villa shot with his left foot to the left near post.  Eduardo did extremely well to cover that area of goal and saved it with his feet; however, the rebound tracked directly back to Villa, and with his feathery touch, he lifted the ball over the sprawled Eduardo, kissing the underside of the crossbar and into goal.

When Spain forced Portugal to chase the game after Villa’s goal, A Selecção looked incapable of forming a cohesive attacking move.  Carles Puyol and Joan Capdevila blocked their only two truly legitimate chances, and the double substitution of Pedro Mendes and Liédson for Simão Sabrosa and Pepe proved to do little for Portugal as Spain controlled the rest of the match.  The only footnotes worth noting after Villa’s goal were Xabi Alonso’s yellow card, the first booking for Spain in the World Cup, David Villa’s stellar play, and Ricardo Costa’s red card after he supposedly elbowed Joan Capdevila, although replays showed little contact and Capdevila’s “writhing of pain” as he covered his face in apparent anguish.

Spain deserved to reach the quarterfinals, and with a gritty Paraguay side that will likely employ similar tactics as Portugal, the Spaniards should feel self-assured about performing well against Paraguay.  David Villa looks to be the favorite in both the Golden Boot and Golden Ball awards, Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta control the midfield and keep possession for this Spain team, and the underrated back four closes down the ball very quickly when their opponents reach their own third.

For those who believe in numerology, Spain’s quarterfinal appearance marks the fourth time in the last seven World Cups where they have reached this stage of the tournament (every other World Cup since 1986), and each time, they failed to progress to the semifinals.  So what is different about this team compared to those other Spanish teams that have flattered to deceive?

Silverware.

Capturing the 2008 European Championships cannot be overstated as a confidence building measure for a country that always produced talent but never fused them into a unified national team.  The regionalism manifested in Spain has hindered the team in the past, as the chemistry never fit a team with such potential.  Some tend to overrate unity and chemistry and propose that talent overcomes whatever problems occur in-house, but numerous examples such as Greece in Euro 2004, South Korea in World Cup 2002, and New Zealand in this year’s World Cup show that twenty-three players playing for one cause can be as powerful as a team littered with world-class players.

Vicente del Bosque will mull over the Fernando Torres question during these two rest days while the players train to see if he finds any slice of form to suggest that Torres is improving enough to warrant a start against Paraguay on Saturday.  It takes a brave man to replace Torres with Fernando Llorente in the starting eleven, but for the betterment of the team, del Bosque must make this move to ensure Spain’s optimal lineup against Paraguay.

While Spain will likely defeat Paraguay whether Torres or Llorente starts, del Bosque should incorporate Llorente from the start to develop a rhythm with the other outfield players as a potential semifinal between either Argentina or Germany looms.  Spain is peaking at the perfect time, and flying under the radar with Brazil and Argentina garnering most of the headlines, this is exactly the position that Spain wants and desires at this stage of the tournament.

With an unfathomable yet realistic possibility of an unceremonious exit from FIFA World Cup 2010, the Spanish national football team tussled with a Chilean side that has been one of the most impressive teams in this tournament thus far.  Marcelo Bielsa, Chile’s manager, insisted on a positive approach with an indirect emphasis on flair that is usually reserved for their South American rivals Argentina and Brazil.

While Bielsa transformed an underachieving and underwhelming Chilean national team into a legitimate force in international football, he still has the lingering stain of Argentina’s 2002 World Cup disaster when, as Argentina manager, he failed to send La Albiceleste through the group stage for the first time since the 1970 World Cup when Argentina failed to qualify for that tournament.  He stated his intention in the preceding press conference that his team would go out to win the match despite only needing a draw to ensure a place in the Round of 16, and through the first two matches, there was no reason not to take his word.

For Vicente del Bosque, his team improved dramatically as they notched a 2-0 victory against an overmatched Honduras team that looked grateful just to participate in this World Cup, but the building theme that the Spanish wanted to quash was the lack of finishing at those vital moments in the penalty area.  Of the 63% of the possession Spain had against Switzerland, 34% of that 63% was in the Swiss final third, but they could not break through an obstinate Swiss defense.  In the first two matches, Spain accumulated a staggering forty-six shots but only mustered eight shots on goal in each match.

