Remember this guy?

Now he's THIS guy. In four years.

BREAKING: New coach is Tito Vilanova!

Pep Guardiola’s coaching career with FC Barcelona began in 2007, when he was announced as coach of the B team. He grabbed that team by the scruff of the neck, led it to a championship and promotion. When Joan Laporta subsequently announced, a year later, that he was to be coach of the first team, there was a lot of reaction, most of it bewildered.

He was to helm a club that had gone silverless for two seasons under its beloved coach Frank Rijkaard, and what the hell could some guy who was just running the B team do?

Only win every trophy that the club contested that season, 6 of them, the vaunted Treble (Copa del Reig, La Liga and Champions League) and an award from doctors, as jaws had to be re-set from hitting the floor.

That man, that great coach who is Blaugrana and cule to his core, announced today that he is leaving the club at which he started as a ballboy, for very simple reasons of fatigue and loss of the enthusiasm necessary to give as much as he does for the team that he loves.

We all knew that this day would come, because Guardiola himself warned us that it would. In thinking of Guardiola’s tenure, I recall the first time I had gelato at this little place just off La Rambla, called Patagonia. It was a double-dip of chocolate and vanilla. It was so good, I began taking smaller bites, to delay the onset of the bottom of that cup coming up. So it was with Guardiola, who told us all, time and again that he wasn’t a coach for the long-term.

From the onset, his contracts were structured as one-year deals, so that he could follow his famous “feeling.” He always said that only he would know when it was time to leave, but that when he chose to leave, it would be for the good of the club.

Now is that time.

We can leave whether he is correct about his decision for another post, another time. For now, this is the time, and the place, to say “Thank you” to the coach who has made our beloved club the stuff of legend, who fashioned the team that we so adore into something that generations will speak about with reverence. Because unlike great clubs that did everything except win silver, Guardiola’s Barca won silver, but it did more than that.

He came in and jettisoned Deco and the great Ronaldinho, and people questioned the moves, but he knew. He also wanted to sell Samuel Eto’o, who convinced him that he could be part of the program, so Eto’o stayed. Then he took players who were jaded, a damaged locker room, and in the span of a pre-season, fashioned that mess into a Blaugrana fist, one that pressed, passed, ran, defended by attacking and brought concepts of total football into bright, shining life. In 2009, facing a Manchester United side with suspensions and injured players, a United side that boasted the great Wrongaldo, Guardiola’s Barca grabbed an early smash-and-grab goal against the run of play, then proceeded to play the style that the world now knows as tika-taka, until the littlest giant, Lionel Messi, headed home for an insurmountable lead.

“Sure, that was this year, but let’s see next year.” The next year, he did it again, winning the Liga, and being stopped in Champions League only by a freakin’ volcano, in a hotly contested Champions League semi-final tie against Inter Milan and Jose Mourinho, one that cules will say was unjustly ajudicated in both legs, but still, there is only the result.

He began to integrate B team talents into the first team, with the likes of Pedro Rodriguez and Sergi Busquets, who many now consider one of the best DMs in the world. He brought up Thiago Alcantara, Isaac Cuenca and Cristian Tello, and has more talent waiting in the wings, talent all reared in a system that values more than physical ability — intelligence, calmness with the ball, vision and further, foresight. In a favorite quote, Guardiola said that “The key is that these are the best players in the world. Without this, there are no coaches who can perform miracles, less so, me.”

But in the argument that many have offered, that anybody could with with Lionel Messi, that isn’t entirely true. Rijkaard had a ton of world-class talent, but lost that buy-in that you need from players to make them believe. But more than money, players want victories. And after two trophyless seasons, Guardiola took over a team that wanted to win. His timing was, then as now, perfect.

Later, when Jose Mourinho vaulted from Inter Milan to the Evil Empire, and people said “Heh, now there’s a REAL coach in La Liga. It’s go time.” And Guardiola did it again, laying a legendary, now-iconic manita on Barca’s most hated rival, and winning the La Liga and Champions League titles, losing the Copa del Reig in a memorable, and memorably violent final match.

And then came this season, his fourth, a season studded with injuries both minor and catastrophic, medical issues that threatened Eric Abidal and his faithful assistant Tito Vilanova, conspiracy theories and pretty much everything that you could shake a stick at. This season was, for me, his best coaching job because he took a tired, damaged side and fashioned it into something remarkable: a club that, in spite of everything that was going on, was only a few goals away from doing it all again. Ultimately, the fatigue, the injuries were too much to overcome, but it was the spirit and fire instilled in this club by this man, that enabled the group of players we enjoy watching so much, to come so close to beating the odds.

Now, the day that Guardiola warned us would come, is here. His “feeling” tells him that it is time to step down as head coach of FC Barcelona, for a much-needed sabbatical from the game. The real reasons that he stepped down are his own, so I will not speculate on them. But what I will say as a cule and a proud, proud socio, is thank you, Pep Guardiola. Thank you for the wins, the joy, the tears of joy and sadness, the amazing way that you took a group of coddled millionaires and made them into a family. It was only a family that would go to war for each other like that, in the way that they picked each other up, a new person working magic when someone else couldn’t. Thank you for reminding us again how beautiful football can be, played by players whose genius was fully unleashed by a system that wasn’t created by you, but that you utilized, tinkered with and adapted to their individual skill sets.

