Second treble on the table... and, they took it!

And, I saw them do it - live!  Visca, el Barça! 
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by PAM


I have been feeling really frustrated to have kept missing the UEFA Champions League matches this season.  In fact, my last post here on the Champions League was published on August 2013!  It's that bad.  

I know that there are trade-offs in the choices we make in our lives, but two years of not being able to watch a full match in the Champions League has been gnawing on my sanity!  Too much work... just too-too much!  It used to be worth it... but, without time to refresh my mind by indulging my (justified) hunger for great fun, adrenaline rush and tactical thinking through a healthy dose of the 'beautiful game' is 'killing me'... seriously!  OK, perhaps following the Spanish La Liga and the English Premier League, too, is a luxury, considering the choice I made two-and-a-half years ago... but missing the Champions League for two years??  OK, that's like sacrilege for a football fan!  

Football fan or not, I think we all deserve some time to have a little fun - even if only for health and sanity's sake.   


***
Putting my foot down... gotta watch the final!

Sooo, before losing it, I put my foot down and decided to mark my calendar and cancel anything else that coincided with the Champions League final in Berlin... especially that the final is between my favorite Club, FC Barcelona (o, yeah!), and Juventus FC!  As it turned out, I didn't have to cancel anything because the match airs live via cable on a Sunday at 2:30 a.m., Manila time.  So, I had to sleep early Saturday night to wake up in time for the game.  And, oh, boy!  What a treat it was!

What a reunion between Barça... and I! :)

The match was a fast-paced one, with the men from both sides starting with spirited sprint on that beautiful green turf of Berlin.  Everyone watching knew right off the bat that both sides were gunning for the cup with powerful artillery - no compromise!  Both sides have a worthy mission.  Both sides won their local Leagues and local Cups going into the Champions League final.  Juve was gunning for their first treble - the 8th Club to do so if they managed to get Lady Luck smile their way; and Barça was aiming to make history to become the first Club to achieve the treble twice.  Juve's manager/head coach, Max Allegri, was a worthy victor... but so was Barça's freshman head coach/manager, Luis Enrique, relatively young as he may be!  

Champions League followers were expecting the final match to be a battle of midfields, Juve's was led by the veteran, Andrea Pirlo, and Barça's was led by the brilliant Andres Iniesta.  Everyone was also picturing a duel between Barça's "magician", Lionel Messi, and the Italian side's seasoned goal keeper, Gianluigi "Gigi" Buffon, in front of the Italian Serie A champs' goal.  Naturally, a swarm of defenders were about Messi early on; and naturally, Lucho Enrique and Don Andres expected this, and so did Neymar Jr., who pressed the Juve defense early on.  It was a battle of midfield tactics alright.  In fact, duirng the first four minutes or so of the match, the quick-witted Don Andres Iniesta orchestrated the attack for Barça, getting his men touch the ball, once, twice on the turf as they gather towards the Juve goal.  Don Andres found a little opening, slipped the ball through to Ivan Rakitić, who acted quickly and decisively, and sent the ball past the surprised Buffon (and he's rarely surprised!) to hit the back of the net!  The Catalan side took the driver seat, 1-0, merely four minutes into the match!  And the sprinting and tactical battle intensified.  Whew, beautiful!

The rest of the first half was a great duel of wills between the two sides...  Barça pressing to provide a cushion to their lead, Juve was looking to equalize while resisting the advances of the opposite side.  Their horns were locked tightly, but I gotta say that the great tactician, Don Andres, and the South American demolition trio, Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez, with the do-or-die hustle from Dani Alves, kept Juve mum, as they pressed relentlessly.  Barça's attack crew kept the ball with the Catalans, not giving the Juve attackers, led by Carlos Tevez, much chance to create damage.  

