FC BARCELONA, WHAT´ S GOING ON? (This article is available in English and Español)

It seems incredible, but it is clear that the Spanish football teams do not learn from their mistakes, and every year they repeat the same mistakes and one example is FC Barcelona, since after a pathetic second half of the 2006-07 season, the Catalan club did not take good decisions and for example it decided to sign a player like Thierry Henry, who is a elegant player, but he slopes down and he suffers a chronic backache and he has personal problems-a divorce-. But the most important mistake was the Ronaldinho´s permanence in the squad, since, as all the experts said-including the former FC Barcelona´s vice-president,Sandro Rosell,- FC Barcelona had to profit from the Champions League´s title and earn a lot of money with the stars of the team in order to buy new ambitious players.

If there is an important difference between the Italian and the Spanish football, besides the Italian innate competitiveness reflected in its national team, is the treatment of the football as a business, specially knowing the exact moment in order to sell a football´s star, according the market´situation and the player´s wishes.Thus, the seals of emblematic players, like teams Christian “Bobo” Vieri or Andriy Shevchenko, were not understood by the Spanish clubs, used to keep the star until the end-until the relation between the club and the player is very difficult or until the player is insulted by the supporters-. We have many examples along FC Barcelona´s history, as Ronaldo or Rivaldo, but of course Barça is not the only Spanish team with this “great virtue” and for example we can find similar cases in its main rival, Real Madrid or in Deportivo La Coruña ( Djalminha or Diego Tristan´s cases).

FC Barcelona is committing these mistakes this season, having a permissive plan with the players, who are playing horrible, without a clear style, without a leather and without the classical FC Barcelona´s “passing game” .The players do not feel like to play and to win titles, because they only want to collect the salary each month and to go to parties every day and it does not matter the feeling of the supporters of this club-although we should remember that this institution is more than a club in Barcelona-. Of course the main guilty is the president of the club, Joan Laporta, with a permissive attitude

But it is very easy to criticize and speak without exposing solutions, and that is what we are going to do here. We want to do an apolitical and neutral “Barcelonism”´s exercise, proposing actions that the Club should follow in order to straighten out the situation. First, go directly to the problem.¿ When will Mr. Laporta go home? ¿When will your dear friend, Johan Cruyff, stop to command in Barça? We think that FC Barcelona will be a normal club when these 2 men abandon completely the institution, having the power somebody with important experienced in business´s world, as for example the FC Barcelonañ´s vice-president, Marc Ingla, who has made a great job in the FC Barcelona ´s marketing´department, knowing to surround with excellent professionals

Second, Txiqui Beguiristain (the sport director): If he will continue in FC Barcelona for the press conferences during the half times of the games, it is ok, but he can not have more functions in Barça. So he must be sacked as Football´s Director, cause his work is horrible. It is not necessary to be a former football´s player to be a Football´s Director (an example is Osasuna Pamplona with the excellent Juan Jose Lorenzo),simply a club needs a good professional, an expert of the football´s market and with will to work. So, FC Barcelona must change completely this area in order to have an organization and structure in accordance with its dimension, because at this moment FC Barcelona seems an amateur team in this department, losing good players and singing “stars” in decline.¿Is it difficult to apply the Sevilla FC´s model?

Players: FC Barcelona should dismiss many players, cause many of them are not motivated. So, it is clear that Ronaldinho has completed his cycle with Barça and that Deco is not happy in Barcelona if FC Barcelona has not a competitive squad and coach. But on the other hand, maybe it would be good to give another opportunity to Thierry Henry in order to recoup his transaction and to see if he can recover his Arsenal´s level, playing as a “9” and not as a winger. Moreover, FC Barcelona needs a good replacement for Yaya Toure, because this season when the African was injured, Barça has felt the effects of his absence. Besides, if FC Barcelona wants to play with winger, it must sign specific players for this position, cause neither Ronaldinho, neither Messi, neither Bojan, neither Henry, neither Giovanni,neither Iniesta,neither Etoo´o are winger and they play in a low level in this position.Finally, if Zambrotta will play as the same horrible level, he can come back to Italy urgently and it would be great that FC Barcelona sell Giovanni, cause it can be a big problem in the squad.