Thank you for the way that you brought beauty to the game, as an aesthete but also a radical who messed with established notions, who ran press conferences like a boss, who put up with so much until finally it was enough and you lashed out at the coach who became your nemesis, putting the verbal smack down in a glorious (and almost certainly calculated) way that energized your charges — they responded by putting the smack down on the pitch.

As with the way that this season ended, cules can’t be sad about your decision, because you always have to respect the decisions of people who are in full control of their personal lives. And from each and every ending is a new beginning. But also, it’s the joy that you brought to us all with your band of swashbuckling midgets. So for all that, for every last bit of that ….

Moltes gracies, Pep Guardiola!.

Uh, oh …. what a week this has been. First, we lose not once, but twice in our house, and now this, the thing that we don’t know.

Pep Guardiola, even when he signed on as our coach what seems like an eternity ago but in fact has only been four seasons, said that he wouldn’t sign long-term deals, so that he could follow his heart, his “feeling” in deciding when it would be time to step down as coach of FC Barcelona.

I thought, as we all did, that he would be around for a very long time, through a series of one-year deals. As time passed, that feeling for me began to change, to my most recent view, which is that this coming season would be his last.

Armageddon began brewing with a casually tossed off Tweet by writer Jimmy Burns, who said that if we don’t qualify for the Champions League final, Guardiola would most likely go. We didn’t qualify. A teary Guardiola hugged his players, one by one, after the Chelsea match.

Then today, came word of a series of meetings, dependent upon how trustworthy Barca-centric media sources are:

–Guardiola met with Tito Vilanova to discuss his future
–Guardiola met with RoSELL to discuss his future, or the meeting will come on Thursday, whichever
–RoSELL met with sporting director ZubiZa after his meeting with Guardiola, or before his meeting with Guardiola

And then, finally, word from the club that there will be no official announcement until Guardiola has an opportunity on Friday to speak with the players.

Recall the last time that he renewed. The club made an announcement, a smiling Guardiola received a standing ovation from his charges at practice, and that was that. This, however, all feels very, very different. My initial reaction was “Oh, crap, our coach is leaving us!”

Unfortunately, that is still the reaction of the journalist in me, even as that side battles with the cule, who doesn’t want the journalist to be right, who wants all this stuff to lead to an announcement that this will be his last season, and he wanted to let the players know. This move would also allow him to partially finish out his program, see through a bit of his commitment to the Masia grads and go out on top, with either/both a Liga or Big Ears cup.

At present, we still don’t know what is going to happen, but signs are ominous. But it’s all still speculation, but we’d be crazy if we didn’t acknowledge the possibility none of us want to believe would happen: Pep Guardiola might be coaching his last season as Mister at FC Barcelona.

Already, we have begun to hear names, such as Ernesto Valverde, Laurent Blanc, Andre Villas-Boas and Marco Bielsa being bandied about as possible successors. Don’t forget that Roberto DiMatteo doesn’t have a job, either. And it’s safe to say that this club, right now, would be a coach’s dream job, and nightmare. I mean, what a club, but what a record of success, right? Guardiola, whenever he leaves, will whomp down a set of big, giant shoes to fill. You also wonder if now isn’t the time, precisely because the big magic hasn’t happened, leaving the door open for a new coach to have his own successes.

Yikes!

For now, we sit and wait, but not for long. You can imagine that every journalist covering the club is beating the bushes and flogging sources in an attempt to get something, anything that might clarify the picture. And the question isn’t only who, but what, as in “will Guardiola do after he leaves?”

I don’t know that I have ever seen our coach looking so harried and helpless, sounding almost valedictory in his recent press conferences, sometimes almost wistful. I believe that a season off will come after he leaves us, whenever he leaves us. And now, we wait.

In thinking of images that would lead off this post, which will be short, this one strikes as perfect. Because here it is:

Support your club. I know. You already do. Go deeper. Dig like the players did to bring us so much happiness.

When you signed up to be a cule, irrespective of when you signed up, you signed up for this, the same thing that every football fan in the world signs up for: That time when your beloved club just can’t get it done.

And you know what? It’s that time, more than any other time, that your club needs you the most.

You bet the bandwagon is going to get a bit lighter. Next season, there aren’t going to be celebrities sitting in the posh seats, rock stars visiting rock stars. There is going to be a club that didn’t, for the first time in three seasons, win major silverware. And no disrespect meant to the Copa del Reig, but it isn’t major. Not like Liga or Champions League major.

So sit for a moment and think about when you were down, when you were thinking “Man, life sucks,” and the value of a support network. Yes, the players have home lives, friends, spouses, etc that they will go home and mope around. But they also have us. You wonder what this mes que un club business is about. It isn’t about piousness, as some allege, or about this notion held by outsiders that we are somehow more special. It references history, struggle, the club’s place in Catalanisme, the cules who love and support it and the socis who, in effect, own it. It’s a proud, beating heart like that of every club, but with something more. And that’s not just if you ask me. History says that.

And it’s that pride that makes it easy to say that Chelsea played brilliantly over the two legs, just like EE played brilliantly on the weekend. And in both cases, even not at our best, we almost got it done. But it just didn’t happen. And that’s that. So NOW what? It seems weird not contemplating next steps this season, doesn’t it? To be playing out the string, giving young players a run out and exhausted veterans rest, but there it is. Second place is secure, assuming nothing catastrophic happens to EE and we don’t vault our way to the top.

And wouldn’t that be crazy.