***
Finishing the task

One would think that in the second half, Barça would be running to finish the match with another goal, but it was Juve's Alvaro Morata who picked up the remains of a saved attempt for a goal by Tevez, about ten minutes into the second half, to equalize. That scattered the Catalan men for a while, and the Barça defense was the first to appear like they were feeling the heat.  It did look like Juve was going for an all-out attack of the FCB goal manned by the 23-year old German keeper, Marc-André Ter Stergen.  However,

Neymar, securing the win with a third goal for FCB.

the young goal keeper, calm and serene in front of the goal, proved to be up to the task - very impressive!  I have to say that Barça's defense, which was usually suspect when things go wrong, proved to be equal to the task as well... well, after recovering from their "initial shock" caused by the Morata goal anyway.  Call it the Don Iniesta calming leadership effect... that man has that effect on his team.  He gets them back on attacking track - fast!  

The formidable South American attacking trio in front of the Barcelona crew kept pressing... they launched many attacks that would've shattered to pieces a goal keeper made of less finer stuff than Gigi Buffon was.  At some point though, something had to give.  In one of the blistering attempts by Messi to get FCB in front again, Buffon saved, but spilled the ball, which was apparently went too weighty after being walloped by Messi's left foot.  The hungry Suarez, without hesitation, sprinted to send the loose ball to the back of the net as Buffon was still sprawled on the turf recovering from Messi's assault, 2-1.  Such is the lethality of Barça's attack line.  Just as quickly as he scored though, Suarez picked up a yellow card as soon as the game re-started after Barça's celebration of his goal! :)  Oh, boy!  At least, the yellow card did not involve biting of someone's ear. ;)

The lead could have been stretched by Neymar to 3-1 about the 70th minute or so, but his header was ruled out as the ball accidentally touched the back of his right hand before flying to the goal. That little touch couldn't have changed the trajectory of the ball... but it was disallowed anyway, and it was fair enough.  Juve then continued to press for opportunity to equalize, as Barça's South American attack trio did the same relentlessly, propelled by the midfield, which was led by the great Xavi Hernandez in the last 15 minutes or so of the match. After a few rolling around by Suarez, whose wailing can be a bit embarrasing and/or irritating at times, Lucho decided to pull him out, and Pedro Rodriguez came on.  During the last minute of the five-minute stoppage time, Messi, Pedro and Neymar ran for a final attempt for a goal, which sent my heart all a-thump-thumping with crazy excitement!  And Neymar kicked the last goal in with such force uncaring about any sort of destruction that such force may cause - no chance for even the likes of Buffon to stop - claiming the 2015 Champions League trophy for good... and FCB's second treble!  And, into the history books they went!  Yowza!  

Awesomeness?  Ah, well... no other way to describe it!  I was glad that, at least, I watched the final - live!  If only for that, I resolve to avoid ranting (here) for the next... uhm, five (working) days, maybe? :)


***
P.S. Footie Beautie

I have to say, I love this Barça - Lucho Enrique's Barça, that is.  Their movement as a Team is very fluid.  They still play the "possession football" that was central in Pep Guardiola's Barça, and they still work wonderfully as a Team as in the "Pep era", but there's a bigger component of "no-excuse attack" that makes this current ensemble very exciting to watch.  There is a hint of "savagery" in their hunger to get those goals coming... there is a flavor of unabashed display of enjoyment as they make those goals after a relentless pursuit.  There is raw desire for the best result possible... it's honest, it's compelling, it makes one wants to celebrate with them, it's great! 

Pep's Barça was all about tantalizing movement.  They moved beautifully and gracefully in a well-timed approach to the goal that they were just breathtaking to watch.  They seemed to be playing football on their own, without opponents!  The fantastic goals seemed like mere "icing on the cake", and the trophies are more of a payment to the display of beauty rather than a prize for winning the competition.  Lucho's Barça has more 'muscle', and they have no qualms about displaying it, and they do so as beautifully as possible, too.  They are not only beautiful to watch, they produce nail-biting excitement in their devil-may-care attacks, but in a well orchestrated moves that involve the whole Team nevertheless!  They keep you on the edge of your seat, they make their spectators gush adrenaline, and they challenge their opponents to match their pace.  Pep's 'delicately beautiful men' have been transformed to Lucho's 'exciting men's men'!  It felt different to watch this new Barça, and I love it! 

