Week 35 - Spanish football mourns Tito Vilanova

     Tito Vilanova was only Barcelona manager for one season and yet played his part in the most successful period in the club's history. In fact, the man from Bellcaire d'Empordà was only a manager for two full seasons in his entire career, which was cut so horribly short last Friday at the age of just 45.

     The professional life of Francesc Vilanova i Bayó was bookended by FC Barcelona. As a youth, he came through La Masia and graduated to Barcelona B where he became friends with Pep Guardiola, who he would link up with again far more memorably later down the line. At that point the pair's careers took different paths, Vilanova deciding to leave in search of first team opportunities and Guardiola staying at the club for over a decade to great success. Vilanova played for a succession of clubs, only appearing sporadically in the top flight while taking in three seasons at Celta Vigo, but the pair stayed in contact over the years nonetheless.

Pep and Tito in their playing days

After hanging up his boots with Gramenet in 2001, Vilanova later embarked into management with a year-long spell at FC Palafrugell which ended with ignominious relegation from the Tercera División. This failure notwithstanding, in 2007 his old friend Guardiola called on him to act as his assistant at Barcelona B. The pair led the team to promotion to Segunda División B in their first season as a double-act, and were then put in charge of first team affairs after Frank Rijkaard left in 2008. Over the next four years, Pep and Tito together revolutionised the style of football played at the club, since copied by a million poor imitations worldwide, which came to be known as tiki-taka. Their first season was the most successful in Barcelona's history, yielding six major trophies, and before Guardiola resigned in 2012 the team won an insane 14 out of a possible 19 dust collectors.

Mourinho's infamous eye-jab

     Although possibly best known on these shores at the time merely for being blind-sided (literally) and poked in the eye by a cowardly Mourinho during a heated Clásico Supercopa game, Vilanova was more than just an assistant manager and coach at Barça. The all-conquering tiki-taka style, as Guardiola himself has been at pains to point out time and again, was jointly developed by the pair, the current Bayern Munich manager explaining previously "I was just the voice of the ideas that Tito and I developed together." Quite apart from his day to day role at the club, Tito helped his friend by serving as a sounding-board, confidant and advisor.
     After Guardiola left to take his sabbatical, Vilanova was the obvious choice to replace him. The new man immediately stepped up to the challenge, his team collecting 55 points from a possible 57 in La Liga, winning 18 of its first 19 games and drawing one. Barcelona went on to win the league that year with 100 points despite the disruption caused by the manager having to be in and out of hospital at various points for treatment following the re-emergence of his throat cancer. Although Tito was determined to start the following season with a clean slate, his cancer reared its head once more, forcing him to step down from his position last July after concluding he could not concentrate 100% on the team while undergoing the continuous and aggressive treatment. Following Vilanova's death last Friday in a Barcelona hospital Guardiola, two years his friend's junior, said simply and touchingly "the sadness I feel will accompany me for the rest of my life".

The masses of flowers outside the stadium

This was just one of many comments from around Spanish football for a man widely recognised not just as a great tactician and organiser, but more importantly as a good man. After his funeral service FC Barcelona announced three days of mourning. Over 53,000 people queued up and visited Camp Nou to sign a book of condolence for the former manager over the weekend including the Barcelona youth team, which includes his 17-year-old son Adrià. The flower memorials and wreathes increase by the hour and flags remain at half mast around the stadium this week, and the players will wear black armbands in next weekend's game just as they did at El Madrigal on Sunday.

Minute silence at El Madrigal

     There was always the danger that the club's players could be unsettled and allow their sadness at their former manager's passing just two days earlier to overshadow them in a crunch game against Villarreal, and in truth that appears to have been the case, but they came away with all three points in the end regardless, although under fortuitous, some might say peculiar, circumstances. The Catalans were 2-0 down to goals from Cani and Manu Trigueros but stormed back to 2-2 thanks to a brace of own goals from hapless Villarreal centre-backs Gabriel and Mateo Musacchio. If the first was unfortunate and made the defender look clownish, the second appeared more suspect, Musacchio heading past Sergio Asenjo under no pressure whatsoever from a couple of yards out. Never ones to look a gift-horse in the food-hole, Barcelona pressed and the winning goal duly came from that man Messi eight minutes from time, with passing move + weak defending = a Barça winner.
     The game started and finished on different notes. The minute's silence was impeccably observed before kickoff and saw Sergio Busquets moved to tears, while in the 75th minute one imbecilic Villarreal fan saw fit to mark the occasion in their own way, by taking everyone back in time. As Dani Alves was preparing to take a corner the TV cameras picked up an object landing near him on the pitch. A banana. Alves calmy peeled the offending fruit and ate a bit before delivering the corner, a well-measured response to this type of idiotic act. Villarreal have since identified the fan who launched the banana and have banned them for life.