So it’s time for rest, time to consider an off season in which moves are going to be made, players are going to come and players are going to go, and we will spend hours and hours debating the value of moves, rumors and other business, how much someone costs and whether that player is worth it. And yes, it’s time, for those that choose, to battle trolls and haters, to remind people that you know what — we didn’t get it done this year. But for three years, we did. And how. That nothing, no matter how much hate someone spouts or bile they can muster, will change that.

For me, I just have a little something for now, about a turning point. I don’t know about anyone else, but somehow, weirdly, it seems right that this club didn’t win major silver without Eric Abidal there to hoist the trophy. Last season, on the Champions League podium, the moment was so indescribably beautiful and poetic, that anybody who got through it dry-eyed is far, far stronger than I am.

Last season was about redemption and unprecedented success. Abidal beat the big beast, or so we thought. Little did we know at the time that he was just delaying payment of the piper, that the club would renew him even as it knew that he would never again prowl that side of the pitch like an ebony gazelle, owning, shutting down and being Le Roi Eric.

When I heard about the transplant surgery, I didn’t think “Shit, now what about the left back slot?” I thought “I hope he doesn’t die. I hope that he beats this, goes home to his family to watch Barca matches on TV, able to actually fulfill his wish to retire with the club that he loves.”

So in a weird way, this season that has taught us so much about humanity, with Abidal, Fabrice Muamba, Piermario Morosini, the incidents that reminded us that life is life, that a game is a game, it’s somehow correct that the most enduring recent memory of this club should be of a player whose struggle and comeback became the story of last season, hoisting the trophy on the biggest club stage in the game and roaring in exultation.

It’s also an elegant bookend to a sequence of amazing, unprecedented successes. So when I think about last season, and this season’s ending, I can’t be anything except proud and joyful to have witnessed this all. We forced the absolute best out of each opponent who laid us low this year. Chelsea defended like lions, took their chances when they had them and had to turn themselves inside out to beat us. And the strength, the power of this club is that we weren’t at our best, its best players weren’t at their best, a key link in the game plan carted off to the hospital after an ugly-looking collision in our box.

We danced, we played our game, we threatened, spurned chances as usual, yes. And what we are left with are memories of glory, and a current feeling of love and pride.

But when I think about the turning point of this season, for me it was when we knew that Eric Abidal wasn’t going to playing left back for us. Emotionally, it was brutal. I cried. Couldn’t help it. The human side of it was awful, even as we are now buoyed by the knowledge that the operation was a success. He loved this club so much that he practiced with the first team, right up until the day of his surgery.

And tactically, returning to the field of battle, a player who wasn’t at all liked when he arrived, reminded with his absence that he is one of the most important players on the club. When he was gone, Puyol had to run more, Mascherano had to run more, spaces were open, danger was more present and holes were found where previously, they were rare. Was Abidal underrated by a lot of cules? I’d say yes, even as I say that he is the best left back on the planet, and not just the best left back for our system.

So physically and from a human aspect, that was the turning point for me. I Tweeted that the season didn’t mean as much for me at that time, that I was reminded of humanity, and life and wanting nothing more than for him to be home with his family. So I can’t be sad about this outcome of the season.

From a broader sense, I can’t be sad because of the absolute, immense joy that this club has brought me, has brought us all. So when you sit, maybe or maybe not daring to watch this match again via digital means, as if there will somehow be a different, happier outcome, think of Abidal, and the teammates who worked like dogs, fought like lions to bring glory to the colors that so many of us wear with pride. Think of a coach who wrung the best from them, until finally, the vast reservoir of genius, magic and tika-taka, was empty.

Think of all that, and don’t be sad. Support your club, and be proud.

This piece is not intended as a personal attack. I respect the work done by sports journalists a great deal, and I think it is wrong for them to face abuse on a daily basis for doing their job. This post was written as a response to the specific allegations made by Mr Duncan Castles because he is the most prominent broadsheet journalist to have advanced them. I do not want to pick on anyone. This is about the truth.

When Jose Mourinho first muttered his now infamous comments about the insidious, mututally beneficial relationship between FC Barcelona and UNICEF (and he didn’t mean positive publicity and money), I laughed them off. A lot of people did. Who would believe such obvious idiocy? The man was angry and he’d spoken in the heat of the moment, or he would surely have come up with something a bit more credible.

I will now pause to admit that Mr Castles has made me re-examine some of my central assumptions about football fandom with his recent comments on Twitter. Maybe we are out of touch with reality. Maybe people are actually willing to take seriously the concept that UNICEF was involved in a global conspiracy for Barcelona to win the Champions League.

Read that last sentence again. Does it still sound ridiculous? Congratulations, you have retained a sense of perspective. Unfortunately, I have not. I’m going to take these allegations seriously and examine them. When a journalist who works for a major broadsheet repeats a ridiculous allegation as if it has been backed up by proof, I feel a need to refute it for my own peace of mind. I know this is likely futile, and giving attention to a subject that shouldn’t even be under discussion. But now that it has become, somehow, a legitimate topic for debate, there must be push back.

Truth is important.

Let us assume we still live in a fact-based world where serious allegations about important institutions who depend on their reputation need to be backed up by proof before they become true in the eyes of the public. It’s a dangerous assumption to make in this day and age, but bear with me.

I will now examine the chain of logic inherent in Mr Castles’ allegations, taken from his Twitter timeline.