Finally, we must emphasize that Frank Rijkaard has already completed his cycle, and he must go home, because the squad needs a new guide, with a strong mentality and with an only idea in his mind, to win and to crush the rivals as Manchester United or Real Madrid do.
Cheers,
J&F

QUÉ ESTÁ PASANDO EN CAN BARÇA? (This article is available in English and Español)

Parece mentira, pero está claro que la gente no aprende de sus errores, y eso es justamente lo que le ha pasado este año al FC Barcelona. Después de un final de temporada 2006-2007 nefasto, el club catalán no supo afrontar el futuro con la suficiente calma y sosiego, y tiró de talonario para traer a una estrella en declive, elegante como pocos, pero en clara decadencia futbolística. Pero lo más grave, y que todos los analistas externos veían, fue que no supo vender en el momento justo a Ronaldinho.


Si hay una cosa que diferencia al Business del fútbol en Italia de España, aparte de su innata competitividad reflejada en los equipos nacionales recientemente, es el hecho de tratar al futbol como un negocio y de saber vender a sus estrellas cuando así lo requiere el mercado y el propio jugador. Así pues, ejemplos como las ventas de jugadores emblemáticos en la Juve o en el AC Milan con "Bobo" Vieri y Andriy Shevchenko por citar algunos, creaban una gran extrañeza en España. No se podía entender una situación análoga, y prueba de ello fue lo mal que Rivaldo salió del Barça, como muchos otros... pero está situación no es sólo coto blaugrana, sino que también es extrapolable al otro gran coco futbolero ibérico: el Real Madrid o a otros clubs como el Deportivo de la Coruña, con casos como el de Djalminha o Diego Tristán.

Pero volviendo al presente, el Barça, a lo largo de la presente temporada ha pecado. No supo leer en el pasado y volvió a las andadas con un proyecto excesivamente permisivo y sin coraje. El Barça este año no sabe a qué juega. Por mucho que defiendan un estilo de toque y de rápida circulación de balón, el equipo está hecho un desastre, tácticamente muy mal trabajado y sin un guía que les muestre el camino. Pero lo peor de todo, es que este Barça no tiene coraje, no tiene ganas de jugar a nada. Hay demasiado celo, demasiado divinismo, demasiadas fiestas y muy poco control. Como dice nuestro estimado amigo Quique Guasch (famoso periodista deportivo)“No será porque la propia Junta promueve las citadas actitudes?”.

Pero es muy fácil criticar y hablar sin exponer soluciones, y eso es lo que vamos a hacer hoy y aquí. Queremos hacer un ejercicio de barcelonismo apolítico y totalmente neutral, proponiendo las actuaciones que el Club debería seguir para poder enderezar la situación.

En primer lugar, ir directamente al problema. ¿Cuándo se va Sr. Laporta? ¿Cuándo dejará su estimado amigo Johan Cruyff de mandar en el Barça? Esto nos lleva a contemplar la necesidad de esclarecer el entuerto en el que se ha metido últimamente Joan Laporta y plantear como solución la necesidad de dar plenos poderes para proceder a una reforma estructural a Marc Ingla. Profesional muy cualificado, que ya demostró su valía reflotando un maltrecho departamento de Marketing, sabiéndose rodear de excelentes profesionales.

