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Author Topic: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09  (Read 14597 times)

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Offline Disgruntled_Trini

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CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« on: September 11, 2009, 10:42:22 AM »
I just couldn't wait any longer to start this thread. Next Wed Barca travel to Italy to face Eto'o and Inter Milan.

God be with anyone who angers Eto'o, cause he will put it on yuh.



Stadio Giuseppe Meazza (A.K.A San Siro), Milan



Past Meetings:
Past Meetings

Trofeu Gamper :: FC Barcelona 5-0 Inter Milan :: 29/8/07

26-02-03 UEFA CL :: Internazionale 0 - 0 Barcelona
18-02-03 UEFA CL :: Barcelona 3 - 0 Internazionale


Match background - UEFA

• Inter have lost just one of 15 home matches against Spanish clubs. The Nerazzurri achieved the first of their two European Cup successes by defeating Real Madrid CF 3-1 in the 1964 final in Vienna.

• This will be Barcelona's sixth trip to San Siro and their record there is W2 D1 L2. Barça's last visit brought a 1-0 win against Milan in the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League semi-final. Ludovic Giuly's 57th-minute strike was the only goal of the tie.

• Barcelona lifted the European Cup for the first time after beating Italy's UC Sampdoria 1-0 in the 1992 final at Wembley. They lost the 1994 final 4-0 to Milan.



Team ties - UEFA

• José Mourinho served as an assistant coach at Barcelona from 1996-2000, working under the late Sir Bobby Robson and Louis van Gaal.

• As Chelsea manager Mourinho oversaw a 5-4 aggregate defeat of Barcelona in the 2004/05 first knockout round but suffered a 3-2 defeat over two legs at the same stage the next season. The 2006/07 campaign brought another reunion, this time in the group stage, with Chelsea finishing above Barcelona after a 1-0 home win and 2-2 away draw.

• Eto'o spent five seasons with Barcelona from 2004. The Cameroon striker hit 109 goals in 144 league appearances, including 30 last season. In the UEFA Champions League he registered 18 in 43 games, scoring Barcelona's first goals in the final triumphs of 2006 and 2009.

• Inter winger Ricardo Quaresma spent 2003/04 at the Camp Nou, making 22 Liga appearances and scoring once.

• During his three-year spell at Inter, Ibrahimović hit 57 goals in 88 Serie A appearances and six in 22 UEFA Champions League games.

• Thierry Henry scored twice for former club Arsenal FC in a 5-1 win at Inter in the 2003/04 group stage.


Més que un club.

Offline weary1969

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #1 on: September 11, 2009, 10:43:47 AM »
Big match dat go have 2 reach home early 2 take dat in
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Offline dinho

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #2 on: September 11, 2009, 10:50:42 AM »




         

Offline 100% Barataria

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #3 on: September 11, 2009, 10:02:11 PM »
Big game, will be interesting to see how this proceeds w/Samuel on de pitch.  Ah tink ah gehin sick nex wed
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Offline breezers

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #4 on: September 12, 2009, 12:04:58 AM »
Best team in d world (FCB) vs the best striker in d world (Samu)...ah sorry fuh we ras! Barca fuh life eh but Thou Shall Not Diss King Samu!! So ah willing tuh take 2nd place in d group only by d hands feet of Samu! Special mention to all muh former catalonians....Thiago..Ricardo...allyuh go easy on we sad defense...BIG GAME!
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BIG BIG TEAMS!!!!

Offline palos

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #5 on: September 12, 2009, 01:46:17 AM »
De 2 best club teams in world football meetin in de first round of de CL.

Should be wicked
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Offline PIMP

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #6 on: September 12, 2009, 05:48:45 AM »
De 2 best club teams in world football meetin in de first round of de CL.

Should be wicked

The 2 best???  lol..........
Chelsea, Man U, Real may have sumting to say about that......
Should be a good game though....

giggsy11

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #7 on: September 13, 2009, 06:01:27 PM »
Which ever side is more succesful will have gotten the better striker.

Is Zlatan Ibrahimovic worth 66 million euros?


The new van Basten or Barcelona's downfall? The striker goes back to Inter this week doing what he does best: dividing opinions

 
Paul Hayward The Observer, Sunday 13 September 2009


Barcelona won the Champions League with unanswerable majesty, but as if to make it more interesting this time round, Pep Guardiola, the all-conquering rookie coach, has exchanged the speed and directness of Samuel Eto'o for the more static and egocentric talents of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Camp Nou has always been a casino.