Step 1: Tuesday’s referee, Cuneyt Cakir, is Turkish. The deputy chairman of UEFA’s Referees Committee, Senes Erzik, is also Turkish.

As Mr Castles has subsequently pointed out, everything he posted above is factual. Mr Cakir is indeed Turkish. So is Mr Erzik. I take no issue with the facts. What I do take issue with is what he implies with these facts. Here’s the nice thing about innuendo: you don’t ever have to state it out right, everyone knows what you mean, and you have deniability. That’s why it’s so powerful.

So let me state out right what is being implied. Namely, that Mr Erzik had something to do with the appointment of his countryman for Tuesday, for a nefarious purpose. What purpose, you ask? Well, innocent reader, you’ll have to read on.

I can’t believe I need to say this, but here it is: it is not inherently suspicious that the referee is Turkish, just because the deputy chairman of the Referees Committee is also Turkish. If you think there is, substitute ‘English’ or ‘German’ for Turkish and take a moment to examine the source of your prejudice.

Mr Castles has thoughtfully provided further allegations in order to expand upon this point. See his timeline for the full details, mainly involving the Turkish match-fixing scandal of 2011. I won’t get into the details, because they are not actually relevant, except to say that the facts don’t add up to anything incriminating. It all sounds vaguely conspiratorial until right up until you try to make the chain of logic connect.

Just like the facts provided here don’t add up. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Step 2: Mr Erzik used to work for UNICEF

Good for him. All this establishes is that M Ezrik was once employed by an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to humanitarian work.

I assume the unspoken implication here is that Mr Erzik is still working for UNICEF as part of the aforementioned nefarious purpose: namely, for FC Barcelona to win the Champions League. There is no proof whatsoever backing up this crucial aspect of the conspiracy narrative.

Step 3: FC Barcelona have a partnership agreement with UNICEF

Everyone knows about Barca’s partnership with UNICEF (which in itself speaks to the partnership’s success in terms of publicity), but I’m willing to bet most people don’t know what it actually involves, aside from the logo on Barca’s shirts.

Here’s UNICEF’s web page on the subject:

The UNICEF-FC Barcelona alliance strategically harnesses the power and potential of sport to raise funds and awareness around HIV/AIDS at the international, national and local level towards achieving the Millenniums Development Goals.

Notice the absence of the words ‘Champions League’. As part of the partnership, Barca donates 1.5 million euros a year to UNICEF via the FC Barcelona Foundation towards firstly the prevention of HIV/AIDS and (since 2011) the promotion of education through sport.

(Incidentally, UNICEF’s other corporate partners include Gucci, H&M, Ikea, and ING. The FC Barcelona Foundation’s other partners include UNESCO, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Inter-American Development Bank. I would have liked to see Mourinho ranting about a global Microsoft-Barca conspiracy.)

Since it’s being alleged that UNICEF is using former employees to help fix football matches for one of their corporate partners, let’s look at what they actually do.

UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) was created by the United Nations General Assembly by Resolution UN/GA/57 (I) of 11 December 1946. It is a permanent part of the United Nations system. In its own words, its mission is:

We believe that nurturing and caring for children are the cornerstones of human progress. UNICEF was created with this purpose in mind – to work with others to overcome the obstacles that poverty, violence, disease and discrimination place in a child’s path. We believe that we can, together, advance the cause of humanity.

You don’t even have to take their word for it. Here’s the Charity Navigator page dedicated to their US branch. Once again, notice the lack of reference to football matches, and any concern about who wins them. As an inter-governmental organisation, UNICEF is accountable to its member states. Its work is funded by voluntary contributions from corporations and civil society. Once again: this is a massive organisation governed by international law and concerned with the welfare of children all over the world. They are being accused of using their shadowy connections to fix football matches.

I know it’s difficult, and I know we’ve all been consumed by the world-ending importance of football at one point or another, but try to acquire some perspective. Think about what you’re saying in real world terms when you link UNICEF to a conspiracy to win a football tournament.

Profit?

To sum up: I have established above that there are holes in each limb of the UNICEF conspiracy narrative. (By the way, ask me how silly I feel typing out ‘UNICEF conspiracy’.) The facts we’ve been provided do not link up into a coherent narrative. In fact, there are gaping holes big enough to fit the Camp Nou in them. My training as an advocate taught me to try and understand the other side’s argument. In this case, I have tried, and I have failed. There is simply not enough to back it up. To make damaging insinuations without a shred of evidence is simply irresponsible and unworthy of broadsheet journalism.

Now, I could use this space to make any number of allegations myself about Mr Castles’ motivations in making the comments discussed above, and many have already done so on various forms of social media. But I’m not going to, because I don’t believe in making accusations without proof, and this isn’t personal.

It’s about truth. Simple as that.

[Note: I know you guys don't need the reminder, but since it is such a sensitive issue: please refrain from personal attacks in the comments.]

CL Preview: Tuesday 2:45pmET (8:45 Central European Time), Fox Soccer

The final whistle blows and one team falls down, head in hands or head between knees. One set of fans clutches at their scarves as they wander away through what should be a drizzle at least, maybe a cleansing downpour. They go home and sit and stare off into space, wondering what could have been, maybe what should have been. In the morning the sun still somehow comes up and life resumes all around them. Such is the pain that a semifinal can cause.