Bajando un nivel, Txiqui Beguiristain: No nos parece mal que siga para las ruedas de prensa de la media parte, pero para nada más. No hace falta ser exjugador para ser Secretario Técnico ( como ocurre en el Osasuna que tiene un magnifico director deportivo, Juan José Lorenzo). Simplemente ser un buen profesional y trabajar. Hay que realizar una gran remodelación en este punto, dotando a la Secretaría Técnica del FC Barcelona de una organización y estructura acorde con su dimensión. Actualmente parece un equipo de Segunda B, perdiendo jugadores emblemáticos y fichando estrellas en declive. Tan difícil es darse cuenta que el modelo que funciona ha sido probado con éxito en Sevilla?


Jugadores: Limpieza, pero con criterio. No hay que cargarse a la gente porque si. Queda claro que Ronaldinho a cumplido un ciclo y que si a Deco no le hacemos un equipo ganador, con un entrenador ganador, se irá. Pero por otro lado, y sin que parezca una incongruencia con lo comentado anteriormente, nosotros le daríamos una segunda oportunidad a Henry, puesto que eso permitiría amortizar su fichaje y darle su tiempo natural de adaptación. Por otro lado, queda claro que Touré necesita un relevo de garantías y que si queremos jugar con bandas hay que tener extremos de verdad. Zambrotta si sigue al mismo nivel, mejor que vuelva a Italia y vendan a Giovanni, pues puede llegar a ser un cáncer de dimensiones en Can Barça.


Finalmente destacar que Frank Rijkaard ya ha cumplido su ciclo, y nuestra apuesta debe ser necesariamente un entrenador que aporte coraje. Que aporte aquello que realmente le falta al Barça, ganas de machacar, de ser una maquina de ganar, como el Manchester o el Real Madrid.
Cheers,

J&F

THE ITALIAN PEARL (This article is available in English and Español)

After the analysis of the different teams such as AS Roma, Fenerbahçe, Schalke 04 or Getafe CF (we believe that Mr Beckenbauer will go to Getafe next week with more respect and humility after the game that Bayern Munich and Getafe CF played yesterday), now it's time to pay attention on some young players who will be very famous players in some seasons .Specifically, we will speak in this article about one player of the Italian Serie A´s, the young offensive midfielder Sebastian Giovinco.

Giovinco, who is a small offensive midfielder of 1.64 cm, 59 kg and 21 year´s old, was formed in Juventus Turin, and this season he is having the opportunity to show his tremendous qualities in a modest Serie A´s team,Empoli FC, where he is playing on loan, being the “Vecchia signora” the owner of his rights and possibly his next team, because if Juve wants to make a good season both in the Scudetto and in the Champions League, it will need a good squad and good replacements for the veterans of the team as Alex Del Piero.

Giovinco is a very imaginative player, with a great vision of the game and a tremendous individual technique both with his right leg-his best leg- and with his left leg. Moreover, he has an important speed in order to start a play, being very difficult for his opponents to stop this wonderful player. Besides he has a great shot and of course, he is a specialist for the free-kicks (this season he has scored 5 goals in Serie A, which is not a bad number for a midfielder) and he is a perfect assistant -although he can not show this quality in Empoli, because if we except Nicola Pozzi-injured for the rest of the season - and the experienced Saudati, the rest of the strikers of the team( Salvatore Caturano, Levan Mc-Hedlidze and Rey Volpato) are very young and inexperienced players; but instead he can show all his abilities when he plays with Italian under 21 team ( he has played 7 games with the under21) because he is surrounded in this team by good players who know to take advantage of the excellent passes of Giovinco, scoring a lot of goals players like the Villarreal´s striker Giuseppe Rossi or the young striker of Cagliari, Robert Acquafresca-Inter Milan has his rights-(this is a potent Italian -Polish striker with a great instinct to score goals both with his right leg-his best keg-and with his left leg and with his head-as the goal that he scored against AC Milan-.He has scored 6 goals this season in Serie A and 5 goals with 7 games with the Italian under 21 team, taking advantage of the great passes of Giovinco) -.

