Messi Takes On Robo-Keeper in Crazy Japanese TV Show

The Argentine superstar is known for his calmness and composure in front of goal, and the little magician routinely manages to somehow squeeze his finishes in from the most acute and improbable of angles possible.

But when Lionel Messi’s resilience in front of goal was tested by technology of the highest order, he had to up his game to adapt to the unusual circumstances.

Face to face with a robotic goalkeeper, Messi was charged with the task of beating a seemingly unflappable opponent, but where there’s a will, there’s a way.

The world’s best did not hesitate in taking on this unique and exciting challenge courtesy of a Japanese tv show.

Watch Messi go toe to toe with a robo-keeper and do his worst. Well worth the watch this

Parking The Bus: An Ugly Phenomenon

Brutal, yet effective

 It would be safe to say that Barcelona weren’t their usual selves on a cold Wednesday night in Milan during a scintillating and historic Champions League tie. Averaging 3 goals a game so far this season, the Spaniards shocked the footballing world when they finished the 90 minute thriller against the resilient Italian side without a single goal to their name.

While many may dismiss Barca’s failure to show up at the San Siro as a once-off, this is most certainly not the case. Time and time again the Catalans have carved their way through weak Spanish defences all too easily, and putting 3 or more goals past their opponents is almost a weekly fixture for football fans watching across the globe. Tiki-Taka is undoubtedly one of the most successful mediums of football used today, and Tito Vilanova’s side pass opposition to death with relative ease in La Liga. Their ruthless run of form in the Spanish league has seen them claim the best ever La Liga start in history, after they had claimed 55 points out of a possible 57 at one stage in the season. Have a look at their 24 results domestically so far this campaign. Astounding to say the least. 80 goals in 24 games is utterly emphatic. This is the sort of form that has earned this star-studded side the right to be crowned as one of the world’s best ever teams.

 

Barca running riot in La Liga

 

But the Champions League is a whole different ballgame, and while the Spanish League leaders seem to have faced the unpredictability of the outcomes on those fateful European nights, they still seem as if they haven’t learnt from their previous misdemeanours.

Last season, Chelsea pulled off two monumental results against the ‘La Masia’ crowd. Many criticised Chelsea’s unappeasing method of play, yet if it wins you the game, surely you must be doing something right?

There is no right or wrong way to play football, although some ways are simply more effective than others. Chelsea’s use of ‘Parking the bus’ was one of Roberto Di Matteo’s most inspiring additions to a side deprived of the same quality as their Spanish opponents, and it worked a treat.

Pep Guardiola’s mesmerising ‘Tiki-Taka’ football is widely described as the most aesthetically pleasing style of football, and it allows players suited to the unique system to realise and reach their full potential. But all good things inevitably come to an end, and Pep Guardiola’s seemingly unflappable system was found out by an unsuspecting London outfit. Chelsea unearthed Messi et al’s achilles heel, and starved the Spaniard’s of time and space in every last inch on the Camp Nou and Stamford Bridge turf.

 

This ingenious implementation by the former Chelsea manager meant that his whole team had to double up on almost every one of Barcelona’s players. The Pensioners essentially defended with 11 men for much of the game, and in doing so they frustrated Guardiola’s side so much so that the Londoners would eventually prevail, and claim their first ever Champions League trophy, an accolade which has eluded Abramovich and his disciples for the whole of his and Chelsea’s illustrious career.

Milan decided to take a leaf out of Chelsea’s book, and Massimiliano Allegri implemented an almost identical tactic of ‘Parking the bus’ when the Italians met the Spaniards.

Possession is the most prevalent component in Barcelona’s much-loved Tiki-Taka football, but what’s the point of having the ball if you can’t put it in the back of the net? You would think that after last season’s fall at the merciless hands of Chelsea, Barcelona would have learned their lesson. Yes, small, ball-monopolising players are more suited to Barca’s system, but there is a gaping flaw in the Spanish side’s system. There is no plan B. Evident against Chelsea, even more so away to Milan.

Passing doesn’t win you games

After all, passes don’t win you games, and neither does possession. They may lend a huge helping hand in some aspects, but there needs to be some sort of adaptation by the sometimes one-dimensional Catalonian outfit. Vilanova’s side play passes over-the-top and in-behind for fun most days. But when the going gets tough, they seem to lose their way, sticking to the only way they know how to play football. How often do you see Barcelona score from a cross or a header? Seldom. Sometimes a gritty goal is needed, and when Messi is in the box, he simply cannot beat the majority of centre-backs with any sort of aerial presence.