Count yourself lucky, though, win or lose because there are plenty of other teams that would gladly trade positions with you. Would you rather reach the semifinal and lose or never reach the semifinal at all? Would you rather be an early 90s Buffalo Bills fan or a Cleveland Browns fan at any point in the history of the NFL? Would you rather be runner up in La Liga or relegated like Wolves? Would you rather watch Leo Messi week-in, week-out or demand Genoa’s shirts?

Whoever wins tomorrow—Chelsea or Barça—this has been another amazing season from Pep Guardiola’s team. A stunning fight in the league that could the see the winner requiring 94 points to win, a Champions League semifinal berth, and a date in the Copa del Rey final. And to think, the team could end up with 2 major trophies and the first back-to-back CL victory in the current format, could defeat a Europa League semifinalist (and maybe finalist) in the CDR final while their star player smashes scoring records left and right.

After all of that, here’s the thing: I think Barça will go through to the final. I realize the odds are stacked against the team: down in the scoreline with no away goal, injuries riddling the lineup, fatigue setting in after 813 matches in a 3-month span, and the team’s unshakeable fortress well and truly shaken. Yet there’s also the hope that if Chelsea can win 1-0 at home, why can’t Barça pull of a 2-0 or a 3-1? Why not? Putting several beyond Chelsea is no easy feat, but what is to say it’s impossible? Arsenal put 5 beyond them (and the final score, 5-3, would be fine by me). Aston Villa beat them 1-3 at Stamford Bridge. Liverpool beat them 0-2 at the Bridge in the Carling Cup. And yes, those are the only times this season that Chelsea has ended with a scoreline that would see them out of the Champions League (as best as I can tell, anyway), but then again, Barça has put a good enough scoreline beyond quite a few teams.

Valdes, Alves, Pique, Puyol, Adriano, Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta, Cesc, Messi, Alexis.

While I absolutely love Tello and Thiago, I do think their inclusion in the lineup against Madrid was an act of desperation forced upon Guardiola by injuries and circumstance. Then again, why not Cuenca? Why not make a move earlier to rectify what was going on? But I don’t mean to question Pep—I feel both like I’m not smart enough to understand it and incredibly annoyed that I think I understand what he did wrong. Tello wasn’t ready, was too frisky to put out there when calmness and control were necessary. Thiago was simply put in an untenable position: dominate the midfield, make runs, fight fires, break them down, etc.

But how do you not include the immense Mascherano in the lineup? Can Puyol play LB effectively enough? Is Pique ready to step back on the field and prove—once again—why he’s world class? Thiago, Pedro, Cuenca, they all deserve a look here, for width, for pace, for understanding  of the system. But who do you sacrifice? I’m not the biggest Cesc fan, but it seemed on Saturday that there was a lack of verticality, that the team was setting up chances and then failing to do anything about them because no one made the run. It’s not that verticality is good, but rather that if the team sets up a vertical game plan, maybe there should be someone there to collect the pass or at least open up some midfield space?

And, of course: put away your chances. If you don’t put away your chances, you lose. Simple. It’s the story of the last 2 matches, really, and it can’t go on if the season is to continue. Simple. Messi needs to wake up, but he needs support too, he needs space and players not barfing their chances into the upper deck (Cesc, Xavi, Alexis, and Busi).

I think we do it. I think we crush. I think we play like Barça can play. Official Prediction: 3-1. Goals by Messi (2) and Alexis. Play to win. Win to keep playing.

I believe. Do you?

Once upon a time, years ago, I was a newbie bicycle racer who was just getting his legs underneath him. I finished a race in third place, and I was thrilled. My coach, however, said “That just means that you’re second among the losers.”

Charles Barkley never won a title in the National Basketball Association. Neither did Patrick Ewing. Fran Tarkenton, one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play American football, went 0-for-3 in Super Bowls. And then there’s Joop Zoetemelk. Old Joe Sweetmilk finished second in the Tour de France six times. When he won one, in 1980, the mind boggles at how he must have felt, paralleling as he did, the careers of three of the greatest racing cyclists to ever turn pedals, Greg LeMond, Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault. Every time one would go away, another one would pop up.

“Son of a bitch,” Old Joe must have thought. “What the hell do I have to do to catch a break?”

Winning is an extraordinary, spectacular thing, a state of grace that precious few people in any field of endeavor get to experience. What’s funny is that you don’t even realize how special it is when it happens. You think, if you can do it once, you can do it again. As my cycling coach said, to win a race you need to do 1,000 things correctly. Do 999 right, and you finish second.

Winning.

In the few years since Pep Guardiola assumed the reins of our beloved club, it has won 3 Liga titles, 2 Champions League titles, SuperCopas, Copas, World Club Cups, you name it. It has won 13 of 16 trophies, a staggering record of achievement that, if you were to really think about it and what it required, would make you light-headed to fully consider such a thing. And it was all done with players who, in addition to their club duties also had international obligations: World Cups, Euros, CONCACAF and more friendlies than you can shake a stick at.

And those players, that coach, that team won almost everything that it saw, a spectacular state of grace tantamount to walking on water. Winning is the single greatest thing that an athlete can accomplish. Years ago, athletes were asked if they could take a pill that would make them an Olympic champion but shorten their life would they do it, a frightening percentage of them said “You bet. Where do I sign up.” Winning is remarkable. An athlete would do anything to do it, have that feeling that says “I am the best. My team is the best. This is it.”