Understandably, Fernando Torres has shown some rust because he is still recovering from knee surgery in April that cost him the rest of the Premier League season for Liverpool, but the chances he has wasted are uncharacteristic of his normally lethal nature up front.  Torres, however, only shares the responsibility for these squandered opportunities, as his fitter and healthier teammates have also missed their chances.

Vicente del Bosque did not feel compelled to make significant changes to his starting eleven despite ruing their uncomfortable position in the group, the only alteration being Andrés Iniesta returning to the lineup after sustaining a hip injury against Switzerland in favor of Jesús Navas, who continually worked the right flank and wore down Honduran left back Emilio Izaguirre.

For Marcelo Bielsa, his three modifications were not due to choice as Carlos Carmona and former Villarreal midfielder Matías Fernández were suspended due to an accumulation of yellow cards, and Real Zaragoza striker Humberto “Chupete” Suazo simply could not continue as he has played a total of ninety minute in the past three months after fighting through chronic shoulder, thigh, and hamstring injuries.  In their stead came Marco Estrada, Jorge Valdivia, and former Real Sociedad and Real Betis playmaker Mark González.

True to Bielsa’s word, Chile came out with a forward-thinking approach, and the South American rang the first warning bells when Jean Beausejour cut back a pass toward Mark González in the penalty area, but the ball was slightly behind González, and he could not fire a decent shot on Iker Casillas’ goal.

If Chile seemed to roll on as they have in this tournament, Spain could not adjust out of first gear.  Their normal passing brilliance had yet to shine, a sign of the palpable nervousness they displayed in the opening twenty minutes.  A moment of brilliance (or a moment of madness for the Chilean point of view), however, settled the growing jitters for the Spanish, and from that moment, Spain controlled the pace of the game as is their normal mode of play.

In the 24th minute, Xabi Alonso sent a long, hopeful ball down the left flank to a streaking Fernando Torres, and Chile goalkeeper Claudio Bravo sprinted to the left touch line to diffuse the potential threat, but Bravo kept it in play only for David Villa to latch on to it first-time from the left sideline forty yards into the open net.  Many questioned Bravo’s kamikaze effort, but in the direction that Bravo ran, he could have easily kicked it straight out of play for a throw-in.  Bravo’s mistake was in hooking his clearance back into play as he kicked it into the path of David Villa.  With the Chilean defense closing in, Villa could not afford to take a touch to settle the ball if he wanted a shot at the open net, and his technical magnificence shined as he whipped a curling shot with his “weaker” left foot and bounced once and into the net.

Chile’s discipline frittered away throughout the match, including Marco Estrada’s sending off and crucial yellow cards for the two starting central defenders Gary Medel and Waldo Ponce, which will force all three players to miss their Round of 16 match against Brazil due to suspension.  Ponce, in particular, could have easily seen red after he impetuously kicked Fernando Torres’ leg as Torres was about to throw the ball into play.

When Andrés Iniesta passed the ball into the lower right corner of the goal in the 37th minute to give Spain the 2-0 lead, Chile’s existence in this tournament fell into peril for the first time, as a Switzerland win against Honduras in the other simultaneous match would now mean a Swiss advancement.

Second half substitute Rodrigo Millar made sure that this scenario would not occur, as another patient Chilean buildup led to Millar’s shot at the D toward the right near post.  The ball deflected off Gerard Piqué in the opposite direction, and Iker Casillas could not recover in time to readjust to the ricochet.

A 2-1 result favored both Spain and Chile, and for the rest of the match, both teams went into cruise mode, especially in the last fifteen minutes, when Spain knocked the ball around in the midfield and in their own third, and Chile more than obliged by not pressuring the ball whatsoever.  As the mechanics of the tournament work, one cannot blame either team for their performance in the final half-hour, but for the fans at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria, they had no sympathy as whistles of derision could be heard over the ubiquitous vuvuzela.