We will see Giovinco´s future, if Claudio Ranieri will rely on this player, becoming an important player in this historical team, or if the player will have a very secondary role, having to look for another team and maybe another championship-the Spanish league can be a good destination in order to show his tremendous potential. We recommend to all our readers to follow the future of this good player as well as the new group of good young Italian players, as Acquafresca, Fabio Quagliarella-we spoke about him last September in this blog and we can say that he is playing very well with Antonio Di Natale in Udine-,the AC Milan´s striker Alberto Paloschi, “laziales” Rolando Bianchi or De Silvestre, or the Roman Aquiliani and Stefano Okaka Chuka, or “juventinos” Palladino, Nocerino,Chiellini,or the Fiorentina´s striker Giampaulo Pazzini.

Cheers,

J&F

LA PERLA ITALIANA (This article is available in English and Español)

Después de haber analizado a una serie de equipos como la AS Roma, el Fenerbahçe, el Schalke 04 o el Getafe CF (por cierto sr Beckenbauer, después del partido de ayer supongo que ahora irá a Getafe con más respeto y humildad), es momento de referirnos a una serie de jugadores jóvenes que pensamos que en muy pocos años estarán en boca de todos, pues se convertirán en jugadores famosos y de referencia. Concretamente en este artículo prestaremos la atención en un jugador de la Serie A italiana, Sebastián Giovinco, que cada semana nos deleita con sus preciosas jugadas.
Giovinco, es un pequeño mediapunta de 1,64 cm de altura, 59 kg y de 21 años de edad, formado en la Juventus de Turín y que esta temporada está teniendo la posibilidad de demostrar sus tremendas cualidades en un modesto de la Serie A, el Empoli FC, donde está jugando en calidad de cedido, siendo la vecchia signora la titular de sus derechos y bien seguro que ahí lo veremos la próxima temporada, pues la Juve si quiere hacer un buen papel en el Scudetto y en la Champions League, necesitará buenos relevos para las veteranos de la plantilla, como Alex Del Piero.
Giovinco es un jugador muy imaginativo, con una gran visión de juego y una tremenda técnica individual tanto con la pierna derecha-su preferida-, como con la izquierda y que si lo unimos a su velocidad y a su fuerte arrancada cuando trata de driblar a sus rivales, hacen de él casi un jugador imparable. Además es medio con un muy disparo desde fuera del área y es un buen lanzador de faltas ( este temporada ha marcado 5 goles en Serie A, lo cual no está mal si tenemos en cuenta su posición en el terreno de juego) y un perfecto asistente a sus delanteros-aunque este rasgo no lo puede demostrar en demasía en el Empoli, pues si salvamos al joven Nicola Pozzi-lesionado por lo que resta de temporada- y al experimentado Saudati, el resto de delanteros del equipo, Salvatore Caturano, Levan Mc-Hedlidze y Rey Volpato son muy jóvenes e inexpertos; en cambio sí que lo muestra cuando juega con la selección Italiana sub 21 ( ha jugado 7 partidos con la sub21), pues en este equipo se ve rodeado de buenos jugadores que saben aprovechar sus grandes pases y ahí están los números de los delanteros trasalpinos como los del delantero del Villarreal Guiseppe Rossi u otra de las sensaciones del “calcio”, el joven delantero del Cagliari-cedido por el Inter de Milan- Robert Acquafresca ( que es un potente delantero italo-polaco y que hace gala de un gran instinto goleador, ya sea con la pierna derecha-su preferida-, o con la izquierda o con la cabeza-como el gol que le marcó al Milan-, en Serie A esta temporada ha marcado 6 goles y con la sub 21, aprovechando los pases del gran Giovinco ha marcado 5 goles en 7 partidos)-.

