The 2012-13 Season Thread | The Tito Era begins!

Since 2003, Barca have made a Net Spent of €341.5M on transfers, and won 19 trophies. Real Madrid Net Spent €577.4M, won 7 trophies. [Sport]

 

Nine years ago today, wow, how he (and Laporta and Rikjaard) and other great signings (that year Gio, Rafa, loan of Davids, then Eto'o, Giuly, Belletti, Larsson, Sylvinho, Edmilson the next year) plus a ton of La Masia talent (that was the year Valdes, Iniesta, and Olegeur were promoted) restored the lustre to Barca.

Then how quickly the wheels fell off (he was only 23 then, only 32 now). I think his ascension to WPOTY was so fast, followed by him quickly realizing he was not even best on his team (even before Messi ever won a WPOTY R10 called him the best), helped cause him to stop caring so much. That plus all the late night dancing in the club with a bottle of bub, lining up women to bring back to his hot tub.

Also interesting how PSG has changed.

On July 19, 2003, FC Barcelona reached an agreement with Paris Saint-Germain to sign Ronaldo de Assis Moreira, commonly known as Ronaldinho, on a five-year contract. During that time he became one of Barça’s greatest ever footballers. The magic player who wore the number 10 shirt for the blaugrana for five seasons immediately thrilled fans with his extraordinary style of playing. During his time at the club, he scored 94 goals in competitive matches, and with him in the team, Barça experienced some of the best times in its history, winning two League titles and the Champions League in an unforgettable final on 17 May 2006 in Paris. Many fans still treasure the moment when he received a standing ovation at the Santiago Bernabéu after scoring two magnificent goals in the 3-0 win against Real Madrid on 19 November 2005. While at Barça he also won top international awards, such as the FIFA World Player (2004 and 2005) and the Ballon d’Or (2005).​

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Read more (NOTHING MORE TO READ BUT COMMENTS): http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/history/on-this-day-in-2003-welcome-ronaldinho/#ixzz217JCsWe6​

 

I wonder just how many new fans he brought to the beautiful game... I was one of them.

 

Another good image, what does Javi want?

 

http://www.fcbarcelona.com/football/first-team/detail/article/nba-stars-praise-leo-messi

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LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant praise Leo Messi

 

He speaks Spanish pretty well. I didn't know that.

 

I keep seeing things suggesting that Abidal is getting a number this year. While I can understand the gesture I don't think that's the best idea.

 

He is a Barcelona player with a contract, so it's pretty automatic that he has a number.

 

Is it? We've a history of not giving under-contract players squad numbers in the past. Previously it's been a "get the hell out of here" gesture. In this case, if we know he's not playing, why should we register him for the season?

 

Well, he has a contract that ends 30th June 2013. I assume no one expects him to play though.

 

Interview with his doctor did not rule it out but made it sound like it was both far from certain and at least a few months away if it happened. Here's the TotalBarca link, you can read more on the link therein from La Vanguardia: http://www.totalbarca.com/?s=abidal

Too early for a CL Draw thread but this website is always full of interesting things, if you scroll down you can see a hypothetical group of 32 to be selected for group stages from 4 pools. Look out for a group of death of say PSG (4th pot at present), Juventus (3rd pot), ManCity (2nd pot) and any of the first pot teams. The hypothetical is based upon all seeded teams advancing. Return leg games have been taking place yesterday and today, but too early to involve teams from the "big leagues". http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/seedcl2012.html

 

He lived in Italy back in the day, and grew up watching football even considering to have a football career

 

Masche just extended his contract till 2016

 

Puyol cleared and now a very good medical update on progress of Villa, Thiago and Fontas; Cuenca still a ways away (link at the bottom):

Villa has been described as medically clear to train normally with his teammates, but they stress he is some distance from the physical fitness required to compete on the pitch at the highest level.​

Fontàs, injured exactly 6 months ago, has trained a number of times with the team and the doctors are happy with how he has coped with it. More tests are to be performed on August 7th, and they hope he will have the medical clearance to compete in the remainder of the regular season tour. ​

There is also positive news for Thiago, with the doctors anticipating full clearance by the end of the week. His injury has healed and he now needs to regain fitness after 2 months of rest. ​

Cuenca’s fitness meanwhile, was vaguely discussed in that his muscles are getting stronger but he is very much still injured.​

Read more: http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/medical-round-up-villa-receives-the-all-clear/#ixzz22DuReOha​

 

A few injury updates from @barcastuff:

Official: David Villa, who broke his shinbone in December, has today been given the medical green light.

Pruna (team doctor): "Villa has been given the medical green light, but not yet the sporting green light, which should take some more days."

Cugat (surgeon): "Villa has not yet the sporting green light because physically he's not yet ready, he has to intensify his work-out now."

Cugat (surgeon): "As for Villa, the doctors have done their job. Now it's up to the physical coaches to get him ready to play."

Pruna (team doctor): "Thiago is recovering according to the plan. He should be able to start running at the end of the week."

Pruna (team doctor): "Andreu Fontas (knee injury since January) could get the medical green light next week, on 7 August."

Ricard Pruna (team doctor): "Muniesa's operation went really well. Recovery 6-8 months. We hope he will have the green light in February."

 

Less than three weeks til Liga starts. When does the fantasy/guessing game thread emerge?

 

That's just an insanely long list of injuries.

 

Wow, this would be amazing, still I'd rather not count on it happening and like to buy 1 CB. Abidal targets a return by December: http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/st...abidal-eyes-barcelona-return-liver-transplant

 

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