Guardiola may never be this powerful again. He entered the new campaign parading Barça's unprecedented haul from his debut year: Champions League, La Liga, Copa del Rey. This blitz, which prompted Real Madrid to shake the money tree to its roots, entitled Catalonia's latest saint to stick to the same formula for 2009-10. Instead, Guardiola imported tactical change and an awkward personality. The first major test is Ibrahimovic's return to Inter on Wednesday night, six weeks after Eto'o moved in the opposite direction from Barcelona to San Siro.

This player swap would have been big enough news already without the £40m Barcelona had to add on top to bring European football's great enigma to Spain. Eto'o had scored 108 times in 145 outings for the Blaugrana. In return, they took possession of a 27-year-old Swede who divides the sages into worshippers and indignant disbelievers, of whom Martin O'Neill, the Aston Villa manager, is one. "Good grief, he is the most overrated player on the planet," exclaimed O'Neill in his pundit's role at the last World Cup.

Rather in the John Jensen tradition of I-was-there-when-he-scored T-shirt making, there are people who swear they have seen the giant-but-dexterous Ibrahimovic excel in a big game. He scored his second goal in two games for his new club in Barcelona's 2-0 win away at Getafe last night. The disdain is largely confined to games involving English clubs, in which "Ibracadabra", as he was known in Italy, has a history of going walkabout. But there is such a welter of evidence in the opposing camp – including Barcelona's willingness to stump up £40m in cash – that it feels perverse to keep thinking last season's top scorer in Serie A is a self-obsessed impostor.

How can it be so, when the European champions have built a new forward line around him, when he was voted the best player in the Italian league in 2008, when some of the game's biggest names constantly compare him to Marco van Basten? Fabio Capello, the England coach who helped him to two league titles at Juventus, told Italy's La Repubblica: "When Zlatan arrived in Italy he was a rough diamond. But now he is very complete, the best striker in the world and impossible to mark inside the penalty area. I know comparing Van Basten to Ibrahimovic is like comparing Picasso to Rothko, but I believe that because of his power and his technique Zlatan will become stronger than Marco.

"Zlatan needed to learn and mature, but he's an intelligent lad. He also has an incredible gift for maintaining his position, freeing himself from defenders and at the same time seeing a pass, a space or a chance to shoot. What Van Basten and Ibra have in common is their natural elegance. We're talking about giants who are like poetry in motion."

Ibrahimovic was born in Malmo to a Bosnian father and Croatian mother. He joined his local club at 13 and left after Malmo had been relegated, moving to the great Ajax finishing school for £5.5m in 2001. But he always stood outside the herd. He was described as "a shit" by Milan's Alessandro Nesta and drew this stinging review from his headmaster, Agneta Cederbom, who once said: "I have been at this school for 33 years and he is easily in the top five of the most unruly pupils we have had during that time. A one-man show. Completely outstanding in his field, and a prototype of the kind of child which ends up in serious trouble. And I think things could have gone horribly wrong if it hadn't been for the football."


Ibrahimovic left Ajax for Juventus for €16m and, after serving two years with Capello at the Turin club from 2004-2006, he joined Inter when Juve were relegated for their part in the great Serie A match-fixing scandal. There, he agreed with the directors that the only club Inter could sell him to was Barcelona, where a record 60,000 Catalans turned up to see him introduced. On that day in late July, the club's president, Joan Laporta, said: "He is not a conformist, he is ambitious, a winner, an authentic man with strong feelings and he wanted to come to Barcelona."

Thierry Henry said: "Whichever ball you throw at him, he will keep it. What I like about him is his character. I know for some people it is too much, but I don't mind. To be a player like he is, you need to have it sometimes."

In a major study of Ibrahimovic's growth from enfant terrible to aristocrat striker, Sweden's Offside magazine recalled the day Lazio's Dejan Stankovic was watching a 2001 pre-season friendly between Ajax and Milan, and turned to a team-mate – as Paolo Maldini struggled against Ibrahimovic – to ask: "Who is this phenomenon?"

Scouting reports all noted the unusual convergence of power and skill. Ivica Kurtovic, who coached him at his first childhood club, FBK Balkan, said: "He was completely fearless on the field. He put his head straight in where the others didn't dare put their finger. [At nine] he was very forward and hungry. Many of the boys could have been as good as Zlatan. What tipped the scale in his favour was his attitude to the game. A few of them missed training but Zlatan wanted more. I often saw him in his garden playing football on his own when I rode my bicycle home during those years."

In Rosengard, where he grew up, Ibrahimovic has paid for a rubberised surface, golden goals, and lights at the small practice ground where he learned to be adroit in tight spaces. He posted a plaque, which reads: "Here is my heart, here is my history, here is my play. Take it further."

"You had to run less, but you had a lot of time on the ball, and I like a lot of time with the ball," he said. "The margins are very small, and it makes you think what you have to do with the ball on a bigger pitch."

