Barcelona started their La Liga campaign on Sunday with a drawless, yet entertaining match, against Racing Santander away from the Camp Nou. Each team had their fair share of action and opportunities. Barcelona’s pre-season has been nothing short of perfect, with six our of six wins registered they went into this game with self-confidence and valour. It is clear to see from the various interviews that the Barca players and the manager have conducted, they are in a mind set focused on winning everything they can get their hands on.

Early Scare For Barca

Racing had their best chance when Colsa broke between Abidal and Oleguer to send the ball past Valdez to kiss the post and bounce back into play. Barcelona’s hearts went into their mouth. However, there was to be no such opportunity like that one again for the entire match. Barcelona’s best chance came in the same fashion. Leo Messi had been substituted for Henry who came on to make an immediate impact. In the 85th minute, Henry found himself just outside the area, he cut the ball inside and then laid the shot off to find it pass the goal keeper and hit the post.

Ronaldinho Makes Great Contribution

Throughout the match Ronaldinho created some great opportunities for his team mates, with crisp, precise passing which was unfortunately wasted a couple of times. At one stage during the match Ronaldinho was given a free kick outside the area. He stepped up to take the kick, to find his kick loop over the wall and whiz right past the left hand corner. A little lower and it was a definite goal. With this draw, Barcelona take on Inter Milan next in the Gamper Trophy match. Essentially a friendly game, every year, this match brings out the creative flair of both sides who play. It should be great to watch.
Ronaldinho Gains Spanish Citizenship

With the game aside, Ronaldinho is finalising his bid to gain Spanish citizenship. Ronaldinho was treated to a media frenzy when he visited court yesterday, near Barcelona, after he pledged allegiance to the Spanish Constitution to get the dual citizenship. This move once again proves Ronaldinho’s allegiance to FC Barcelona, with his contract ending in 2010. With this event, another spot in the team is open to Non-EU players, leaving Eto’o as the only Non-EU player.

Note: Ronaldinho is currently fulfilling international duties to play with Brazil.

I don’t think I’ve ever talked about the art of diving on the football field before, but it’s something that needs to be talked about because it’s always controversial. I don’t care what anyone says, I think it is just outright wrong and gives the game of football a bad name. Not only does it make football players look like, pardon me, pussies, it also brings heartache and anger for the opposing team to receive the shorter end of the stick. I can first hand tell you the frustrating nature of seeing a footballer take a dive when you tackle them fairly. You just want to pick up the player and slap them across the face, in order to say, get a hold of yourself!

Professionals Are Good At It

Recently, during the Chelsea vs Liverpool match which was played the other day, a pass which was going to Drogba was left by Malouda, but Liverpool defender Agger went in to challenge the ball and Malouda dived, resulting in a poor penalty decision. This was then converted by Lampard, leaving Liverpool with a undesirable 1-1 draw. Another incident that plays over and over again in Australian hearts is the match we had against Italy. In the dying stages of the match, defender Lucas Neill challenged the ball to find he had slid past the attacker Grosso and out of his way. The Italian then dived over him as to say Neill was holding him down. That is my interpretation of it. You can find the video below.

It still pains me to watch that video to this day because I honestly think we were hard done by. But you can now see the consequences of diving and the impact that has. Grosso’s dive cost Australia their place in World Cup history and people here still talk about that match to this day. On the other hand, Grosso not only put Italy through to the next round, he contributed to his country and Italy ended up winning the whole thing. It is very interesting to see that the game of football can favour those who play unjust and unfairly, like any game, but it is our job as footballer to strive to toughen up and not go down as easily as the Italians in this case.

P.S I’ve got nothing against Italians, it was just the best example I could use

With a great volley from Lionel Messi, Barca have secured 6 out of 6 wins in the pre-season so far and is just another confidence booster for the team. The fantastic strike came from the Argentinian in the 82nd minute and on a personal note, these kinds of volleys are really the hardest to pull off when under pressure. It is the first match the 20 year old has played since returning from the Copa America. In the first half, the attacking trident of Ronaldinho, Eto’o and Henry pressed the Bayern defence, with the best chance going to Henry who came one on one with Oliver Kahn, however, didn’t net the ball.

Messi and Dos Santos Come On

With the introduction of Messi and Dos Santos, more opportunities began to flow in, until in the 82nd minute with a cross headed up my Marquez landed down to Messi’s feet and the Argentinian let fly with a outstanding volley to fly past the keeper, hitting the post and bouncing back into the goal. You can find the video below.

Like I said before, the pure technical ability needed to score a volley like this is mind blowing, especially with the ball reaching those kinds of heights. I can say to you that these kinds of goals are the fruits of hours upon hours of skill work, which boils down to moments like that.