And, I love all the show of love among the 'beautiful men' of this 'beautiful game'... all the kissing and hugging without any hint of self-consciousness, all the good cheers after the match that show true sportsmanship, are just fantastic to watch.  I missed seeing all this for the longest time... it has been killing me!  But, I got good dose of my 'wonder drug' from the Berlin final of the Champions League.  Life is good!  It is, ya know! :)    

***

Photo credit:  I took all the photos in the collage from the Balls Channel live feed via Skycable (Channel 34), except the center photo, which was obtained from the UEFA Champions League's twitter account - thanks.

*** 

Saturday photo

Dear adrenalin rush... hurry, hurry come to me! :)

Now I know why I have been feeling 'blue'... it's been 'forever' since I last saw something like this on my TV screen:

"Road to the Final"... my kind of road!
Woot woot! :)

Yep, I'm an "adrenalin rush junkie"!  I need some fist-pumping, nerve-wracking, scream worthy excitement to fuel my 'run' in this 'marathon', more popularly known as 'life'. :)  Right now, I'm 'running' on a 'boring' stretch of 'gray concrete' with nothing around me but uninhabited space... no sign of 'life' - just the non-breathing concrete against my worn out 'running shoes', colliding steadily in a fatally boring rhythm that makes me want to stop running altogether and just lie down and be lost in this gray nothingness.  And all I see in front of me is still a loooooong stretch of sickeningly gray concrete.  Oh, boy!  When will it end?  In other words, all I do these days is work, work, work... and more work! It's like getting stuck in an extremely boring one-dimensional world.  Very depressing!  :(

So, I wait... for this road to branch out somewhere, an opportunity to change course - to a more 'scenic run', like the "Road to the Final".  In the meantime, I'll keep running... but I will keep gazing at the 'sky' where UEFA Champions League's "Road to the Final" smiles a beautiful smile... just a little refreshment, an imagined consolation just because no one is generous enough to give any. Expectations... stratospheric expectations, that's all that everyone shoves in front of me. And, while I've ran steadily fast in this race on this sad, sad concrete, always shooting for the stars... and even when, I believe, I've won some big ones, the expectations get steeper... and steeper still. Oy, oy, oy!

Oh, and, uhm, btw, El Clásico is on at Camp Nou in a few minutes. There ya go, that's more than an 'imagined' consolation right there! That's a breathing awesomeness on green turf - worlds apart from the emptiness of this gray concrete!  Uhm, ahem, I expect 'bloodshed', do ya? ;)  Bring it!  Go, Barça!  :)

 

***

Oh, Lord, please give me the patience and hopefulness to endure this 'extreme boredom' and incredible exhaustion.  I hope that these amount to something good in the end.  Amen. 

***

4-0... dang!

So, was that the end of the 2013 UEFA Champions League for Barça?
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by PAM


4-0!  Ugh! 

I gotta admit, that 'killed' me a little bit.  I'm kinda dead right now... oh, boy!  'Cause since when did Barça - "Pep Guardiola's Barça", that is - got so effectively annihilated like that?  So, okay, they are no longer Guardiola's Barça 'cause they are now Tito Vilanova's Barça... and yet, it was Pep who assembled the core of the present Barça.  They no longer play as fiercely as they did under Pep's heavily dramatic direction, but the brilliance is still there.  Tito is as cool as Pep is as passionate.  I guess a team like Barça tends to operate more effectively under a heavily passionate shepherd?  Maybe....

But, 4-0 in the semi-final of UEFA Champions League?  Really??  4-0??  Wow!  What's worse was that Lionel Messi was in Barça's starting XI in the Allianz Arena... what the heck

The unfamiliar look of defeat... 4-0. Aw, man! 

(Credit:  John Sibley/Action Images)

happened???  Aw, excuse my language... it's just hard, hard, HARD!  It's hard to accept that stunningly comprehensive defeat, the kind of defeat that Barça usually hand down to their hopeless and helpless opponents... including the Bavarians - in the past.  But, 4-0?  Man, totally heartbreaking! 

Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to diminish the brilliance of Bayern Munich.  Boy, they were good!  If I weren't a Barça fan, I'd definitely root for them... there was no weakness in their artillery... the frontline was brisk, daring and accurate, their midfield strong, sharp and fast, and their defense was a brickwall - in the Great Wall of China fashion, too!  In fact, I've always believed that they should have won the Champions League last year.  Well, just because Barça's game got 'hijacked' by the ultra-heavy double-wall defense of Chelsea FC last year.     

Speaking of defense... I hate to say this, but Barça's defense sucked!  If it was true that FC Barcelona have lost their 'aura', it's only because their defense is 'light weight'.  Man, when will the Barça 'back' going to get the major overhaul and thorough reinforcement that it needs?  By 'overhaul', I'm not referring to Gerard Piqué's change of hairstyle/headstyle.  :)  Then again, the Catalans maybe undergoing 'a phase'... several of them started a family lately.  So, there's hope.   

But, yeah, there's that return leg to Camp Nou... the Catalans have a chance to assert their supremacy there.  With the Catalan crowd blowing on their sail, they might just find their second wind... after all, that ball is round, it could roll whichever way one kicks it to, and the wind could aid.  Besides, miracles do happen, ya know. 

***
The Lessons of Allianz Arena

I usually liken football, and it's dramas, with life... and, a-hem, it's dramas! :)  From the result of the first leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-final tie between Bayern Munich and FC Barcelona, it is obvious that even the most formidable of a team could fade in the shadow of defeat, if it's weakness was not remedied, reinforced and

Thomas Mueller, drawing 'first blood'.  Whew!

(Credit:  Getty Images)

constantly rejuvenated, and if it wouldn't pay close attention to what is out there issuing challenge - new challenge - against it. 

In the case of Barça, time and again, it had been pointed out that their defense is weak.  Of course, Pep Guardiola always argued then that that wouldn't be a problem if they had a strong frontline and midfield, which would effectively bring the ball at play on their opponent's half of the field.  It worked then... because their style almost always confined the competition in their opponent's half of the field - it was Pep's trade secret.  However, these days, many teams have already figured that out... when Pep left Camp Nou, he knew that his secret was out.  It was up to the new guys in the Coaching Staff to figure out a way to contain the new challenge that presses Barça to move back farther and farther to their backline... exposing their weak defense.  Every Barça fan knew that it was only a matter of time before a brilliant (and even a not-so-brilliant) coach would figure out how to dissolve the highly 'soluble' Catalan defense.  These days, many in the Champions League circle seemed to have figured it out, and they are out to try their formula to dissolve the Catalan defense.  Jupp Heynckes took a shot, and Barça fell with a black eye and swollen lip.  Dang!    

An organization or Institution - even the most accomplished -  could fall in the same bitter defeat, when it fails to do something on its weaknesses... most of all, if it failed to see, or admit, its weaknesses because of pride, selfishness... and defiance of authority.  A weakness cannot be repaired and turned to a strength unless it is recognized, acknowledged and figured out.  And, if 'winning' is an objective, that first step has to be taken - humbly, responsibly, selflessly.

Barça had Leo Messi - probably the best football player the world has ever seen - and yet, they were reduced to a shameful remnant of a glorious show of brilliance by 

Individual brilliance is good... but winning also 

requires teamwork, selflessness and humility.

(Credit: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images Europe)  

their opponent, Bayern Munich, in a total demolition, 4-0.  Of course, football is a team sport, and therefore, every single player's contribution counts, and that winning should not depend on one player alone - even if he was the best player in the world.  That's where the Bavarians excelled over Vilanova's Barça... all sections in their line-up was well-oiled, well-calibrated, and well aware of the danger that their counterparts in Barça posed.  Therefore, each section linked up nicely, working together, pressing, especially the scattered Barça defense to a mere flimsy resistance, putting Messi's brilliance to almost irrelevance... if that was at all possible!    

4-0... in real life, one should be bothered by it.  It should compel any responsible leader and concerned members of any organization or Institution to step aside and lift that pride on which they stood in defiance... and see how much damage such pride had caused the very foundation of their organization... and then do something about the damage. 