Milan’s composure in front of goal proved to be crucial in their monumental win against Barca, and they didn’t need an awful lot of possession to win the game. Just a perpetual, unfaltering work-rate along with a huge scoop of luck, and the Italians ran out the victors. Two majestic goals courtesy of former Portsmouth players Kevin-Prince Boateng and Sulley Muntari put the Italian giants 2-0 ahead on aggregate, leaving the Messi and co. with a massive mountain to climb.

Call it what you will. Ugly, distasteful or boring. But in the end, sometimes parking the bus is the only way to get one over the Tiki-Taka loving sides, and in these two instances, it has proven to be more than just a mere fluke, but rather a stroke of genius by Allegri and Di Matteo.

Pep, Bayern, Jose and the inconvenient truth… (Guest Article – Hugh Hogan)

“So finally it has come to an end” some say? Or has it only just begun? Even though Barcelona’s most beloved son “Josep Guardiola i Sala” (or just Pep” has recently signed a new three year contract with the Bavarian giants “FC Bayern München reportedly denying offers from China to replacing Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Tradford, has the so called “Pep Saga” actually come to an end?

Pep Guardiola is seen to many as a quite simple man born in the town of Santpedor a small, rustic municipality located roughly 75km north of Barcelona. Overlooking a hilly Spanish countryside, it boasts just over 7000 inhabitants. He met his wife Cristina while working part time in his parents clothes shop when he was eighteen and according to all his family and friends he has been obsessed with nothing other than “fútbol” and “Tiki-taka” (his footballing philosophy) since an early age and turned down numerous big money offers from China, the middle east and America to come and coach Bayern according to Bayern chief executive Karl-Heinz Ruminegee who stated that Guardiolas decision to come to Germany was based almost solely on “footballing reasons, rather than monetary reasons and Bayern wouldn’t have had the money to compete for Pep in that situation”. However to say just because Pep is not necessarily obsessed with material values doesn’t mean he isn’t incredibly competitive, energetic and doesn’t hate losing, remind you of anyone?

Four years fourteen trophies (easy to see why so many clubs wanted him so badly) don’t sound like too appalling a record overall does it? However for Pep like all the other great mangers Shankly, Ferguson, Clough, Hitzield, Busby to name just a few for Pep it’s never been about what he’s done, but what he has failed to do. Last season “2011-12” is a prime example of this, two trophies (the club world cup and the Copa del Rey) considered a success for most clubs and managers however what really matters to Pep, their shots at winning the La Liga and the Champions league were both lost in embarrassing circumstances. The Champions league was lost to  the eventual winners a far inferior Chelsea side who were huge under dogs coming into the tie and scraped through 3-2 on aggregate (despite Barca having 72% possession in both matches) and possibly the bigger and more shameful embarrassment that of losing the La Liga to Barca’s arch nemesis Real Madrid and Guardiola’s managerial nemesis Jose Mourinho by nine points(despite Lionel Messi scoring a staggering fifty league goals, a Spanish record), also Real beat Barca two one at the Nou Camp in what was seen as the title decider and after that and the humiliating champions league exit to Chelsea, Pep had resigned before Barcelona had even beaten Athletico Bilbao three nil to win the Copa del Rey for the 26^th time.

At this current moment time Pep is a hard man to predict, most would say he has been severely wounded by the pains of last season and feel he needs in some way (staggering as it is to say it) to prove himself again, similar to a way a certain Mr. Mourinho may have felt after losing the Premiership to Manchester United in 2007 and after a poor start to the 2007-2008 season and many arguments with Chelsea’s billionaire owner Roman Abramovich which led to his sudden shock departure. So Mourinho headed to Inter Milan in the summer of 2008 for where he stayed for two seasons before ultimately departing for Madrid after winning the Champions League in 2010 in the Bernabeu. Mourinho’s move to Inter Milan in retrospect has been to be viewed as a very cute move, Mourinho knew that Milan was the perfect “big little club” to rebuild his reputation at after a “blip” and one “Coppa Italia”, two Seire A’s and a second Champions league title for Mourinho himself and his reputation had certainly been rebuilt(if it ever needed to be) as the world class manager he is and so he made his dream move to Madrid. Many in the German press have called many comparisons to Mourinho’s move to Inter and Pep’s to Bayern and perhaps incredible as it sounds Bayern is just a building club for Pep so one day in the future he shall be ready to take the helm again at Chelsea or even replace Sir Alex Ferguson at united when his time calls and most find it difficult or almost to think that Pep would never have any connection again with Barcelona a club that defines who he is, his boyhood club and a place has given so much love, joy and devotion to. But alas this is mere speculation, the only think we know for certain is that Bayern will have one of the greatest managers in the world at their disposal for the next three years at least and no doubt both parties will make the best of it and as for the future…? As is the answer to so many questions in football only Pep knows how.