Spain won their group in a fashion that surprised many, but as Álvaro Arbeloa explained in the press conference before the Chile match, their Euro 2008 triumph did not wholly consist of the sparkling possession football that is synonymous with La Furia Roja. According to Arbeloa, Spain played a brilliant semifinal and final, but the quarterfinal penalty shootout against Italy and the last minute win against Sweden in the group stage showed that people tend to idealize the past

Spain is following that path in this tournament, as they are slowly raising their level as their journey in South Africa continues, and against a compact and defensive Portugal in the Round of 16, Spain must continue to be patient and develop a more ruthless attitude at goal because quality chances will be at a premium.  The Iberian derby will reach fever pitch on Tuesday evening, and if Portugal decides to open up their play, this match could be one of the most riveting occasions of FIFA World Cup 2010.

The rumors, for once, came to fruition, as FC Barcelona will pay a transfer fee of €40 million to Valencia for Spanish international striker David Villa.  This tango (or the sardana for a more local, Catalunyan flair) danced by the two clubs since the previous offseason will finally end as outgoing Barça president Joan Laporta landed the player he coveted for two years.

Surely, Barcelona signed Villa to be a starting forward, and his most effective position in that front line would be as the center forward of the three-pronged attack.  With Lionel Messi and Pedro Rodríguez on either side of Villa, the Barcelona attacking machine will continue to operate as efficiently and dangerously as ever.

What does this mean for Zlatan Ibrahimovic?

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was supposed to be the answer in the center of Barcelona’s attack.  In order to lure the Swedish hitman from Inter Milan, the Catalunyans spent a net total of €69 million (€46 million in cash, the transfer of Samuel Eto’o from Barça to Inter, valued at €20 million, and another €3 million to compensate for Alyaksandr Hleb refusing the transfer to Inter).

Ibrahimovic had the qualities that Eto’o supposedly lacked: the ability to hold the ball up for his teammates, the acumen to visualize the perfect pass before the action occurs, and the size to better compete for headers and ward off physical challenges.  Even though Eto’o scored thirty goals and led the Pichichi race for top goalscorer most of the 2008-09 La Liga season until Diego Forlán surpassed him late in the season, the Barcelona staff felt they needed more from the center forward role than a pure poacher in the box, at which Eto’o was one of the best in the world.

Through the first few months of the season, Ibrahimovic made an immediate impact with the team, scoring in the first match of the season against Sporting Gijón, providing the only goal in El Clásico against Real Madrid in November after coming back from a hamstring injury, and netting twelve goals in his first nineteen matches in all competitions.

As the season wore on, however, his efficacy in front of goal dwindled considerably.  The match against Real Zaragoza in March clearly showed how his confidence had dropped, when he fluffed three chances that Ibrahimovic would score on his worst days.  He did score in that match but only because of a late penalty that Messi gave to him so that he could regain his confidence.

Aside from the first leg in the quarterfinals of the Champions League against Arsenal where he scored twice at the Emirates Stadium, he was noticeably absent both on and off the pitch in Barcelona’s most important matches.  Pep Guardiola lost so much faith in Ibrahimovic at the climax of the campaign that in both legs of the Champions League semifinal against his former team Inter Milan, Guardiola substituted him in both matches at the hour mark because of his ineffectiveness.  In La Liga, where Real Madrid kept the title race within three points until the final matchday, Guardiola favored Bojan Krkic over Ibrahimovic as the center forward.

Cumulatively, Ibrahimovic had twenty-one goals and ten assists in forty-one matches in all competitions, and while these are solid numbers for a player making his debut season in a new league and country, solid was not the expectation that the Blaugrana set for him.  Replacing a Barça legend in Samuel Eto’o would always become an arduous task, and the Barça boardroom sent a message to Ibrahimovic that he did not fulfill what they envisaged for him with the signing of David Villa.

As any good agent should do, Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s agent, Mino Raiola, tried to quell any sort of talk that the arrival of David Villa spelled the end for Ibrahimovic at the Camp Nou.  In an interview with Calciomercato.it, Raiola reiterated his client’s standing with FC Barcelona:

“The club already said they were happy with Zlatan.  Villa’s arrival has nothing to do with Ibra, and it does not put his stay in danger seeing that Villa can play well on the wings.  He has a contract until 2014, and he is happy at Barcelona.”

As optimistic as that sounds, it could mean trouble for Pedro, Bojan, Jeffrén Suárez, and others in La Masia if Barcelona plans to keep both Ibrahimovic and Villa, but with Pedro breaking through with an outstanding season and Bojan filling Ibrahimovic’s shoes at the end of the season, it is highly doubtful that Barcelona, and specifically Pep Guardiola, would stunt the development of their own academy products in favor of Ibrahimovic.

