For fans of club football, the international break comes as a big irritant. It’s like you have ordered for the delicious biriyani, midway through your meal and that dish takes ages to arrive. The season ahead stays extremely exciting with … Continue reading Pep Talk 29: Top 10 moments & images of the Football Season 2018/19 so far
INT 1-1 BAR Eleven observations 1. Barca’s record vs Italian teams since start of 2017 has been (first home, then away) vs Juve: Drew 0-0, Lost 0-3 vs Juve: Beat 3-0, Drew 0-0 vs Roma: Beat 3-1, Lost 0-3 vs … Continue reading Football: FC Barcelona comfortably sit atop CL Group after draw at San Siro
RAY 2-3 BAR Ten Observations After bossing all white jersey teams in Oct, the big red patch in Rayo Vallecano’s white jersey seemed like a traffic red light for Barcelona. There is a reason why Spanish teams do well in … Continue reading Football: Luis Suarez leads Barcelona to a Messi-esque level fightback
Ten observations from the El Clasico. Scoreline: FCB 5-1 White Jersey team Six goals made in South America give a Guardiolaesque scoreline but men of the match are Spain’s discarded wing backs – Jordi Alba & Sergi Roberto. 2. Before … Continue reading Pep Talk 22: Six Goals made in South America give El Clasico a Guardiolaesque scoreline
My Football pilgrimage demanded a country side sighting between the weekend La Liga and midweek Champions League games. We decided to spend this break covering south France. Our first stop was Toulouse, a quiet, sleepy, high on architecture, quaint and … Continue reading Travel: Seven unique observations at Toulouse, France
It was the 1998 World Cup, held at France when my fascination for the Spanish national team grew from admiration to unconditional support. Live coverage of European club football had started entering Indian homes and fascinated by Real Madrid and … Continue reading Pep Talk 21: My World Cup of Sorrow
I cut off all my football channels once the domestic league season got over. I didn’t see any point waiting for two weeks to see the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League final to be played out between the third placed team … Continue reading Pep Talk 20: Champions missing on Champions League decider night
Insights, highlights and little-known nuggets from the book ‘Fear and Loathing in La Liga’ – El Clasico diaries by Sid Lowe. While the book covers the entire history of Barcelona vs Real Madrid rivalry, I have only chosen the post-2000s … Continue reading Pep Talk 19: Insights from Sid Lowe’s ‘Fear and Loathing in La Liga – El Clasico diaries
Final part of insights, highlights and little-known nuggets from Pep Guardiola’s Biography ‘Another way of winning‘ – by Guillem Balague and also a few additional notes. * After beating Paris Saint-Germain at Rotterdam, Barcelona lifted the Cup Winners Cup trophy … Continue reading Pep Talk 16: Insights from Guardiola’s Biography ‘Another way of winning’ – Final Part
Part three of insights, highlights and little-known nuggets from Pep Guardiola’s Biography ‘Another way of winning‘ – by Guillem Balague. In this blog, I focus on the working relationships that Pep made at Barcelona – The good, bad and the … Continue reading Pep Talk 15: Insights from Guardiola’s Biography ‘Another way of winning – Part 3′