In football tie, there is a return leg - for  a second chance.  In real life, there might not always be a second chance.

*** 

Saturday photo



Cool it!

When the going gets tough... the tough cools it.  When the going gets rough... the lame employs an abrasive ghost writer - to write her e-mails. =)  Nah, don't worry, we'll try to never be lame... just always sincerely passionate... and plainly honest - honestly!  :)   

***
Footie talk is cool talk

Alright, Foodball Captain, where are you?  I need someone to write my e-, er, rave with over the second leg of the FC Barcelona vs. Paris Saint-Germain UEFA Champions League quarter final tie in Camp Nou.  :)  That miracle of a 1-1 draw (3-3 on aggregate, and won by Barça on away goals), with an equalizer for Barça care of Pedro Rodriguez who was set up by the injured Lionel Messi, was a thing of absolute beauty - it deserves some raving here. 

In the first leg in Paris, Barça's defense was kind of rattled by PSG's fierce and fast counter-attacks, resulting to a hard-earned 2-2 draw, and an injured hamstring for Leo.  In the second leg, the Catalan defense was struggling completely, and their frontline reduced to a toothless kitten.  With the injured Leo not in Barça's starting XI, the first half and the first 20 minutes or so of

Defeat is uncool... when the big-eared cup is on
the line. Therefore, change the game - win!

(Image credit: Shaun Boterill/Getty Images)

the second half was painful to watch - especially for Leo.  Good thing, Leo and Tito Vilanova had the courage to gamble on the four-time Ballon d'Or winner's injured right hamstring... and their courage was rewarded.  Like a heaven-sent archangel, Leo changed the pace and the fabric of the game when he came on, jolting his teammates from 'sleeprunning' to fierceness, and evoking unacknowledged fear from the visiting Parisians. The Catalan crowd came alive... soon, there was electricity in the air!  With a mesmerizing drib-drib-dribble, Leo created the play, which was kept alive by the all-of-sudden sharp David Villa, and superbly finished by Pedro to an equalizing goal. Bea-bea-beautiful, I tell ya!  

And just like that, Barça moved to the semis... which essentially is going to be a Spain vs. Germany affair:  Real Madrid vs. Borussia Dortmund on the first half and then FC Barcelona vs. Bayern Munich on the other half.  Barça'd better be ready, 'cause the Bavarians are a tough (and rough when needed) lot.  Is it smelling like an El Clasico in Wembley come May 25?  Gosh, speaking of tough... and rough!        

Oh, and that Manchester derby in the Old Trafford a few days back, where ManCity beat ManUnited, 2-1... that was good stuff!  Fast, fast, fast-paced affair that was... and raining with yellow cards, too.  In the end, a serious brawl almost erupted... and it wasn't between Roberto Mancini and Sir Alex Ferguson either.  Yep, tough and rough! 

Yes, yes, and yes, I am sick!  These days I only get to watch football when I'm sick.  Alright, Foodball Captain, where in UEFA's leather ball seam are you hiding?   I want to talk footie here! 

***

The morning after: "Power outage" in Spanish football...

...breaks hearts all over the globe.
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by PAM


First, both FC Barcelona - the current Cup holder - and Real Madrid CF were ousted by Chelsea FC and FC Bayern Munich in their respective 'say-what??' Champions League semi-finals... at home.  And then, three days after Barça's deprivation of a chance for a back-to-back European win, the most illustrious Spanish football knight currently in-charge of the formidable Barça helm called it "quits"!  Pep Guardiola will step down as Barça's manager at the end of the season.  Yep, after four exciting seasons and staggering 13 trophies, which included a treble on his first year of tenure as Barça's head coach, the 41-year old, regarded by many as among the most successful football managers in Europe to date, who turned Barça into a phenomenal football force that it is today, announced his decision to not renew his contract with FC Barcelona.  Pep will turn the Barça helm over to his assistant, Tito Vilanova,  at the end of the season. Surprising?  Uhm... not really.  Sad?  Absolutely!