One year for any player should not become the absolute barometer for what that player will do in the future.  There is an endless amount of cases where players struggled in their first season only to recover and perform to their highest capabilities.  In this day of immediate gratification and astronomical transfer fees, however, instantaneous results matter, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic has not given Barcelona what they wanted.  If Barcelona did not make a move for Villa and Ibrahimovic was given a clean slate to go into his second season with Barcelona, a betting man would put his money on a highly successful season.

Barcelona is not a betting man and wanted reassurances with the signing of David Villa.  When Barcelona sells Ibrahimovic, they will not nearly receive the value that they paid for Ibra, but they will listen to any offers that come their way.

The last opinion that Barcelona would want of themselves is that they are acting like Real Madrid in buying top talent for exorbitant prices, so a rotation that would bench Villa and Ibrahimovic for certain matches would only further this growing perception that Barcelona is turning into their eternal rivals.

Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, and now Barcelona.  Four of the preeminent teams in European football, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic could not establish a permanent home in any of those clubs.  If a club can solve the enigma that is Zlatan Ibrahimovic, he would become the most feared striker in the world.  If.

In the last few years, the top six teams have distanced themselves from the rest of La Liga.  Real Madrid and FC Barcelona represent the top two, and Villarreal, Atlético Madrid, Sevilla, and Valencia compete for the next four places.  Atlético Madrid continues their bumbling start into the Christmas break, and Villarreal picked themselves up from a shocking beginning, but a Champions League spot may be a bridge too far.

This season, the hierarchy seemed to be melding together as Sevilla and Valencia kept up with the two paragons of Spanish football.  Valencia forced a 0-0 draw with Barcelona, but many would proclaim that Los Che outplayed the Blaugrana.  Sevilla handed Real Madrid its only non-Clásico loss when Sevilla mauled Los Blancos 2-1 at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán.

Heading into Round 12 on November 28, these four teams were separated by a mere four point: Barcelona on 28 points, Real Madrid on 27 points, Sevilla on 25 points, and Valencia on 24 points.  Real Madrid and Barcelona were going to rumble in El Clásico, and the would-be contenders had a chance to stamp themselves legitimately in the title race.  As La Liga takes a brief hiatus until the beginning of 2010, there is a ten-point gap from first to fourth.

For Valencia, playing on the pitch became a sanctuary from all of the rumors and backroom strife within the club.  Change of ownership, lack of funds, and not-so-subtle transfer innuendo of their top players could have easily broken the tightest of clubs.  When they defeated Sevilla 2-0 in the opening game of the season in a hotly contested encounter, the signs of greatness showed in their play.  David Villa and David Silva, who supposedly had little chances of staying at Valencia, actually started for Valencia, achievements in themselves.  Juan Mata and Pablo Hernández were coming into their own, as these young starlets rampaged down the flanks against a resolute Sevilla defense.

Their home form, however, has not continued since the Sevilla match, and they have lost points that will be difficult to recover over the course of the season.  An overall record of 2-4-1, including inexcusable draws against Sporting Gijón, Atlético Madrid, and Mallorca, has held Valencia from fulfilling their unlimited potential.  Those three matches came against solid teams, but late equalizing goals and lack of finishing contributed to a loss of six points that they let slip away.

Valencia’s recent results have been a microcosm for the whole of their season.  As mentioned previously, their draw against Mallorca occurred because of an 84th minute penalty unnecessarily committed by Bruno Saltor and an abundance of goal-scoring opportunities abandoned by Valencia that would have made Borja Valero’s penalty goal a footnote in a Valencia win.

They went into the cathedral of San Mamés and pulled out a win against a strong Athletic Bilbao team who had held Barcelona to a draw and thrashed Almería 1-4 in the previous two weeks.  Fortune favored Valencia as David López hit the post on another late conceded penalty, but their confidence away from home is unquestioned, and their 6-1-1 record away from the Mestalla distinguishes them as the best road team in La Liga.