Veremos que futuro le espera a Giovinco, si Claudio Ranieri le dará confianza para que se convierta en un jugador importante de este histórico del fútbol mundial o si por el contrario se va a ver relegado a un segundo plano, teniendo que buscar otro equipo y quizá otro campeonato-el español le vendría muy bien- para demostrar todo su tremendo potencial.
Recomendamos a todos nuestros lectores que sigan a partir de ahora el futuro de este buen jugador así como de la nueva hornada de buenos jóvenes jugadores italianos, como Acquafresca, Fabio Quagliarella- de quien ya hablamos en uno de nuestros primeros artículos del blog y lo cierto es que cumpliendo a la perfección, formando un gran delantera en el Udinese con Antonio Di Natale-, el milanista Alberto Paloschi, los laziales Rolando Bianchi o De Silvestre, los romanos Aquiliani o Stefano Okaka Chuka, o los juventinos Palladino, Nocerino o Chiellini, el viola Giampalo Pazzini
Cheers,
J&F

VILLARREAL FC, THE THIRD CANDIDATE (This article is available in English and Español)

The Spanish teams have only 9 more league´s games to finish the Championship and Real Madrid and FC Barcelona have a new competitor, Villarreal FC, in order to be the Spanish Champion.
Villarreal has options to be the champions thanks to a spate of very good results in recent matches, because Villarreal has only lost one game(against Real Madrid,3-2)in the last 11 games played in the Spanish league, and now there is only a difference of 6 points between Villarreal and Real Madrid-the leather- and only 2 points with FC Barcelona-the second in the standing-, so it does not seem unreasonable to think that the team of Manuel Pellegrini(the coach) is a strong candidate to win the Spanish championship.

Perhaps, these good results of Fernando Roig (the owner)´s team due to various factors that have provided solidity to the "yellow submarine":

On the one hand, the change of the goalkeeper. Villarreal during some years has not had a good goalkeeper –Sebastian Viera (11 games with the Uruguayan National Team) and Barbosa do not transmit security -, and finally Pellegrini has found the player who fulfils with the requirements of sobriety and safety needed to be a good goalkeeper, we refer to Diego Lopez, who, after being Iker Casillas´subsitute in Real Madrid during several seasons, decided to change the team in order to have any options to show in the first division all the qualities that he had shown during many season in the Real Madrid B. The truth is that he is taking advantage of this opportunity-he sounds as future goalkeeper of AC Milan, although maybe the best thing, that he can do, is to stay in Villarreal more seasons in order to consolidate in the first division, to play Champions League and after to sign with a “giant”-,and to show it we can check the results of the team with Diego Lopez as the goalkeeper, since he has played 12 spanish liga´s game and Villarreal has only lost 1 game , receiving only 9 goals. So, excellent numbers of the team with Diego López, especially if we compare these results with the numbers of the other Villarreal´s goalkeeper, Sebastian Viera, because this goalkeeper played 19 games, with 6 defeats and with 27 goals received.

But besides the Diego López´s effect, we should also bear in mind in order to understand these good results, the recovery of the excellent Argentinian central defender Gonzalo Rodríguez (5 games with the Argentinian National Team), who, after several months being injured, has been recovered and he has returned in an high level, and the numbers, as Diego López´s case, show it, because since Gonzalo has returned to the team, Villarreal has not lost any game in the Spanish league and it only has received 6 goals in 11 games.
Therefore it seems essential to understand the good results of the ”yellow submarine”, the presence in the squad of these 2 players who have joined a fairly balanced defensive line with players, as the young Uruguayan central defender Diego Godín- player who is playing very well, being indisputable in the squad -or the experimental Pascal Cygan-this year he has improved his level, and even he passes the ball correctly-or the player of the Argentinian National Team Fabricio Fuentes, who will be injured until the end of the season. Moreover, these good central defenders have the help of experimental right and left backs as Joan Capdevila (15 games with the Spanish national team) on the left and as Javi Venta, Josemi (European champion with Liverpool) or Ángel (4 games with the Spanish national team) on the right.