The other side of winning, of course, is losing. There is only one winner, but there are many, many losers. For the past four seasons, losing has happened 19 times in all competitions. That’s barely 5 losses per season, and doesn’t even count the ones that didn’t matter, like meaningless Champions League group stage matches in which the kids get a runout. This team has really lost only a few Matches That Matter, against Inter in Champions League, Sevilla in the Copa del Rey (dependent upon how you feel about the Copa), EE in the Copa final. That’s it. The numbers are, in four seasons, 175-45-19.

Today, the club and its coach, its supporters and people for whom this collection of personalities is a part of their hearts, lost another Match That Mattered, in our house, a place that is supposed to be an impregnable fortress. It lost in rather unlikely ways, a clearance that never happened, in part because we just don’t hoof the ball out so a valiant warrior tried to play it and just couldn’t manage it; a lightning counterattack that couldn’t help but make you wonder how it would have been had our French Greyhound been on station.

People say that we were badly outplayed, even if the evidence wasn’t on the scoreboard, because somehow, from a dearth of chances, this club managed to bundle in a goal that gave us hope that this wouldn’t be one of those rare things, that losing business. But then, as quickly as that, the counterattack happened, and that was that.

Losing is a strange sensation. Losing to that club is an even stranger one, because that happens even more rarely than losing in general and yet, there it is.

For many fans who came to this club during its most recent glory years, it’s difficult to know what to do when normalcy suddenly goes away. There has been an expectation of greatness attendant to this club, because winning everything will do that to fans, players and everyone associated with the program. You win so much that you forget how extraordinary, how spectacular winning truly is.

If there is one value in losing, that is it. We have all screwed something up in our lives that we cared about: a job, a lover, a friend, a relative. There’s regret, as you suddenly realize that you’ve screwed up something amazing, and you wish that you could have done more with it, more to savor it, cherished each and every moment before it all went bad.

This club has now lost two matches in a row to hated rivals. In one case, it was just plain bad luck but more than that, it was a lack of the concentration necessary, the mental steel that has always defined this club. It never loses Games That Matter. Even after that, we consoled ourselves, saying that game didn’t really Matter. We will win the ones that do, starting Saturday. And then, that didn’t happen.

Frank Rijkaard was fired as our coach after not winning silver for two seasons. Yes, the club won matches, but it didn’t win silver. And at our level, that’s the measuring stick, the Thing. So Rijkaard was fired, and the man who made winning ordinary took over the reins. But winning is never, ever ordinary.

Let’s imagine, for a moment, how other fans of other clubs feel, clubs that don’t win anything, ever. And not even the relegation-threatened entities, but the Valencias, Sevillas, Athletic Bilbaos and ATMs of the world. They spend real money, have real stadiums with tens of thousands of fans, and they lose. Trophy celebrations are an absurd notion. The best they hope for is to qualify for European competition, as winning, real winning, just isn’t in the cards.

Newer cules can’t imagine what that’s like. Old-school cules can. It’s a numbing sensation of inevitability. It isn’t that the players aren’t good enough, it’s just certain things happen, then they happen again and before you know it, you aren’t winning anything. Again.

Losing is there to remind us of how amazing, how remarkable winning is. I watched today’s match, and Tweeted that cules should watch this one til the end, remember how it feels to not win, remember the ache, the seeming sense of betrayal by Fate, the sheer abnormality of looking up and not seeing Barca with a higher number next to its name than its opponent.

The LiveBlog thread has made me and others so proud of the people here, commenters who, like the players, didn’t know that they knew how to lose until suddenly, it happened. Congratulations, style and grace were the order of the day, just like our club. We still don’t understand losing. It’s still too new, too weird. And the club is too good to make losing a habit, so don’t even think of that one. And in a strange way, we have won by losing, have shown the world that the same qualities that make it possible to win with grace enable champions to lose with class and dignity.

We can congratulate the victors, but we can do something else: No blame, no recriminations, no so and so did this or that wrong. We saw the match, we saw what happened. And that’s that. There is another season-defining match on Tuesday, a few days for the players to pick themselves up, recharge and get ready for battle. I am confident that they have our unreserved support, just as they will if things don’t turn out the way that we have all become so accustomed. Because in achieving its state of grace, this team strove in a way that few teams have before, in a way that makes it more than a team, but a definition of excellence.

Injuries, throat surgery, cancer are but a few of the things that tested this club this season. It was also tested by an historic rival who knew that it had to be better than it had ever been, to beat the best club in the world, even if that club wasn’t at its absolute best. And, on this night, it has done that.

But now, because love isn’t a finite or even quantifiable thing, we should reach down in our hearts and souls, as if our love for this club can help, give them strength against another strong opponent who has raised its game, and love this club. Because love forgives. We didn’t win today, and that’s okay. Because losing is part of winning. As someone very smart once said, disappointment is part of life. Discouragement is a choice.

Visca!

Barça have beaten AC Milan in style to extend their legend by becoming the first team to qualify for five consecutive semi finals in the Champions League era

Messi, with two penalties, and Iniesta got the Barça goals

The Champions League quarter final second leg 2011/12 will go down in history as one of Barcelona’s most magical nights in Europe. It was a tactically rich and intensely gripping encounter, in which Barça’s stylish football, ambitious game-plan and domination of possession overcome a gallant Milan side to qualify for the semi finals. For the fifth time in a row! The Catalans scored three times in doing so, but with a bit more fortune in front of goal, the margin could easily have been even wider.