Valencia’s clash against Real Madrid at home was a statement game to prove to the Spanish Old Firm that Valencia was not only window dressing but serious challengers to the throne.  In the first half of that match, they executed their tactics to perfection, and Real Madrid was on their heels.  To be fair, Real was without their two galácticos Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaká, but even if they were on the pitch, Valencia still would have had the upper hand.  A common theme throughout the season, Valencia missed multiple chances to open the scoring tally.  The epic nature of the second half showed the best of these two teams, as Valencia counter-punched every Real advancement, but the Ezequiel Garay header to give Real Madrid their third different lead eventually broke Valencia’s spirit, and Valencia failed to win at home for the fifth time in seven matches.

The tête-à-tête between Deportivo La Coruña and Valencia was a drab draw that saw Depor passively sit back in their own third of the field, as they dared Valencia to bring men forward and break through their organized defense.  Valencia took the bait, owning a clear majority of the possession, but it was Depor who created the best opportunities at goal, including a couple of swift counter-attacks that sent Adrián free and a looping header by Juan Carlos Valerón that hit the crossbar.  Earning a point at the Riazor is no small accomplishment, but they fell another two points behind Real and Barça.

Sevilla has been much more stable than Valencia, and after a third place finish last season, high expectations filtered from the dressing room and the media, as they proclaimed Sevilla as the team that could repeat the feat of Villarreal when they dislodged Barcelona from the top two in the 2007-08 season.  After they lost their opener at Valencia, they went 8-1-1, including a thriller over Real Madrid at home.  Standing three points behind Barcelona with a chance to get within one point after twelve matches, the situation could not have been more ideal.  Facing a Málaga side that struggled in the relegation zone all season, pencil in three points for Sevilla.

Sevilla played as though winning was a foregone conclusion.  Málaga did not stick to the script, as two first half goals stunned the Sevillistas inside the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán.  Luís Fabiano single-handedly brought Sevilla from the abyss with a brace in the second half to salvage a draw, but they missed a chance against a relegation favorite to inch closer to the top spot.

A similarly underwhelming performance against Real Valladolid the next week put themselves further away with a hint of never regaining it back.  Even though Valladolid scored the opener, they were limited to ten men a few minutes later when Borja Fernández received a straight red card for a vicious tackle on Diego Perotti.  When Fabiano scored a penalty late in the first half to equalize, it was not a matter of if, but by how many would Sevilla score in the second half.  Frustration boiled over as Sevilla spoiled their well-executed openings, and another draw at home against a lower tier side began to irritate a normally loyal fan base.  The whistles rained down, and the players knew that a win at El Molinón against a stubborn Sporting Gijón was paramount to abate the criticism.

They secured the three points at Sporting with a hard-fought 0-1 result, where there was little space to maneuver and physical play by both teams.  The egg that Sevilla laid against Getafe, however, to end the calendar year had symptoms similar to Valencia: a poor performance at home, numerous opportunities spurned, an overwhelming majority of possession, and a plucky opponent who has an unending desire and spirit.  Getafe’s Roberto Soldado certainly made a name for himself with two goals and ten goals overall, third in the Pichichi race behind David Villa and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.  There are rumors percolating of a £10 million offer by Sam Allardyce and Blackburn Rovers for Soldado’s services.

Five points out of twelve against teams they should defeat has Sevilla nine points behind Barcelona and seven points behind Real Madrid.  Maybe the players started to believe in their own superiority as portrayed in the Spanish tabloids and media, but whatever the reasons, they have been humbled as they head into the holiday break, so that might refocus them as they start the new year.

Barcelona is on 39 points and Real Madrid is on 37 points, but the schism between these two and the next two looks to be a trend rather than a blip on the radar.  Sevilla is on 30 points, and Valencia is on 29 points.  There are twenty-three matches remaining, and both these teams have the capability of slashing this rift.  On any single match day, they can defeat anyone in Europe.  It may be presumptuous to declare Sevilla and Valencia as pretenders for La Liga, but until they show their mettle on the pitch for a string of games, a top-two finish for either of these teams appears unlikely.

Based on their records coming into this fixture, the Valencia – Atlético Madrid Saturday fixture did not look to be an appetizing match, but knowing each team’s penchant to go forward, their stature in Spanish football, and their performances over the past few years, this game was the one to watch, and they did not disappoint.