So, it is a very good defensive line and it plays with an high level as the rest of the team´s lines, since Villarreal FC has a very complete squad, thus the coach has many good options to choose tranquillity, since the team does not depend on the inspiration of a single player, as in the Juan Roman Riquelme´s period, when the only real solution for the coach was the play of this brilliant midfielder.Examples of this high level we can see in players like the promising midfielder Bruno, the experimental Marcos Senna or technical and skilled offensive midfielders Cani, Robert Pires, "Matigol" Fernandez or Santi Cazorla, who returned to Villarreal after an formidable season at the Recreativo Huelva-or the strikers as the opportunist Danish Jon Dahl Tommasson-51 goals in 97 games with Denmark,- as the fast Turkish Nihat Kahveci, the worker Mexican Guille Franco and the skillful Italian "Pepe" Rossi, who is one of the sensations of the Spanish league.

Is it enough to win the league?

The truth is that it's complicated to say that a priori Villarreal can win the league, but if we analyse the schedule and the level of the play of the teams, it does not seem so difficult that it can win the title, since the “yellow submarine” is playing very well and it will have not too complicated games, except one game at home against Atletico Madrid and 2 as visitor (in Seville and Almeria). On the other hand, we can not say the same thing about FC Barcelona (this team is always with polemics, injuries and with a very poor results as visitor, since FC Barcelona has only won 4 games during this season and it also has Champions League´s game) and Real Madrid (we know the theory about Bernd Schuster, whose teams play horrible during the second half of the season and besides it has a complicate schedule with games against teams like Sevilla FC and FC Barcelona at home and Real Zaragoza, Osasuna and Rácing Santander as visitor). So anything is possible at the end of this league and here, in Saqueneutral, we will explain it.

Cheers,

J&F

VILLARREAL CF, EL TERCER CANDIDATO (this article is available in English and Español)

Estamos a falta de 9 jornadas para que concluya la liga española y el Real Madrid y el FC Barcelona han visto como un tercer equipo, el Villarreal CF, ha entrado en la lucha por el título de liga, cuyo final se presenta muy abierto sin que exista un favorito claro.

El conjunto del Villarreal se ha metido en la pugna por el título gracias a una muy buena racha de resultados en los últimos partidos, pues de los últimos 11 partidos disputados en la liga, sólo ha perdido uno- contra el Real Madrid por 3-2-, haciendo que esté a sólo 6 puntos del líder y a 2 de la segunda plaza, por lo que no parece descabellado pensar que el equipo de Manuel Pellegrini es un firme candidato para alzarse con el título de campeón.

Esta buena racha del equipo de Fernando Roig (el presidente) quizás sea debida a diversos factores que le han proporcionado solidez al “submarino amarillo”:
Por un lado, el cambio en la portería, que después de unas temporadas sin tener un portero de plenas garantías- ni Viera (11 partidos con la selección Uruguaya) ni Barbosa son demasiado seguros-, Pellegrini ha encontrado el jugador que cumple los requisitos de sobriedad y seguridad necesarios para ser un buen portero, nos referimos a Diego López, que después de ser durante unas temporadas el suplente de Iker Casillas en el Real Madrid, decidió cambiar de aires para intentar demostrar en primera división todas las cualidades que había mostrado en el Real Madrid B. La verdad es que está aprovechando la oportunidad brindada- se habla que el AC Milan está interesado en sus servicios, aunque quizás lo mejor que puede hacer Diego es permanecer un par de temporadas más en el Villarreal, consolidarse en primera división, jugar Champions y después sí, fichar por un histórico- y que mejor muestra que los resultados del equipo con Diego López como portero titular, pues con él, el Villarreal sólo ha perdido 1 partido de los 12 disputados en liga, recibiendo sólo 9 goles. Es decir, números espectaculares, sobre todo si los comparamos con los del otro portero del equipo, Sebastián Viera, pues con él el equipo perdió 6 partidos de 19 jugados, encajando 27 goles.

