IS GOD A CATALAN? ¿Es Dios un catalán?

Barcelona Football Club, “Epitome football boni, amore omnium et invisi omnibus”, which translates in Latin to “the epitome of good football, loved by all and hated by all”, what an irony? A Catalan is the thorough-bred Barcelona Football Fan, the club itself goes by the nick-name “Catalan Giants”, giants? When in reality the tallest player there is Gerald Pique, the rest are short-men, in fact the most important players in teams all over the world are usually short, why?

However they compensate for their height deficiency on the field of play, players such as Messi. Xavi, Iniesta, Giggs, Scholes, Sneidjer, Modric, Charlie Adams, Mauro Zarate, Toto Di Natalie, Alexis Sanchez, Okocha, Rooney, Tevez, Aguero and other notable absentees.

We can go on mentioning names but this article is specially made for FCB the Greatest Club on Earth, which translates in Latin as “maxima terra club”. a team that has always played host to world class players, including Ronaldo, Maradona, Yohann Cyruff, Luis Figo, Henry, Ronaldinho, Eto Fils, Messi, Iniesta ( the last four names formed a partnership referred then to as the Fantastic Four), presently we are blessed with the Golden Trinity of Xavi Hernandez, Andreas Iniesta and Lionel Andreas Messi. When the Fantastic Four partnership was broken by former coach Frank Ridjkaard, everyone thought FC Barcelona were done, instead we were in for a rude awakening, it turned out to be the birth of the most  destructible partnership the footballing world has ever seen,

 So telepathic I wonder if God is on the pitch with them,

 So destructible the made the best defensive partnership in this year’s Champions League look so ordinary in a Final,

The football philosophy so nice even Mitchel Platini (UEFA Chief) wants to watch FC Barcelona in every UCL Final,

So ruthless in front of goal that the scored a whopping 5 goals against almighty Real Madrid whose manager was a certain Jose Mourinho ( a one time assistant manager at FCB).

  Three players make FCB tick, Messi, Xavi and Iniesta take one out and FCB isn’t the same. Lionel Andreas Messi “INDEFATIGABILIS” the world best player, a man that can singlehandedly change situation and take the bull by the horn, Andreas Iniesta, “Sonriendo asesino” the smiling assassin, just a little highly underrated man whose ability to create opportunities and take them, and Xavi Hernandez “el centro campo de futbol genio”, which literally translate into Spanish as Football Midfield Genius , oh what a footballing genius, so intelligent on the field of play, he makes opposition midfielders watch in awe, in fact they become so carried away till he makes them look stupid, no doubt the best midfielder of this era.

Josep Pep Guardiola  “la INCREDIBILIS”,a manager I tout as the next manager of Manchester United Football Club, he’s achieved so much in just a space of 3 years, he came in as nobody, a reserve team coach brought in after Frank parted company, now he’s not just somebody, but the best manager in world football, he’s responsible for building the best football machinery in the world called FC Barcelona, I often tell people you can’t help but love FCB, if you hate them then you hate football, personally I’m a MAN UTD fan a die-hard, but when I see the truth I admit, but I love FC Barcelona because of Mr. Xavi Hernandez and co.

Real Madrid used to be the biggest team in Spain but a new era is in the horizon the era of ‘Barcelona todopoderoso’ Spanish word for almighty Barcelona. Both teams are great teams in their own rights but in terms of current form FCB stands shoulder high above any team, now is the era of RM to play second fiddle even Marca (Spanish sport magazine) wouldn’t agree better. Watching the UCL finals between Man Utd and FCB I was amazed at their ball keeping abilities and the level of understanding between all the players, their movement was electrifying, shooting 90% accurate, passing telepathic, defense splitting passes, based on statistic Man Utd has had made a total of 100 passes at one time in the game at the same time FCB had made 265 complete passes, almost tripling that of Man Utd, no team in the world over could have achieved such feat rumor has it that Barcelona’s defense is shit, I beg to disagree, Sir Alex Ferguson once said the best form of defense is attack, based on this school of thought FCB has the best defense, why? They prevent the opposition from having the ball so doing, reduces the threat posed to their defense, one has to admit a hard truth it would take sheer luck and strong determination for any team to effectively shut down the Catalan machine and get anything out from a game against them ask those teams that managed such feat, making me to once again ask the question, is God a Catalan?

I often wonder and ask myself is The Almighty God any interested in football, if yes then who does He support or which team is He a fan of?  If He does have any interest in football then He undoubtly is a Football Club Barcelona Fan, if He isn’t then which Is He, Manchester United, Real Madrid, AC Milan or Chelsea? FCB players handle the round leather like sons of God or little football gods. However what people fail to realize is that there exist more similarities between FC Barcelona and Manchester United than differences,  both have ordinary players who when on the field of play become extraordinary, both teams are assured of success at least in one area every season, they spend big only once in a while, both have top class front men and a consistent backline provided there’s no injury concern, both teams seek to build and mould young players from their academies into world class stars via integration into the senior team or to other teams, they both imbibe the never say die attitude, that keeps them ticking even in situations other teams view as impossible, both are managed by some of the best managers in the football game.

The differences are as clear as a crystal, FCB has “inclemente messi” merciless Messi who ‘does’ make things happen, MUFC has Rooney who ‘can’ make things happen, FCB has the telepathic combination of Xavi and Iniesta, MUFC doesn’t have any major midfield combination, it changes according to the match complexity, Paul Scholes has just retired creating a huge vacuum, the only area where MUFC clearly as an edge over FCB is Defensive and goal keeping position (Van Der Sar’s Era), post- VDS era is what we anticipate.

The UCL Final between both teams, was one I already lost hope on, I had already handed he trophy to FC Barcelona immediately they qualified at the expense of Real Madrid. I told my friends that it would take luck for MUFC my team to beat FCB; I was called all sorts of names, but I was telling a hard truth. I had to pretend to support my team ignorantly undermining FCB at my own peril. After the games my fears and prophesies were confirmed, but wasn’t sad, because MUFC couldn’t have lost to a better team.

Congratulations to FC Barcelona on such a wonderful achievement, winning their 4^th Champions league trophy, to  Josep Pep Guardiola you just achieved the unthinkable in just 3 years, you deserve to be MUFC next Manager forget all those Jose Mourinho praise singers, to Messi you scored a stunner against Van Der Sar you deserve the World Best Player for the 3^rd time in a row Chrstiano Ronaldo can wait for next season, to all FC Barcelona fans relish in your success and celebration, and to all Manchester United Fans, no need to cry or murmur , we always pick ourselves up whenever we fall, next season is another time to redeem our Barcelona Battered Image.

In conclusion, looking at Barcelona Football Club’s achievement this season, one is still obliged to ask “IS GOD A CATALAN” that is yours to decide.