Raúl García

     A couple of hours earlier and a short drive away at the Mestalla, Atlético had managed to place one finger upon the Primera División trophy with a 1-0 victory over Valencia. The goal for los Colchoneros came from Raúl García, who nipped in ahead of a marooned Guaita under a looping high ball to glance a header into the empty net. That was the sixth consecutive game in which Atleti have scored a header and was their 16th to arrive in such a fashion all season, placing them behind only Athletic Bilbao in the ranking of goals scored with the noggin.

     Third-placed Real Madrid made short work of Osasuna to keep the pressure on the top two with Cristiano Ronaldo bagging a super-powered brace before defenders Sergio Ramos and Dani Carvajal got in on the act to round out the scoring. In the unlikely event that both Real and Barcelona lose next week, Atleti will wrap up their first Primera División title since 1996 with victory at Levante on Sunday. Although the odds of that happening are extremely slight given both teams are at home, Atlético and coach Cholo Simeone know that two victories from their last three games will ensure they are crowned champions nevertheless. One thing's for sure, it'll be bloody exciting.

"Wanted: Players worthy of this badge"

     Real Betis secured their return to the Segunda División with a characteristically meek defeat at home to Real Sociedad, who kept up their chase for Europe thanks to a penalty from former-Arsenal former-Mexican Carlos Vela. Betis supremo Manuel Domínguez assured fans after the game that "the club is economically sound" and has a "workable plan" which it will be able to put in place in the lower league. Supporters remain worried and mistrusting of his leadership nonetheless, as made clear by various chants and protest banners around the Estadio Benito Villamarín on Saturday. Cross-town rivals Sevilla also had a pretty bad time of it over the weekend, getting shown up 3-1 away at Athletic Bilbao in a European six-pointer. The result surely consigns the Seville team to a season in the Europa League rather than the more shiny and desirable Champions League given Bilbao are now six points ahead with only three games remaining. Málaga are currently in no-mans-land with nothing left to play for either way and boy did it ever show in their match against Getafe. They crumbled early in a nothing match and lost to a 7th-minute Adrián Colunga goal, while Granada were battered 3-0 at home by Rayo Vallecano.
     In fact, Almería were the only Andalusian team to get any kind of positive result, a Suso (yes, the one from Liverpool) free kick securing victory against nine-man Espanyol. Elche huffed and puffed but could only come out with a 1-1 draw against Levante, a result which leaves them three points clear of 18th-placed Almería. The unwanted and unloved Monday night slot falls to Celta Vigo and Valladolid. The hosts are safe and in roughly the same kind of end of season pointlessness as Málaga and a couple of others, whilst a win for the visitors would do wonders for their hopes of avoiding the drop, as well as their feelings of self-worth, no doubt.

     Liga Adelante leaders Deportivo La Coruña were stunned by a 3-0 defeat at the Riazor to 15th-placed Ponferradina on the weekend. The visitors were set on their way by an amusing own-goal from Laure just 10 minutes in, Germán Lux saving a one-on-one before the ball ricocheted straight into the path of his captain and thence straight into the net. "Arse-biscuits!" he may well have cried, and he'd havfe been well within his rights. Second-placed Eibar were unable to take much advantage, drawing 0-0 with Recreativo Huelva at home, while Tenerife and Las Palmas both lost, to Real Jaén and Barcelona B respectively. Of the top six able to go up, only Sporting Gijón were able to muster up more than a point, beating Lugo 2-0, both goals coming thanks to lucky bounces in the area and snaffled away before keeper Dani Mallo had a chance to react. To be brutally honest though, his teammates didn't look likely to help him.

Timor celebrates a precise finish

At the very bottom, Girona gave themselves a massive boost towards their aim of escaping the relegation zone by defeating Real Zaragoza at home 2-0. David Timor opened the scoring with a beautifully-placed shot past Leo Franco from the edge of the box before Ortuño finished into the top corner following a scramble brought about by a free kick in the 85th minute, the goal sparking wild celebrations on the touchline as well as in the stands. Unfortunately for the Catalans, their big result came on the same weekend as a couple of the others around them were able to do likewise. Apart from Jaén perhaps getting the result of the day against Tenerife, Alavés came out on top of a relegation six pointer against Mallorca with all three points thanks to a 79th minute Viguera strike.
      The races for both promotion from and salvation within the Segunda División look set to go right to the wire, with seemingly anyone capable of beating anyone else, as demonstrated aptly this week by Real Jaén and Ponferradina. However on this weekend I think it safe to say that those taking part in minute silences before the games will have had the 90 following minutes put into perspective. All apart from one pillock in Villarreal, anyway.

