Taken Apart Brick by Amazing Brick

Go back to being a small child, full of awe and wonderment. The world is huge, scary and troubling for you, with all of its majesty. But there are a number of cornerstones in your life that just safeguard you. Your favourite toys, sleeping with the lights on to stay safe from the Boogeyman, and your parents. Your mum is the safeguard for all things loving, and your dad is a superhero. Your dad is the man who could take on the world. To you, he’s the fastest, the biggest, the strongest, no matter what anybody says.

So it’s hugely disconcerting when your dad gets beaten up.

The Misguided Ghosts at Barcelona

The montages in mid game during Spanish football are often hilarious in their attempts to look epic. A look around, followed by a piece of skill, then a hard tackle. Maybe even sometimes a cheeky wink thrown in for good measure too. But yesterday, for Barcelona, that montage had a haunting look about it. Heads bowed, almost disbelieving, not knowing where to look.

You Are Now Watching The Throne

He picks the ball up around the halfway line, muscling away from the defender who is almost hanging off of him. He bursts forward past 1 challenge, 2 challenges, then a change of direction. One more touch opens up the angle, and then the finish is unerring. Messi has done it again.

But which goal is it?

Take

Your

Pick

A Team to Make Me Weak at the Knees

Wow. And I mean that.

I was sat with an Italian friend watching the game, so I had to rein in some of the adulation that I wanted to lavish on an out of this world performance from Spain, but bloody hell, Spain were good. Imperious even. And very far from boring.

The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same

“A few years ago, there was a tendency towards a more physical game, a game that was more defensive and speculative. We have been lucky that players who were perhaps weaker physically have come through and now there is more of a trend towards playing a game that is more open, prettier, happier. This has been good for me and it has been good for Pirlo.” – Xavi

Cesc Fabregas – Braveheart?

“If you’ve ever played football, you know that moment where you are in a situation and the ball comes and you hit the ball and somehow every millimetre is perfect. When it happens to you, it’s a wonder and you are amazed by your luck because usually you will fail. And when you see it done on the pitch, you see a miracle. I love it when the defenders are in a line to prevent the forward breaking through, to keep him on side. And a player plays a curved ball back across the back of the defence. The players start to run back, but the forward, who was behind the line, gets the ball because it curls back to him. That’s a miracle.”

“One moment the pitch is crowded and narrow. Suddenly it is huge and wide.”

That quote about spatial awareness could have been written purely for Fabregas. In a game that is (perhaps too) often about the blood and thunder, there’s a grace and a geometric genius about the way he plays football.

Andres Iniesta – El Caballero Pàlido

Guardiola strolled into training, trying to play it cool. In the changing rooms, he sought out his understudy Xavi. Finding him, he pulled him aside to impart his knowledge. “Hey kid, listen,” he told Xavi. “One day, you’re going to retire me. But this kid is going to retire us all.” Guardiola pointed him out, the new boy to the dressing room.” The pale boy in the corner, young and so naïve that he got lost on the way to the dressing room. Guardiola announced to his team-mates “Remember this day – the first day you played with Andres.”