From the opening moments, the predictable and customary caginess that occurs in a big match was absent as both teams looked to score immediately.  Sergio Agüero obliged with a 7th minute goal whose build-up was more impressive than the actual finish.  Making a run on the perimeter of the penalty area, Jurado took two defenders with him and audaciously back-heeled a pass to Diego Forlán inside the box.  In plenty of space, Forlán squared a ball to Agüero who finished the attack with aplomb, and it was 0-1 to the visitors.

As is typical with this Atlético squad, a one-goal lead was not safe by any means, and Los Che responded with opportunity after opportunity without any tangible result to show for them.  Atlético almost made Valencia pay for their lack of finishing in the 20th minute when Agüero intercepted a pass from Alexis at the midfield line and stormed toward the Valencia goal.  Outpacing Alexis, Agüero was one on one with Valencia keeper Miguel Angel Moyà, but Agüero took the ball too close to Moyà, and he closed the angle just enough to have his shot roll by the right far post.

In a span of two minutes, Valencia showed why Atlético accumulated only two points from their first four matches.  In the 25th minute, Éver Banega lofted a ball over the Atlético defense onto Pablo Hernández’s run into the penalty area.  Atlético captain Antonio López was able to contest Pablo in the box, but Pablo’s touches bamboozled López, and Pablo was able to get by him and score from three yards out for the 1-1 equalizer.  Two minutes later, Valencia would take the one-goal advantage when David Silva sprung David Villa open with a cutting ball through the heart of the Atlético defense.  Taking a couple of dribbles into the left side of the box, Villa executed a clinical finish that explained why the big European clubs clamor for his services.  As he was about to take the shot, he opened his body as if he were to go for the right far post.  Atlético keeper Roberto, who is deputizing for Sergio Asenjo because of his involvement for the Spanish national team in the U-20 World Cup in Egypt, saw Villa’s body actions and leaned toward that direction.  At the moment of impact, Villa closed his foot, lifted the ball to the near post, and slotted it past Roberto; Roberto thought he did everything correctly, but the brilliance of Villa made Roberto’s efforts seem feckless.  The Atlético Madrid defense was supposed to be improved from last year’s forgettable fifty-seven goal tally, but thirteen goals in five matches does not bode well for an Atlético side looking to keep their Champions League spot for next year.

Throughout the rest of the match, there was always a feeling of inevitability that Valencia would concede as Atlético pressed for the second goal.  With a man advantage for 65+ minutes against Sporting Gijón last Sunday, Valencia had complete control, but a 86th minute goal by Grégory ruined their 100% record and made David Villa publicly criticize manager Unai Emery’s tactics concerning their play when it was 11 vs. 10.  Both teams equally fought for the next goal, with Villa hitting the post from an outrageous jumping back-heel in the 53rd minute and a trio of clear-cut goal-scoring prospects missed by Forlán, Cléber Santana, and Maxi Rodríguez.

In the latter stages of the match, Valencia continued to play a no holds barred style as they looked to salt the game away with a third goal rather than sit on the 2-1 advantage.  While this strategy was commendable for its ambition rather than its cynicism, it left them with holes in the back from time to time, and Atlético capitalized in the second minute of stoppage time when Maxi scored to gain a valuable point and a 2-2 draw.  Antonio López crossed from the left flank, and Alexis’ header failed to clear the ball towards the midfield.  Instead, it flicked on to a wide-open Maxi, who was free on the right post to take the shot first time and beat Moyà.  Valencia left back Jérémy Mathieu, who had a solid game before the second goal, was equally culpable as he fell asleep and gave Maxi the space when the ball arrived at his feet.

Usually the match of the week on paper does not fulfill its promise as such, but Valencia’s 2-2 draw with Atlético Madrid on Saturday night at the Mestalla proved its worth.  With Los Colchoneros in the relegation zone because of earning two points out of the first twelve, Valencia knew to be wary of Atlético not only because of their attacking prowess but also of the wounded animal theory.  In short, an animal is most dangerous when it is hurt because it will fight back with all its might just to survive.  Atlético needed to embrace this attitude and that they certainly did; however, Valencia had the one-goal advantage into stoppage time and looked to win the three points.  Another last stage goal concession by Valencia leaves them seven points behind Real Madrid and Barcelona, and with no signs of either club slowing down, the four points needlessly dropped against Sporting Gijón and Atlético Madrid should prove lethal in Valencia’s attempt to win La Liga for the first time since 2004 and possibly a Champions League spot.