European semis & character assassinations

     Madrid was the centre of the Europe-centric footballing world this week as the Vicente Calderón and Santiago Bernabéu held the first leg matches of the Champions League semi finals. One of these is far more used to these big European nights under the floodlights than the other, but both stadia and sets of fans put on a grand spectacle.
     So...that Atlético Madrid/Chelsea game on Tuesday. What on earth can be said apart from that it was pretty bloody boring? For the first time in a couple of years it really dawned on me how much I missed having real, actual friends. If I had any I'd have been able to go to the cinema with them, go to the pictures, or even just call them up and listen to them moan about the bastard weather rather than watch the full 90 minutes of this drek. Still, to give the home crowd their due, they were bang up for it and created one holy hell of a racket. However, try as they might their players couldn't rise to the same level due to the opposition parking not one but an entire fleet of buses in front of goal.

Chelsea's tactics

In actual fact, it wasn't until around lunchtime on Wednesday that the majority of people in London managed to get in to work, so crippled was the capital's public transport service by the loss of 85% of its buses. Tube workers have now decided to go on strike next week just to make sure all the buses are in use so Mourinho can't station any more at one end of the Stamford Bridge pitch. You might well ask why London commuters didn't take the Tube last Tuesday, but if that's the case then you've never been on a London Underground train in rush hour during a strike and I'm jealous of you. I only managed to get into work before midday because I cycled, but still got in late as the game was so mind-molestingly boring that I ended up falling into a catatonic slumber so deep that it carried on right through two alarms in the morning. Turns out "Chelsea boring the arse off me" is not considered an acceptable excuse for turning up four hours late for work.. Look, I accept it's a case of horses for courses and some will argue the ends justify the means, but for pity's sake football's supposed to be about entertainment! Surely even the most ardent Chelsea fan must want to employ a bit of style, panache, attacking intent and interest at the same time as picking up three points away from home??
     I exaggerate of course, if only slightly. There were a couple of interesting things about Chelsea on Tuesday night, the first being John Obi Mikel's hair: what the pus-spewing hell was that on his head?! I can only assume it was a failed post-modernist attempt at the pineapple of Jason Lee fame. Awful. Hopefully someone showed him a mirror after the match so he knows how much of a tit he looked. The only other interesting thing was Davy Lewis rampaging around the place like a steroid-crazed floor mop on heat. Whoever told this guy he's a defender should really own up and let him in on the joke. He generally tears around the place like some kind of electrocuted idiot-savant child whose sole discernible skill is elbowing the world. I've seen some bad defenders in my time but Davy Lewis really is up there with the worst of them, not so much for talent alone as he's a reasonably tidy footballer when he forgets who he is, but because he really thinks he's a good defender. Davy, two things; one - you're a footballer but not a defender. And two - get a haircut for Christ's sake. Actually three - take Mikel with you when you go down the barber's.

Luiz performing comedy football for the masses

     The #comedydefender was up to his usual tricks in the first half and even succeeded in injuring his own goalkeeper with a particularly idiotic piece of defending. As an Atleti corner was swung in, Lewis stuck to the run of Raúl García before shoving him as hard as he could straight into Petr Čech, who landed awkwardly and had to be replaced by veteran long-arm man Mark Schwarzer. The Czech stopper will not play another game for Chelsea this season. How the Stamford Bridge hierarchy must be kicking themselves now for allowing the excellent Thibaut Courtois to rejoin their opponents here for a third successive season. Still only 21, Chelsea really must make their mind up on the impressive young 'keeper. He's already stated before that he needs to be considered Number One and will surely need to either replace Čech next year or move on.
     Widely reviled captain, leader, racist John Terry also later hobbled off and is expected to miss the second leg, although supremely talented wing-gnome Eden Hazard should have recovered fully from his latest setback by then. The problem for CFC with the injuries starting to take their toll is that they still have to contend for the Premier League as well. With Terry injured, the Blues could see Cahill having to rely on disaster zone Davy Lewis for company and indeed comedy at the back. Gaffes galore one would think, especially with Luis Suárez and Daniel Sturridge up next on Sunday. Jungle survivor Ray Mears will also miss the rest of their league games this season after admitting to copying Davy Lewis and elbowing Sebastian Larsson in the Sunderland game.