Then, he was known as a volatile type with no patience, inconsistent, self-absorbed. That reputation followed him to and from Amsterdam, where the coach David Endt said: "At Ajax we're very good at discovering talent, but you have to use talent in a functional way. Sometimes that's hard to accept for players who know they're good. Ibrahimovic had a magic touch and my first thought was: 'Here's the new Van Basten.' I thought: 'I'll have to keep this to myself.' No player should have to be under that kind of pressure."

Co Adriaanse, another Ajax coach, said: "Here, Zlatan was a very difficult person, an introvert who was thinking only of himself. He'd got something wrong in his head. I couldn't get any contact with him. David Endt tried to get contact with him as well, but it was hard to reach Zlatan's heart." Tommy Soderberg, the Sweden coach, prescribed patience and told the Ajax staff that Ibrahimovic "didn't trust anybody" but would respond to careful handling.

At Inter, where he was an automatic starter for Roberto Mancini and José Mourinho, Ibrahimovic shed much of his reputation for turbulence and unreliability, and it may be that Guardiola has gambled at just the right point. Certainly, Ibrahimovic's self-critique of two years ago chimes with the theory that he is a misunderstood master of the striker's art: a thinker who can see geometrical possibilities to which others are blind.

"I'm very quick because I can see still pictures in my mind during the game," he said. "When I'm playing I can see things no one else can see, and it's still in my head five seconds later. They are pictures of what's going to happen on the pitch and what I'm going to do next. I didn't have them when I was younger but when the play reached a more serious level they started turning up. When the play was getting quicker I had to try to find the right solutions."


While Inter and Barça lock antlers, last season's beaten finalists, Manchester United, face a less glamorous assignment at Besiktas. This week Sir Alex Ferguson reflected on the 2-0 defeat at the Stadio Olimpico in May, in which Eto'o scored Barcelona's first after 10 minutes.

"When you look at these things you can find reasons or excuses, and it's always better to look at the reasons," Ferguson said. "I've watched the game since and I'm quite clear about where we went wrong. That's always helpful. If there are good reasons you can put a lot of things to the back of your mind and get on with your life. If it was a case of not finding any reasons at all then we would be worried."

Ferguson craves a rematch with Guardiola: "Absolutely. I'd love another final. That was the first Champions League final I had lost and obviously it was very disappointing, but it's over. There's no point kicking yourself all summer over it, and I haven't. You can't win 'em all, bad days come along, put it behind you and move on."

Barcelona had good days – the best days in their history, some think – but moved on, too, from Eto'o to Ibrahimovic. Embracing risk has made the club what they are.

Offline Jah Gol

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #8 on: September 13, 2009, 06:33:46 PM »
2-1 Barca

giggsy11

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #9 on: September 13, 2009, 06:42:40 PM »
Inter to win- Eto, Eto, Eto! Eto's desire to show up Ibra and Barca will be used by Jose to drive the team on to victory.

Offline capodetutticapi

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #10 on: September 13, 2009, 07:15:51 PM »
BIG game this.
soon ah go b ah lean mean bulling machine.

giggsy11

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #11 on: September 13, 2009, 07:25:51 PM »
Ibra better let his football do the talking or he will be setting him self up! We already know he can't handle pressure!




Gabriele Marcotti  From The Times September 14, 2009

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is the latest target of Jose Mourinho’s mind games

There may be parallels between Pep Guardiola and José Mourinho — right down to their youthful good looks and snazzy wardrobe — but they end when it comes to mind games.

Guardiola is so well drilled he wheels out the manager-speak when he senses the imminence of pitfall questioning and slaloms around controversy, whereas Mourinho, largely by choice, snowploughs through it.

It was inevitable that, on Saturday, less than one hundred hours before the biggest clash of the first round of Champions League matches, Inter Milan v Barcelona, both men would be asked about the opposition. And while the Barcelona coach kept his reserve, Mourinho waded in, saying that, “Eto’o is the best striker with whom I have ever worked.”    ;)
Fighting talk, given that the list of strikers with whom he has worked includes a certain Zlatan Ibrahimovic, whom he sent to Barcelona in return for Eto’o plus £35 million in cash. The implication of the words of the “Special One” seem clear: I got a better player, plus a whole wad of money, I’m laughing all the way to the bank.

But Mourinho, of course, is far too clever to make such a crass statement. Which is why in the same press conference he said: “You know me, I always believe that my players are better than anybody else’s.”

In one fell swoop he deflected attention on to himself, sent a barbed message to Barcelona and reaffirmed his unquestioning belief in the ability of his men. There’s a reason why his pre-game nous will be studied one day by football historians. Indeed, in that sense, he’s the polar opposite to Ibrahimovic, who seems to have a knack for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.