***
Short circuit on the pitch....

Barça was disappointingly held by a 10-man über defensive Chelsea crew in their Catalan fortress, Camp Nou, in a 2-2 draw that robbed them of the chance to defend
El Clasico of penalty misses. And the
winner is... bad luck!their title via 3-2 defeat, on aggregate.  Two sublime goals from the Catalan powerhouse brought the score to 2-0 in the first-half of the match, which was enough to turn the tide from their 0-1 loss in Stamford Bridge in the first leg of the tie, to a winning 2-1 lead.  However, on stoppage time in the first-half, Ramires got away from the scattered Barça defense and beat Victor Valdes to a successful assault of the Barça goal, bringing the score to 2-2 on aggregate, with the Blues leading via away goal rule.  That shook Barça's confidence.  Fernando Torres cemented the Blues lead through a lucky break, and beating Valdes in their one-on-one duel in front of the Blaugrana goal, with less than a minute to play on stoppage time.  While Barça dominated possession and attempts on goal, luck was not on their side, with Peter Ĉech shooing it away most of the time.  Lionel Messi buried his face in his jersey in his utter disbelief and disappointment as the final whistle was blown after missing a penalty kick that would have been Barça's ticket to Munich before even Torres came on. 

Real Madrid, on the other hand, managed to match the Bavarians, stride por stride, gained grounds via Cristiano Ronaldo's brace of great goals in Estadio Santiago Bernabéu to bring their 2-1 deficit in Munich to 2-3.  Crissy et al. ran
The Bavarians... uh, nah, they didn't?like they were Munich-bound and José Mourinho shouted instructions from the touchline like a manager with one hand on the Cup... until Pepe brought down Mario Gómez in the area, and the German squad was awarded a penalty, which Arjen Robben connected.  That brought the score to an all-even 3-3 on aggregate with one away goal each, forcing a 30-minute extension time... and, later, a penalty shoot-out!  Man!  While the brilliant Iker Casillas made a lot of incredible saves during the match, he choked in the "lottery", allowing the first two goals from David Alaba and Gómez to come through!  On the other hand, one of the 2010 World Cup wonder German young guns, Manuel Neuer, made himself his team's hero by stopping the King of Penalty, Crissy, and later, Kaka in
Uhm... yeah, they did!their respective attempts!  Awesome!!!  Crissy's face then was a picture of... uhm, well, Oscar-worthy pain?  :)  While Toni Kroos failed via a sublime save from San Iker, Xabi Alonso kept it simple... and safe - he scored for Real Madrid!  2-1 - for Munich, whew!  Munich's captain, Philipp Lahm missed, too... and all of a sudden, there's hope for Madrid... until the nerve-wracked Sergio Ramos messed it up with a fly ball that sent over cheers to Munich!  And then, the moment of truth:  Bastian Schweinsteiger kept it together, held a poker face, and fooled Casillas, who hurled his weight on the opposite side where Basti sent the ball to bring Bayern Munich a mere inch away from claiming their 5th European Cup.  As usual, the Bavarians peeled off their shirts on the pitch to celebrate their success.  Cheers! :)   

And so, summing up this last week's European saga... Spanish brilliance sparked bright and beautiful in small fireworks on the pitch... and then all the lights went out, pfffft:  short-circuit!  Oh, well....

***
Oh, Pep!

It isn't like we weren't expecting this.  Obviously, all the pressure of being one of the most successful European football managers of all time, certainly the most successful FC Barcelona manager, at a very young age of 41, has weighed down heavily on Pep Guardiola. His explanation for stepping down says it all:  "The reason is simple:  four years is enough.  I'm drained and I need to fill up."

If you think about his age, his young family (who obviously see very little of him, given his herculean task as the manager of the arguably greatest football
Pep Guradiola, one of the best
and most accomplished managers
of all time. Class act!squad of all time), his physical and mental health given the demands of his job and his level of competitiveness, the stratospheric expectations from him and his men given their unprecendented success, I don't think there is a man, no matter how brilliant and talented, that can stay in the level where he put himself on without collapsing from sheer physical exhaustion and breaking down mentally from all the relentless pressure at some point.  Indeed, four years is a long time to stay at such a high level. 

