Vinay's Blog Rants

                              El Clasico The Story of the Rivalry between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid  The rivalry comes about as  Madrid  and  Barcelona  are the two largest cities in Spain, and they are sometimes  identified  with opposing political positions, with Real Madrid viewed as representing  Spanish nationalism  and Barcelona viewed as representing  Catalan nationalism . It is considered one of the biggest club  football  games in the world, and is among the most viewed annual sporting events.  It has always been a heated match, from both sides. Political background: The rivalry between the the two most successful clubs in football started with an oft-ignored political backstory and contrasts in how both clubs were made.  FC Barcelona was founded by --> Joan Gamper along with several foreign-...

A young Afghan boy who became an internet sensation after being photographed in a homemade replica of Lionel Messi’s famous football strip has finally come face-to-face with his idol during a freindly match between FC Barcelona and AL Ahil. In January this year, pictures emerged of five-year-old Murtaza Ahmadi wearing a blue-and-white striped plastic bag to emulate the colours of the Argentinian team. On the back of the bag was scrawled the legend: “Messi 10”. The pictures went viral and, after Messi’s biggest fan was identified and tracked down to Afghanistan’s eastern Ghazni province, efforts were made to bring Murtaza and the Barcelona star together. Murtaza and Messi met in Doha and the boy is expected to walk out on to the pitch with Messi on Tuesday night when Barcelona play Al Ahli.  this meeting was arranged through the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. Murtaza met his hero as Barcelona played a friendly in Qatar this week against Al Ahli - and...

Barcelona got back to winning ways against Las Palmas at the weekend, but as they look to get their first Champions League win of the season they'll need to do so without Lionel Messi - who has been ruled out for two months. There is a lot of speculation on how barca could lineup(or "cope up") in the absence of messi, so here is some potential info about lineups and strategies that barca may adopt under luis enrique without messi. Here's the team Luis Enrique may turn to against Bayer Leverkusen. GOALKEEPER: Claudio Bravo took part in a training session on Sunday, and could be given the nod ahead of Marc-Andre ter Stegen between the sticks. Mats may be rested an ample amount of time as his recent performances are very poor. DEFENCE: Dani Alves/roberto Piqué/bartra Mascherano Jordi alba /jermy mathiue Adriano (picked a knock against Las Palmas )and Thomas Vermaelen are big doubts for the game, while Javier Mascherano and G...

Quick Review:   Celta struck twice in a five-minute span during the first goal, staking a 2-0 lead on a gorgeous  26th-minute goal by Nolito  and a  30th-minute tally by Iago Aspas  (thanks in no small part to a ghastly error by Pique). A second by  Aspas in the 56th minute  made it 3-0. Barca pulled one back when  Neymar finally broke through in the 80th , but  Guidetti’s emphatic response two minutes later  closed the scoring on a famous Celta victory. And it's over!  Celta Vigo  remain unbeaten in La Liga while Barcelona’s 100% start to the season is but a memory. The 4-1 scoreline marks Luis Enrique’s worst defeat at the helm of the Catalan side .