apparently he never had a single conversation with Mancini during his time at ManCity and moved to Racing Santander on a one year deal where he made 27 appearances (13 of those were off the bench), and scored 3 goals. Racing decided not to offer him another deal so he signed a three year deal with Granada, but was immediately sent out on loan to Hercules. he has made 15 appearances for Hercules (11 were off the bench) and has scored two goals (stats). Here's an interesting interview with him just before the Man City match in the UCL.
Can someone explain why Figo is such a douchebag. I get why he might have felt attacked by the fans despite you know being totally at fault but what is it with the martir attitude. Back then I wasn't so informed about the backstage of Spanish football. The Internet is such a wonderful tool isn't it?
Between his refusing to speak about Barca after the draw (he isn't obliged to, just that he was an a hole about it) and him happiness that Barca was eliminated he seems on a roll recently. It's not like he left Madrid in the best of circumstances either.
Figo's probably still pissed off that Jimmy Jump embarrassed him on the night of his biggest failure in front of the world.
He's been holding down odd jobs for a couple of years now, currently playing for hercules in the second divison..Its funny how his career turned out I thought he would be a world star by this point...mind you, he's only 23 i think
As got mentioned in the other teams thread, Henrique, who was signed by right as the Pep era got underway but who never played for Barca beyond preseason, was named to the Brazilian NT. He played for Scolari at the club level, and can play RB and DM in addition to his CB role so that is why. Still for a guy who never played for us to make the Brazilian NT while we are desperate for CB depth, well it just reiterates that many good to very good CBs are not "Barca" quality (though Henrique is a pretty good passer / composed on the ball).
Hmmm, wonder how Lucho feels about huge and skilled midfielders, Yaya may be on the market after birthday-gate: http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/27484318
One of my Barça favorites, Deco, will have a testimonial played in his honor on July 25 at the Dragão. The matchup: 2004 Porto -v- 2006 Barcelona. The Portuguese sporting daily O Jogo says that Mourinho and Rijkaard have agreed to coach their former sides while the likes of Ronaldinho, Eto'o and Larsson have confirmed their presence. They also say Messi will be there but Xavi and Iniesta's appearance may depend on their fitness after the World Cup. Will be great if as many as possible show up Porto: Vítor Baía, Paulo Ferreira, Jorge Costa, Carvalho, Nuno Valente, Costinha, Pedro Mendes, Maniche, Derlei, Ricardo Costa, Bosingwa, Alenichev. Jankauskas, McCarthy, Secretário, Conceição, Maciel, Paulo... and André Vilas Boas. Barça: Valdés, Jorquera, Belletti, Márquez, Puyol, Gio van Bronckhorst, "EdMotta", Sylvinho, Oleguer, Xavi, Giuly, van Bommel, Iniesta, Gabri, Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Larsson, Messi, Maxi López and Santi Ezquerro
I missed Villa with Barca, but now I don't feel so bad. At least we won't have to worry about him scoring on us with Atleti. I guess it was a good thing we sold him.
Wow, just started reading this excerpt from Zlatan's autobio (I guess it is being released in English as I know it was first published a little while ago). He talks about how he played Pep and the Barca management after Barca signed Villa and wanted Ibra to go quietly to whereever Barca could sell him to for the most money. http://grantland.com/features/zlatan-ibrahimovic-pep-guardiola-barcelona-clash/
Ibra makes Pep sound like the significant other who wants the relationship to end but doesn't want to get blamed for it and acts like a jerk.
As a Barca fan one of my most memorable World Cup moments was during the Portugal-Holland match in 2006. Very ill-tempered affair, I believe it holds the record for most cards produced by the referee in a World Cup match. Four players were sent off, including Deco and Gio Van Bronckhorst. Yet amongst all the bad blood came scenes showing the two Barca players sitting together watching the rest of the game while sharing their opinions of the encounter. Loved it!