Do I think that Pep "threw in the towel" as many (mostly in Madrid) suggest, given that the announcement of his decision not to renew contract with Barcelona came after failing to defend the La Liga title against Real Madrid via a 2-1 loss in El Clásico and the UEFA Champions League ouster in the semi-final round?  No, not at all.  As he explained, he has made his intentions known to his Club since October last year.  And with big and crucial matches coming up, he chose to wait until they're all over to make his decision public rather than announcing it on February, like in the previous years. 

Pep is right, four years is enough.   And he is right when he said that after
Visionary trainor and game architect.sometime, it's either you get tired of the players or the players get tired of you.  And while Barça remains to be an incredibly massive force in the football world and the relationship between him and his players is still amicable, it is the best time to step down... to turn over the helm to someone else with enough energy to match the demands of the job, all while the Club is "good and healthy", too.  I imagine that, as a manager, the last thing you would like to do is to turn over a wreck of a team to the next caretaker.  Hopefully, this will freshen up things within Barça as they rise again from nagging injuries and strayed focus among some "celebrity" players who basked a little bit too much in their team's success, and prepare to bounce back next season, re-claim La Liga and the UEFA Champions League titles.

Are we going to miss Pep?  DEFINITELY!  There is no doubt about that!  How is
Making brilliant players world-class phenomena! it possible to not miss the brilliant tactician who gave the football world the most beautiful way of playing football - graceful in its inherited tiki-taka rythmn, fierce and fast in its steady attacks, exciting in its brilliant free-flowing spontaneity, joyful in its cohesive teamwork-based movements - through the incredible Barça, his Barça?  How can one withstand watching football and not have that visionary manager who turned the pure potential talent that was the youthful Lionel Messi into the mercurial magician that he is today, hailed three years in a row now as the BEST PLAYER in the World?  How is it possible to not miss the wonderful manager who re-molded and re-packaged Xavi Hernandez as one of the VERY BEST midfielders to play this beautiful game - ever!  How can you not miss the manager who made Andrés Iniesta believe
Making winning look easy, joyful and beautiful. that he can be this sheer awesomeness that could captivate fans of the beautiful game, regardless of Club affiliation and loyalty, as the biggest superstar of the 2010 World Cup?   How could one not miss the manager who gave Carles Puyol the second wind in his career, even when the man was short on depth of talent, by merely capitalizing on El Capitan's burning passion for the game alone, and extracting incredible brilliance in the process?  How is it possible to not miss the manager who found brilliance in seemingly ordinary players like Sergio Busquets and Pedro Rodriguez, and turned them to world-class, World Cup-winning talents?  Why wouldn't one miss manager who has eye for talents even before they bloom as he illustrated in his trust for youngsters like Thiago Alcantara, Christian Tello and Isaac Cuenca?  And, how could you not miss that youthfully dashing and good-looking manager (there, I said it
Passionate, animated... just brilliant.already!) whose cool stance and composure amidst joyful or adverse situations had given a whole new meaning to football's definition as the "beautiful game"?  NO, IT'S NOT POSSIBLE.  Pep will be thoroughly missed!

While it's incredibly saddening to see him go, we can't help but feel gratitude for those four years of wonderful, wonderful football that he created!  It's hard to imagine how the football world would be like after he leaves Barça... but life goes on, and Pep deserves some peace and quiet with his loved ones, and the time to recuperate from the incredibly gut-draining, energy-zapping, soul-gnawing, heart-tearing gloriously brilliant football that he himself created... and that the whole world enjoyed immensely!  And now that he has given his confidence in Tito Vilanova's capacity to lead Barça in reaching new heights of greatness next season, because "in Pep we trust", then we feel confident in Vilanova, too, moving forward... except, there will be no more of those animated "Pep moves" on the touchlines after the 1st of July.  

Therefore, as we say, "from the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU, PEP," we also wish him all the very best!  Godspeed, "el puto amo"!  

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Photo credits:  All photos were grabbed from the Zimbio website - thanks!