     When I woke up eventually from my Mourinho-induced slumber I prayed fervently that the next night's match would actually break out into football, and I wasn't disappointed. Bayern Munich attacked heavily and in numbers, albeit rather slowly, while Real Madrid looked to pick them off on the counter with lightning fast breaks and direct passing. The two philosophies coming together will always make for an interesting spectacle, and so it proved at the Bernabéu. The stats at half time read that Real had completed a mere 91 passes compared to Bayern's 402, but happily football is played on grass rather than computer printouts, and by that time los Blancos were 1-0 to the good.
     Ten touches was all it took for Real to get from one end of the field to the other. Ten. And that included Pepe's arse blocking a shot in the Madrid area to start the move and Benzema's knock into an empty net after two perfect passes from Ronaldo and then, unexpectedly, Fábio Coentrão. This was another example of ruthless, lightning-quick football on the break, Madrid-style. Give me that over Barcelona's tiki-taka under Guardiola any day for pure adrenaline and excitement. Although I could well do without Pepe's 'aargh I'm dying' comedy roadshow, which plays to a new set of fans every week. He is undoubtedly a very good defender, unfortunately he's also an unashaméd arsehole most of the time. Having said that, if Bayern didn't want to put the ball out of play every time he crumpled embarrassingly to the ground, they didn't have to. If Howard Webb thought the Real number 3 was injured he could stop play himself.

Karim of the crop (I'll get me coat...)

     To look at the statistics at the end of the game, football hipsters would no doubt conclude that Bayern must have absolutely crushed Real, having somewhere near 99% of possession along with many thousands more passes. In fact the opposite is true. Madrid had far less of the ball and racked up but a percentage of the Germans' passes, but could have conceivably won the game by four or five goals to one. They had far and away the better chances, and that may indeed be their main worry ahead of the second leg - they only managed to take advantage of one opportunity, their players shooting wildly when well placed to make Manuel Neuer work. The most amazing numbers on the night possibly came from CR7 who, fresh from being named one of the '100 most influential people in the world' and just about 60% fit, only had 16 touches all game. Not passes - 16 touches of the ball throughout the entire game before being subbed. And yet he did not have a bad game, far from it. Of those 16 touches, five were shots, four of which were on target. The one that wasn't on target was a sitter one-on-one that hopefully will not come back to haunt the men in white. Bayern appealed heavily for a penalty right at the death after Xabi Alonso tackled Thomas Müller as the German was about to shoot five yards out. Replays showed it was a brilliant tackle from the Spaniard, just brushing the ball away before Müller could connect. Alonso was just shaded to my man of the match vote by Luka Modrić, who is increasingly coming to resemble Sally Gunnell on crack - it can't just be me that sees this, surely? The miniature schemer was to be found all over the pitch and constantly backed his own skill in tight situations. Admittedly, the one time he lost the ball in a dangerous area Bayern should have levelled, Mario Götze shooting close enough to Iker Casillas to allow the 'keeper to get a strong wrist on the ball and set the whole stadium to singing his name. Real had a lucky escape there, as they really needed to keep a clean sheet ahead of the return leg in Bavaria on Tuesday. Nevertheless, when Howard Webb in the middle blew his whistle for full-time, the only statistic that mattered was the score, which read 1-0 to la Real.

     In the all-Spanish Europa League semifinal, Sevilla took a 2-0 lead at home in the first leg courtesy of a cheeky (not to mention lucky) backheeled goal from coconut-headed high-diver extraordinaire Stéphane Mbia and a customary tidy finish from Carlos Bacca. The highlight for me has to be Valencia's away kit though. A real thing of beauty, that, although it's probably an epileptic's worst nightmare.

Klopp and Pep are told the news

     Some hilarious transfer news came from nowhere, meanwhile, with Yahoo claiming Manchester United are preparing "a lucrative deal" to sign Messi at the end of the season. Really? Come on guys, you're nearly a whole month late for April fools' day. Yes ok, the little fella's not been himself lately, but then the venerable red half of Manchester hasn't exactly been pulling up forests since Old Purple Nose left, has it? In fact, the funnier news was probably that the bigwigs at Old Trafford had lined up a shortlist of managers to replace David Moyes which included Ancelotti, Pep Guardiola, Jürgen Norbert Klopp and Ancelotti's eyebrow. Now that is either laughable, deluded or comedy genius. I don't have a crystal ball and couldn't predict my way out of a paper bag on a rainy day, but I will tell you now that none of those four will be at Old Trafford next season. If I'm wrong I'll eat my hat. As a disclaimer, I should point out that my hat is made out of salt & vinegar crisps. Actually, I kind of hope I am wrong now..
     In sad news back in the real world though, rumours began flying around the Twittersphere and were later confirmed in the Spanish papers that former Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova was admitted to hospital in the city on Thursday night as his condition deteriorated. Of course our best wishes go to him.

                                                                  Edit

Just an hour after publishing this post it emerged that Tito Vilanova has died in hospital. He was only 45 years old when throat cancer finally claimed him. RIP Tito, decances en paz.