Pero además del efecto Diego López, también debemos tener presente para entender estos buenos resultados, la recuperación de un pilar defensivo, el gran central argentino, Gonzalo Rodríguez,(5 partidos con la selección albiceleste)que después de un periodo de tiempo sufriendo lesiones importantes en el ligamento, se ha recuperado por fin al 100% y ha vuelto con un nivel muy alto, y los números, como en el caso de Diego López, lo demuestran, pues desde que Gonzalo regresó al equipo, el Villarreal no ha perdido ningún partido en liga y sólo ha encajado 6 goles en 11 partidos.
Por lo tanto parece clave para entender la racha del submarino amarillo, la alineación de estos 2 jugadores que se han unido a una línea defensiva bastante compensada, pues Gonzalo está acompañado de otros centrales de nivel como el joven charrúa Diego Godín – jugador que está rindiendo a un alto nivel, siendo titular indiscutible- y los veteranos Pascal Cygan- este año ha mejorado mucho su nivel, incluso ya juega, sacando el balón controlado y sin dar por tanto pelotazos sin sentido- y el argentino Fabricio Fuentes, que estará lesionado por lo que resta de temporada. También se ve ayudado por buenos laterales en ambas bandas como Joan Capdevila-internacional con España en 15 ocasiones- en la izquierda y Javi Venta, Josemi-campeón de Europa con el Liverpool- y Ángel-internacional por España en 4 ocasiones- en la derecha.

Es decir una muy buena línea defensiva que está en consonancia con el nivel que ostenta el Villarreal en el resto de posiciones, formando un bloque completo, teniendo por tanto el entrenador diversas alternativas competitivas por las que puede optar con plena tranquilidad, pues este equipo ya no es el de la época del genial Juan Román Riquelme, en el que el rendimiento dependía de la inspiración de este gran centrocampista.
Ejemplos de este buen nivel lo vemos en jugadores como el prometedor Bruno, el experimentado Marcos Senna o los técnicos y habilidosos media puntas Cani, Robert Pires, “Matigol” Fernández o Santi Cazorla-que regresó al Villarreal después de una excepcional temporada en el Recreativo de Huelva- o los delanteros como el siempre cumplidor Jon Dahl Tommasson-51 goles en 97 partidos con Dinamarca-, el veloz y buen definidor turco Nihat Kahveci, el trabajador Guille Franco y el habilidoso italiano “Pepe” Rossi, que es una de las sensaciones de la liga española.

¿Es suficiente para ganar la liga?
Lo cierto es que es complicado que a priori el Villarreal pueda ganar la liga, pero si atendemos al calendario de los equipos y al estado de forma, no parece tan difícil que lo pueda conseguir, pues el submarino amarillo está con un nivel de forma muy bueno y teniendo partidos no demasiado complicado- salvo uno en casa frente al Atlético de Madrid y 2 fuera (en Sevilla y Almería)-. En cambio no podemos decir lo mismo ni del FC Barcelona (siempre con polémicas y con lesiones y con un nivel muy bajo en los partidos como visitantes, pues sólo ha ganado 4 partidos en toda la liga y además aún estará pendiente de los partidos de la Champions League) ni del Real Madrid ( ya conocemos la teoría sobre los equipos de Bernd Schuster, que empiezan muy fuertes, pero que bajan mucho en las 2ª vueltas y además tiene partidos difíciles contra rivales como el Sevilla FC y el FC Barcelona en casa y Real Zaragoza, Osasuna y Rácing de Santander como visitante).
Así que cualquier cosa es posible en este final de liga y aquí, en Saqueneutral, lo contaremos.
Cheers,
J&F

UEFA CUP: FC BAYERN MÜNCHEN-GETAFE CF ( This article is available in English and Español)

