“I’ve never appraoched Zidane as a subject for illustration before. What always struck me about his style of play was his grace of movement. I wanted to show him in a quite skillful pose so I went with the behind the leg drag back. I even toyed with putting a pink tutu on him as a humorous nod to his balletic movements.”
We’re delighted to feature Dan’s work on AFR. Find him on: Twitter / Tumblr / Etsy.
Prized, lethal and ruthless are three adjectives which spring to mind when asked to describe Falcao. Is he world-class? Absolutely, definitely, positively, ridiculously. Take a look at this stat for this season: he scores with roughly every third shot. Falcao provides so much for Atletico Madrid that Gerard Pique recently described the side as ‘Falcao’s team.’
However, whilst the strength which the Colombian provides his side with cannot be undervalued, it would be unfair - and arguably stupid - to flippantly disregard the talent which resides within the bowels of the Vicente Calderon stadium as nothing more than servants hurrying to meet their striker’s needs.
By Dermot Corrigan,
writingimagining in Madrid
While the recently growing calls for Catalan independence have led to a number of very tricky questions for politicians at local, national and European levels to ponder, they have - more importantly of course - also caused football fans to scratch their heads and wonder about the possibles issues that would arise. Along with the proposal of no more Barca-Real Madrid clásicos in La Liga, there was the idea of a Catalan national side taking part in the World Cup or European Championships and (quite likely) meeting the rump Spain team in the latter stages.
For many football watchers, this might actually be a good thing, given Spain’s dominance of international football (at senior and underage levels) over the past six years. La Roja’s ability to easily beat everyone else has become so predictable that some have grown to see current international football as boring and not worth watching. That viewpoint is a bit extreme, but even those who like watching Spain play can see the problems their untouchable excellence is causing. Coach Vicente del Bosque lamented recently that he could not find a place for Chelsea attacker Juan Mata, maybe the most in-form player in the Premier League, in his 23 man squad. “We have a problem of quantity not quality,” he said. This got us to thinking…
It does seem that the time is now ripe to establish a new competition, making use of the great wealth of talent being produced within Spain’s (current) borders, by forming new representative teams along more regional lines. While seeing Barcelona icon Xavi Hernández and Real Madrid captain Iker Casillas overcome their club rivalries to pull together in the same national team has become a common sight, the idea of Xavi lining up for Catalonia against Andrés Iniesta in a Spain shirt needs a bit of time to get your head around. But it is then actually pretty exciting. Go a bit further along the same line, by giving all Spain’s other regions / nations their own teams, and you soon get Catalonia’s Gerard Piqué marking Asturias’s David Villa and Andalucia’s Sergio Ramos clattering into the Basque Country’s Xabi Alonso.
The strength and widespread interest in such a potential new competition can be taken for granted. Remembering Jonathan Wilson’s SI.com made-up tournament to determine the best club side ever, A Football Report decided to hold an eight team tournament, with two groups of four, and the top two teams in each then progressing to the semi-finals. Players could only be born within today’s Spanish national border and must represent the team of their birthplace (as decided by Marca’s excellently encylopaedic Guía de La Liga 2013).
By Max Grieve
In Bilbao, Real Madrid won the title for the first time in four years, whilst at the Camp Nou Lionel Messi equalled, then surpassed, the record for the most goals scored in a European season. The Spanish newspapers would have you believe that only one or the other of these happened, of course.
“El Mejor!” Marca’s front page screams the following morning – “The Best”. Mourinho is thrown into the air, one finger raised, and images of a euphoric Ronaldo are splashed below the headlines. In Barcelona, El Mundo Deportivo pays tribute to “Torpedo Messi”, and the little Argentine is seen lifting the ball over Carlos Kameni to score his third – Barcelona’s fourth – to scratch Gerd Müller’s name from the 39-year-old record.
Below the singing Xabi Alonso, below the elated Iker Casillas, below the hoards dancing in the Plaza de Cibeles, a box the same size as the neighbouring advertisement for the new Subaru XV acknowledges that Barcelona have played. Even then, the image accompanying the scoreline is one of a rueful Guardiola. In the smallest type imaginable for the front page of a national newspaper, Marca make a note of Messi’s historic hattrick.
After last night’s El Clásico, the logo for Madrid’s 2016 bid for the Olympics just got Barcelona’s full support and I’m fairly certain it’s Pique approved. It’s too bad that Rio already were given the bid.
(via cheekychip)
By Eric Beard, writing from Emory University in Atlanta
As some of you know, I plan to study abroad in España this Spring. I applied to ESADE in Barcelona and ICADE in Madrid. I recently found out that I got into the ICADE program in Madrid, but I still haven’t heard back from ESADE. Anyway, knowing that I will, in fact, be somewhere in Spain next semester inspired me to do a bit of research. Like any college student, I have to be pragmatic with my limited financial means. So I started looking at Barcelona and Real Madrid ticket prices with caution.
From a marketing standpoint, what’s the best way to lose a huge number of potential customers? Well, Banc de Sabadell figured that one out just about perfectly. The bank put an advertisement of Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola right outside of Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu. Sin verguenza? (for a little brainstorming, what is the most creative way a Madrid fan should deface this advert?)
(Source: cheekychip)
By Dominic Vieira
Madrid vs Fulham, Europa League Final, 12th May 2010, 19:45 GMT, Hamburg
Tomorrow night, either Atlético Madrid or Fulham will be crowned as the first winner of the Europa League. It’s been an extravagant and revolutionary European campaign for both clubs and nobody, including me, would have expected the final to be disputed between these two clubs. How often is it that we find Los Colchorenos and The Cottagers disputing a European cup final?
Fulham have been the surprising and outstanding underdogs of the competition, who would have thought they would have knocked out numerous European giants on their path to reach the final. Some didn’t even expect them to pass the group stages. It has been a mythical journey for them and the culmination of hard work and team spirit has rewarded them with their first ever European final. Victory tomorrow night for Fulham would be the perfect ending to their European fairytale.
Atlético Madrid, who were knocked out of the Champions League grouped stages, also endured a challenging ride to the final. The Madrid based team may be underperforming in La Liga, but they’ve played their best football in the Europa League which has been highlighted by their efficient and offensive football. However, there is a tradition, when Atlético are considered favourites, the team fails to deliver. Will being crowned as champions save their season?
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