As has been well documented over the past few seasons, Valencia CF have seen better days.  A dismal 10th place finish in 2008 was followed by a respectable, but still disappointing 6th place finish in 2009.  On the field, a love hate relationship with David Villa, spats with Quique Sánchez Flores,  the epic flop of one Ronald Koeman and a resignation by former club president Juan Soler have turned Valencia into a real life telenovela, minus the beautiful Spanish debutantes.

With all of the trials and tribulations Valencia have faced on the pitch, their woes lie in the absolute Mount Everest of debt the club has racked up.  In June 2008 the club was in the hole to the tune of EUR 502 million and was forced to stop construction on the New Mestalla in February, thanks to the bust of real-estate and construction markets in Spain.  The club also fell behind on payments to David Villa and David Silva, Valencia’s biggest stars.  The debt has forced the club to consider selling it’s new stadium for EUR 300 million to help repay it’s creditors.

To avoid administration, Valencia was forced to raise some serious capital, and turned to their loyal fans for support.  According to VCF Chairman Tarsilo Piles, Valencia raised EUR 18 million by selling shares of the club to fans for EUR 48.05 a piece.  Piles said  “The interest of the foundation is to democratize the club so that we do not end up in the same situation as before and also so no one has a large enough piece to control the entire club.”

Valencia’s Assets

The largest assets to a majority of football clubs lie with it’s players and Valencia is no different.  David Villa has been rumored to come with a EUR 60 million price tag, but recent reports say Villa will stay put in Valencia after the club looked absolutly ridiculous this off-season with a footballing version of ‘He Loves Me’  (we want him, we want him not, we wan’t him…).

Reports in May placed David Silva at around EUR 45 million when he was rumored to be heading to Anfield to reunite with former Valencia skipper, Rafa Benitez.  At the same time, reports had Valencia offering a staggering GBP 135 million blockbuster deal to Manchester City for the duo.  Yes, that was to Man City and it could have been for GPB 300 million the way the papers report it, but you get the idea.

The club could also look to offload highly touted Ever Banega, who never materialized at Valencia and was off on loan at Atletico Madrid until the start of this season.  He was out of place his entire stay at the club.   Valencia paid EUR 18 million for Banega back in 2008 and he quickly gained notoriety for his exploits in the homemade porno industry, or as Banega himself titled, Banega, Always Big (I’ll leave the intrepretation to you). Banega was set to go to Stuttgart for GBP 7.5 million, but a rough patch between Unai Emery and VP Fernando Gomez has seemed to derail the train for now.

A New Hope

Reports say Valencia have been approved for a new loan backed by the Generalitat, Valencia’s regional government, from Bancaja for 74 million euros that will be repaid from the proceeds of a further share sale.  With the new influx of money, the club will rely heavily on season ticket holders to come through and renew.  Valencia have always had a strong socio base and last season more than 9,000 renewed their season tickets even before the 2009 season came to a close.

Valencia will also need to cash in on their appearance in the newly formed Europa League.  An impressive finish in the Europa League would leave the club with an influx of cash they can use to repay some of the club’s outstanding debt, and restructure for the future.  Below is the rubric for $$ for the UEFA Europa League in 2009/2010.  If Valencia rack up some wins and move on, they can have a significant amount of money into the club, as well as the increase in gate revenue for the Europa League matches at home and any shared gate during away matches.

UEFA Europa League 2009/2010:
1st qualifying round: 90.000 €
2nd qualifying round: 90.000 €
3rd qualifying round: 90.000 €
Playoffs: 90.000 €
Group stage: 1.000.000 €
Group match victory: 140.000 €
Group match draw: 70.000 €
1st knock out round: 200.000 €
2nd knock out round: 300.000 €
Quarter-finals: 400.000 €
Semi-finals: 700.000 €
Final: 2.000.000 €
Winning the final: 1.000.000 €

What do you think of the club’s future?  Will ticket sales and selling shares keep the club’s head above water, or are they just avoiding the inevitable? Is there anyway else for the club to raise the necessary funds to avoid administration?