Early goal, the ideal start

Everything was still up in the air after the goalless draw at the Giuseppe Meazza. As expected, Milan continued with the conservative tactics that had earned them that draw in the first leg, while Barça, also as expected, went straight out and attacked. As always. Guardiola even risked a three-man defence, something very few managers would ever choose to do at such a crucial stage of this competition, fielding Alves and (surprisingly) Cuenca as his full backs.

With the Camp Nou more vociferous than ever, the home side got off to a blistering start. Only six minutes had passed and Messi had already had two wonderful chances, and was brought down in the area when he was about to attempt the third. The referee pointed to the sport, the Argentinian made no mistake, and Barça were in the lead after just ten minutes.

Barça respond quickly to Milan leveller

Barça were able to relax after getting the all-important goal. They kept things tight, always playing as a unit, and with Busquets in particular shining in midfield. Milan, meanwhile, almost looked divided in two: the strikers (Robinho, Boateng and Ibrahimovic), and the defenders (the rest). In the 32nd minute, Ibra found space and laid the ball on for Nocerino, who beat Valdés with an angled strike. It had been their first serious threat of the whole game, and the goal and such effectiveness stunned the Camp Nou. But the crowd wasn’t going to have to suffer for long…

Milan immediately responded by tightening their defence, while Barça continued playing football the only way they know and were soon back in the lead following a penalty awarded for a tug on Busquets’ shirt in the area, a decision the Milan players disputed intensely. Messi once again beat Abbiati from the spot, the third time he has done so in this edition of the Champions League. Immediately afterwards, it was Guardiola’s turn to modify his tactics in what sometimes resembled a game of human chess, as he reverted to a more traditional 4-3-3 system.

Iniesta extends the lead

The defending champions were just as dominant after the break, although Milan always looked dangerous on the counter attack. But it was actually a Barça counter that led to the home side’s third goal of the evening. Messi led the move, and managed to get the ball to Iniesta, who finished things off in exquisite fashion.

The crowd could breathe at last. With a two goal cushion, the songs were more positive than ever, and one of the most impressive moments came when the home fans offered a generous ovation to veteran Clarence Seedorf when he was substituted in the 60th minute. Barça had started enjoying themselves, and looked reasonably home and dry, but the Milanese outfit never let their heads drop, and proudly battled on to keep Barça on their toes right until the end, even though things got increasingly more desperate for the visitors as every minute went by.

In the 68th minute, Thiago, who had come on for Xavi, came frustratingly close to making it four, and shortly after came the most negative moment of the night when an injured Piqué called to be substituted. Keen to avoid any other nasty surprises, Barça expertly managed the clock while also managing to create a series of late half chances. But little did it matter. More than deserved qualification for the semi finals was by now a certainty. One night more of Barça magic at the Camp Nou has taken the team into the semi finals for the fifth time in a row, and now all they have to do is wait until tomorrow to find out whether they will be playing Benfica or Chelsea. You can try with sports betting online next match.

Since the 2008/09 season, Barça have gone through in 93% of ties over two legs, including the Champions League, the Spanish Cup, and the Spanish Super Cup

In the tie against AC Milan, FC Barcelona outplayed the Italians in almost every facet of the game, for example in goal chances (38 to
Benfica or Chelsea, Barca’s possible rivals, have it crude if they are already thinking about the Final in Munich. This phrase is not gratuitous, but based on Barca’s effectiveness in elimination games over two legs. Since they beat Wisla Crakòvia in the Champions League qualifier in the summer of 2008, Guardiola’s Barça have gone through to the next round in 27 of the 29 ties they’ve played (they only failed in 2009/10, against Sevilla in the Spanish Cup, and against Inter in the Champions League). AC Milan was their last victim.

Here are some important facts and statistic that came out of the game against Milan:

- Over the 2 two games, Barça were superior to AC Milan in almost all aspects: goal chances (38 to 8), shots on goal (13 to 3), ball possession (61% to 39%) and fouls committed (18 to 33)

- Leo Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic came into the quarterfinal leg as the main offensive references for Barça and Milan, respectively. After 180 minutes, the balance is overwhelming: Messi, 2 goals from 13 chances (8 shots on goal), Ibra, no goals, and only 1 shot on goal.

- In fact, the Argentinian already has 14 goals in the Champions League this season, equalling Altafini (AC Milan), who in 1963 set the record for being top scorer in the Champions League in one season. Messi now has scored 51 goals in the Champions League, and is already the third highest scorer in history, behind only Raul (71) and Van Nisterlooy (56).

- It’s the fifth consecutive time that Barça have reached the semifinals of the Champions, a feat that no other club has achieved (Manchester United and Juventus had done it 4 times in a row). In the old European Cup, Di Stefano’s Real Madrid also got to five consecutive semis.

- With Tuesday’s game at Camp Nou, Guardiola reached 50 as manager in the Champions League, while Dani Alves has now played 200 games in a Barça shirt. In addition, Carles Puyol is now the second player with more games for Barca (550), after overtaking Miguel.

- Just like in the Final of the World Club Championship in Japan, Guardiola lined-up his team with 9 players brought up through the youth set-up in the starting eleven, only Masherano and Alves had not come through the Academy.

