Iniesta

Red and Blue team

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Red and Blue team

I remember when I was young and depressed seeking an escape from the world. My life was dull and lathagic lacking any color. There was no focus to my lense and hence nothing to capture. Brain dead, I switched on the television set and a game was on. I had nothing to do and so I watched. The team with the red and blue colors played exquisite football. It was moving around in trigonometric patterns and sequences around the field. It was shared and distributed all around the field, it was one touch football. They kept the zones small and the opponents chased ceaselessly after the ball with no avail. The crowd was in awe and offered their appreciation for this type of football, they applauded, it was heaven, it was beautiful, they scored a lot of goals. The players had grace, they had elegance, they had a swagger and an arrogance. They had complete autonomy, almost like they didn’t have set positions, every role was interchangeable and vacated as the moment demanded. It was chaos and opponents didn’t have a reply, everything about that play defied structures and systems. It was a marvel to watch, the players on my screen turned the commentators into poets. I watched poetry unrevel right before my eyes and the commentators captured the magic of the moment. I fell in love, with the colors, the badge, the flags, the stadium and everything about that world. The red and blue hue spread out from my television set into my life to give it some color. From the seeds everything metastasized and blossomed into rich colors. The red and blue team saved my life.

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Beef with Chelsea

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Beef with Chelsea

Chelsea will always be the club that I dispise. From my roots in England, Manchester United, you have always given me a tough time. Thank God for Cristiano Ronaldo, he is our “Magnifico” like Bruno Fernandes. He won us UEFA with his towering header. Sure Lampard equalized and sent the game to extra-time but we landed the first blow. It showed intent. Sir Alex Ferguson our leader. He gave us great moments, season after season, we won the trophies. Our worst seasons were always the seasons we finished 2nd, worse case scenario 3rd, so okay, that’s fine, we’ll go at it again the next season. That’s the lose I want in my life, Fergusons’ lose.

My story doesn’t only come from Manchester, my Chelsea story has its roots in Barcelona. From the Champions league 2009 semi-final in Samford Bridge, thank God for Iniesta, he won us the whole tournament. The semi-final was hard but we just needed 1 goal because the game ended scoreless at the Camp Nou. We got it in the 94th minute, with virtually the last kick of the game, I will never forget that day. Iniesta saved my life. Assist from Messi, who else? We won all 6 trophies, well done to Pep Guardiola for achieving that impossible feat. Puyol as our leader, the last pure defender. I will never forgive Chelsea for what happened in 2012 though. Such negative tactics at the Camp Nou. If we had scored that penalty, we would have been free. How can you miss that penalty Messi? But okay, it wasn’t our day. The last memory I have of that game is Fernando Torres rounding off Victor Valdes. It breaks my heart, I wish I could change it. We deserved so much better. We were by far better than Chelsea. We had the best chances but somehow they won. I knew Chelsea would win the Champions league that year even against the Germans in their stadium, the Allianz Areana. I mean Arjen Robben got his penalty saved by Peter Ceche. A whole great Arjen Robben, before that in the semi-finals Messi missed. This was Chelsea’s competition to lose and they didnt. I will always hate Chelsea for winning that tournament that year because they deployed negative tactics. They parked the bus and we couldn’t get through. We tried everything. We had Cristian Tello, Isaac Cuenca, Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and Cesc Fabregas and we couldn’t get that illusive third goal, we almost did, but we couldn’t. The Germans also didn’t have an answer for Chelsea’s negative bus parking tactics and worse they played that final in their own Stadium. Chelsea not only frustrated the Bayern Munich team, they frustrated the fans in the stadium and everyone watching around the world. Pep Guardiola announced that he was leaving Barcelona that week after the defeat. It was the worst week of my life and I credit Chelsea Football Club.

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Leo Messi & Pep Guardiola

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Leo Messi & Pep Guardiola

Another Leo Messi moment, yes, of course, the best, steaming with the hottest lines like a train. Most gigs, more appearances, most consistent, most charisma, Sigma, Mr. Greatest in the world. No one is at my level, Leo Messi under Pep Guardiola.

Can you believe what Pep had at Barca? A young Messi who is eager to prove his worth, a young Iniesta who was dubbed a future Spanish great, the great Maestro Xavi Hernandes, African Great Yaya Toure, Africa’s top goalscorer of all time Samuel Eto’o, Mexican legend Rafael Marques, Sergio Busquets – his (Pep) successor, French World Cup winning forward, a man who has a statue in London, Arsenal – Thierry Henry, one of Africa’s greatest central defending midfielders Keita and my great captain Carles Puyol. Cancer survivor Eric Abidal came back to start in the Champions League final against Manchester United at Wembley, a game FC Barcelona won 3-1; The team captain Carles Puyol gave him the armband to lift the prestigious trophy, he was an inspiration to all. All Pep had to do was buy Dani Alves from Seville and Gerard Pique from Manchester United and win everything. He had La Masia too and it produced gold with Pedro Rodrigues, in 2010 he became the first player ever to score in all 6 tournaments Barca contested in, it was a clean sweep with every award and trophy going in the Catalan cabinet. It was magical and he had that special touch with the players, he could motivate them, they played at an exceptional level. Barcelona won all 6 trophies avaliable that year in Pep’s first year at the high level. 6 trophies is better than a treble. Pep was announced as the best manager in the world. His Barcelona team regarded as the best team ever to have kicked a ball. Messi was at the center of everything. Most goals, most assists, most records, most everything and that year he won the Ballon D’Or with the highest rate ever, it wasn’t even a debate – Messi is the best.

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