FC Bayern München will play the next round of the UEFA Cup against a Spanish team, Getafe FC, and as, surprisingly, the president of the German team, Franz Beckenbauer, said that he does not know anything about Getafe FC, we think that it is a good decision to dedicate an article to this good Spanish team. Possibly the key man in this modest club is its president, Angel Torres, because this team with him has stopped to be a classical of the Spanish 2 division A and 2 division B to become an established team in the Spanish first division, playing European competition and arriving to the King´s Cup Final (last season it played the final against the powerful Fc Sevilla, and this season it will play the final against FC Barcelona or Valencia CF). Furthermore, the Angel Torres´s labour has more value, if we bear in mind that he must build a new team each season, since or the Getafe´s coaches change the team and they sing for an important team (Quique Sanchez Flores left the Getafe to sign for Valencia or Bernd Schuster signed for Real Madrid), or the best players of the team change to another team (Arizmendi arrived to Deportivo, Alexis and Raul Albiol to Valencia, Güiza to Mallorca, or Pernía to Atletico Madrid, etc.). This season the president had a lot of work this summer, cause he needed to sign a new coach and many players, and the fact is that he has happened on the different signature, because Michael Laudrup, the coach, after an irregular start of the season, has built a good team, formed by players who play with great hardness and by players with a lot of quality and experience, such as the goalkeepers, since Getafe has the privilege of having the goalkeeper of the the Argentinian National Team, “El Pato” Abbondanzieri and the promising Argentinian, Oscar Ustari, who usually plays in the UEFA Cup´competition and although he has a lot of prestige, we think that he must to learn many thing in order to be considered a good goalkeeper, since his actions both in Geatafe and in Independiente de Avellaneda has been very irregulars.

The goalkeepers are well protected by a hard defensive line with very experience players as the central defenders "El Cata" Diaz-former Boca Juniors´player and defender of the Argentinian National Team-or David Belenguer, who has played more than 10 seasons in the Spanish first division, and Mario, who is playing a good level after an unfortunate period with FC Barcelona; or the right backs Cosmin Contra-former Atletico Madrid and AC Milan´s player- and David Cortes-good right back- or the Argentinian left back Lucas Licht, who has a great experience in the Argentinian league after 5 seasons at Gimnasia y Esgrima de la Plata.

Moreover, the defensive line is helped by midfielders with a lot of experience and quality as the defensive midfielders Javier Casquero, who has played many season in the Spanish First division and has a powerful shot, or Fabio Celestini (34 games with the Swiss National Team)-a former player of the Olympique Marseille-, or Ruben de la Red (I do not understand why Real Madrid sold this player last summer because he is much better than Fernando Gago).These 3 players are complemented by clever players like the right midfielder Pablo Hernandez and the left midfielder Gavilán and the best player of the team, Esteban Granero, who is a brilliant offensive midfielder with a great of vision of the game and a lot of quality, excellent for the free-kicks, he is certainly the player that Bayern should pay more attention, because as he play alone and with time to think, he can decide the eliminatory, especially if his superb passes are used by the strikers of the team, which is possibly the less strong line of the team.

When we say the forward´s line is the less strong line, we mean that Getafe has not an excellent “9”- a striker, who score 20 goals per season-.But, although this is true, Bayern can not undervalue the players, because the Spanish team has a good combination of strikers: the quality and the mobility of the Uruguayan Albin or the Spanish Manu del Moral, or a “9” as Braulio ( what a wonderful goal against Tottenham this season!), or powerful Kepa Blanco or Ikechukwu Uche (although these two strikers are not in the expected level).

In short, Getafe is a good team and although the players of the squad do not have world-wide fame as the stars of Bayern (Ribery, Luca Toni, Klose, Podolski, Lucio, Lahm or Bastian Schweinsteiger), they have shown this season that they can win any game (Getafe has won this season FC Barcelona (2-0), Real Madrid (0-1), Seville (3-2), Tottenham (1-2) or Benfica). So, Mr Beckenbauer-I think it is lamentable that you do not know anything about this team-, I recommend that you must be careful with this team, because if you play as the game against FC Energie Cottbus, you will lose this eliminatory.

Cheers,

J&F