- The Camp Nou witnessed the second best crowd of the season at home (94,629 spectators), just behind the Barça-Madrid Spanish Cup game (95,486)

On Tuesday April 10th club members will be able to order tickets for the first leg of the semifinals of the Champions League, to be played away at the winners of the tie between Benfica and Chelsea

In case there are more requests than tickets available, a draw will be made on April 12th, with a notary present

For the return leg at the Camp Nou, members without seats will take priority to buy tickets, from April 13th, while for the rest of the members the process will open on April 23rd

TICKETS FOR THE FIRST LEG (APRIL 18TH)

From Tuesday 10th of April, from 10.00, until Wednesday April 11th at 19.00, via the Club website (www.fcbarcelona.cat), the application process will open for ticket requests for the first leg of the semifinal of the Champions League, where Barça will play away against the winner of the quarterfinal tie between Benfica and Chelsea, which will be decided today.

TICKETS FOR THE FIRST LEG

The process is exclusive to Club members, and they must do it via a form available in the Members section of the website. Each member may make a single request for a ticket, but on the same form there is the possibility of placing up to four requests from members, in case they want to travel together.

Once Barca’s semifinal opponents are known, FC Barcelona will know the number of seats available for this match to be played on Wednesday 18th of April. As usual, 85% of tickets will be distributed amongst members and supporters clubs, whilst 15% will be earmarked for Barça and sponsors sports and institutional commitments.

Draw on 12th of April

All applications will be processed after the deadline established. In case there are more requests than tickets available, on Thursday April 12th a draw will be held before a notary between registered members. The same day, the Club will effect payment for the tickets, which can be picked up on Friday 13th or Monday 16th.

As happened in the games at Leverkusen and Milan, child members (under 5 years old) may not request tickets to an away game. Also, with a single credit card, one may only request a maximum of 8 tickets. Keep in mind that the picking up of tickets must be in person by the member who will use them. In case you are unable to pick them up in person, you should communicate the name of the person, along with their ID number, who will be authorized to pick up the tickets. This person may only collect up to 8 tickets for others.

TICKETS FOR THE RETURN LEG IN THE CAMP NOU (APRIL 24TH)

On Friday April 13th, from 10.00, members without seats in the Camp Nou will have exclusive priority to buy the tickets available for the second leg of the semifinals of the Champions League at the Stadium (April 24th) .

Tickets can only be purchased online through the club website, www.fcbarcelona.cat , via ServiCaixa or Ticketmaster. One can purchase a maximum of two tickets per membership card, with a discount of 5% on the first ticket. The sale will remain open as long as tickets are available.

On Monday 23rd, tickets for all members

On Monday April 23th, only to members of FC Barcelona, a second round of ticket sales will be opened, for the sale of tickets via Seient Lliure (Freed-up Seat), making available all remaining tickets. Availability will vary depending on the pace of releases made via Seient Lliure by season ticket holders who can’t attend the game. Tickets can only be purchased online through the club website, www.fcbarcelona.cat, via ServiCaixa or Ticketmaster. A maximum of two tickets per membership card may be purchased, with a discount of 5% on the first ticket.

The Barça manager considers that reaching the Champions League semifinals five times on the trot shows “the hard work put in by the team”

“We played against a team that have a lot of importance and history. We’ve earned everything that we’ve achieved”

Josep Guardiola vigorously defended FC Barcelona’s passage to the semifinals of the Champions League. The Barça manager said that in the quarterfinal tie against Milan that “we fully deserved to go through.” He also disagreed with those that said that Barça should not be in the next round because the team scored two of their three goals from penalties. “They were penalties. We didn’t complain in the away leg (where Alexis was hauled down in the box), and we won’t complain now,” said Guardiola. He added that “grabbing players in the area should be penalized and they are penalties. On television, it’s a penalty.”

Besides the two penalties awarded to Barça, Guardiola said that “they only shot on goal three times, we shot 21 times. We had a lot of goalscoring chances and we did it with a three and four-man defence. We played against a team that have a lot of importance and history. We’ve earned everything we’ve achieved, just like we earned it there [Milan].”

Fifth Champions League semifinal

This will be FC Barcelona’s fifth consecutive semifinal in the Champions League, the fourth with Guardiola on the bench. The manager believes that this feat shows “the power of the Club. It’s an achievement to maintain this level.” Also, that behind Barça’s consistency is “a lot of hard work,” no one has gifted the team anything.

The manager was also proud that nine La Masia players featured in Barça’s starting line-up. He said that they are “essence [of the Club] and heart [of the team].”

Praise for individual players

Guardiola explained why he didn’t play Alexis and instead opted for Cuenca and Alves. “We needed a player that would run down the wing and I decided to play Alves seeing that, along with Adriano, they are the only ones that allow me to go from a four-man defence to a three-man defence.” On Isaac Cuenca, he said that he “needed a very specific type of player” in tonight’s match.

He also talked about Andrés Iniesta, “he’s a player that has more goals than his stats reflect. He does a lot of things really well and he’s a player that respects the decisions of his manager. He’s fantastic.”

The semifinal rival

Barça will play in the Champions League semifinal against the winner of the Benfica – Chelsea playoff. Even though the English side have the advantage in the tie, seeing that they will play in Stamford Bridge with a 0-1 result from the away leg, Guardiola isn’t convinced that Chelsea will be his team’s next rival. “We have to be prudent because after watching the first game, Benfica created a lot of chances. Chelsea have a very good result but in the Champions League everything is difficult.” He did, however, analyse both teams. On the English side he said that “the important players will respond in the final phase [of the competition]. However, Benfica have done a great job these past couple of seasons. They are both tough rivals and we’ll have to prepare well for the semifinals in order to get to Munich.”