During his protracted transfer to Barcelona, he sent Valentine messages to the Catalan press — “Who wouldn’t want to play for a club like Barça?” — which annoyed the Inter support. He annoyed them further by kissing the Barcelona badge on his first day. But last week he really hit the Nerazzurri where it hurts.

“True fans know what I did for Inter,” he said. “Before I arrived, the club hadn’t won a title in 17 years. With me, we won three straight.”

Not the most elegant thing to say (nor the most accurate: the courts handed Inter a title before he arrived as a result of the 2006 Calciopoli scandal). But also, the kind of comment that can come back to haunt you. Inter’s response was left to Marco Materazzi, not the kind of man who shies away from a fight. “The best way to hurt him is total indifference,” he said. “Ibra did help us win three titles, but it would be wise of him to remember that we were a team.”

In fact, you wonder if, given the circumstances, Mourinho won’t be tempted to dust off Materazzi — who, at 36, has been largely on the shelf of late — and deploy “the Matrix” on Ibrahimovic come Wednesday evening. It may be the only way to unsettle the big Swede, who is feeling increasingly at home with the European champions. On Saturday he scored a tap-in and set up Lionel Messi’s header (wasn’t it supposed to work the other way around?) as Barcelona won 2-0 away to Getafe.

Guardiola knows that integrating a player with Ibrahimovic’s skill-set into a finely tuned machine such as Barcelona’s will take time, if only because at Inter the whole team was built around him. At Barcelona, on the other hand, he needs to share the limelight and be a humble participant in the weekly magic show of Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Xavi Hernández.

In deciding to axe Eto’o for Ibrahimovic, Guardiola took a sizeable gamble. Conventional wisdom dictates that you don’t tinker with a successful side. But then the payoff could be huge. If Barcelona retain the European Cup, his place in managerial history will be secure, just as his place as a player already is. The most recent team to do so were Arrigo Sacchi’s AC Milan, 20 years ago. Equal them and you become the stuff of legend.

Yet, the stakes may be even higher for Mourinho. The pressure to deliver the club game’s biggest prize is even greater. Even Fabio Capello, speaking on Thursday, conceded: “Inter must win the Champions League.”

Despite winning the domestic title last season, Mourinho’s adversaries still point to his European record with Inter and the paltry two wins — against Panathinaikos and Anorthosis Famagusta — in eight matches.

Absurdly, he could run away with the Serie A crown once again and still have people calling for his head. But that’s the pressure you live with every day when you’re the Special One.




 


 



 

Offline Peong

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #12 on: September 13, 2009, 07:44:07 PM »
2 best teams in the world?  Inter?

Offline 100% Barataria

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #13 on: September 14, 2009, 08:31:50 PM »
They just say that Zlatan never scored in the knock out phase of the CL on FSC, can someone confirm this?  Steups, does make meh more mad, come like a wicked tabanca dat ah takin a long time to geh over.  Cyar wait fuh dis clash on Wed
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Offline Disgruntled_Trini

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #14 on: September 15, 2009, 07:12:23 AM »
Ibrahimovic primed for warm welcome

Funny how coverage of football seems to be going end over end, in a repetitive loop which sometimes is filled with self-fulfilling prophecies.

Take Barcelona's trip to Milan on Wednesday, for example. Ever since the balls bounced so that Inter would start their Champions League campaign against the very same side they did the summer's most controversial deal with - exchanging Zlatan Ibrahimovic for Samuel Eto'o and a load of cash - the big question has centred on how the mercurial Swede would be greeted at the San Siro. He was the supporters' icon for three title-winning seasons but also a constant source of grief for what often appeared to be a selfish attitude.

Ironically, the same traits that helped him become Inter's most unstoppable player during that time could only be applied domestically since his failure to produce on the biggest stage had also become a frequent talking point.

Such has been the media frenzy - tiresome and predictable, but hey, try having to fill so many broadsheet pages and broadcast hours every day - that the goals Eto'o and Diego Milito scored to beat Parma on Sunday were somehow seen as a "reply" to the couple that Ibrahimovic and Lionel Messi had scored the previous day against Getafe, despite the fact that Inter may have been the furthest thought in the minds of the two Barcelona players while they were doing their stuff on the Getafe pitch.

The pressure surrounding Wednesday's game is so obvious, manifesting itself in the disrespect accorded to Inter-Parma as a mere warm-up exercise, that anything short of a full-blown riot whenever Ibra has the ball would probably be seen as a letdown. And of course Ibrahimovic himself, having sarcastically done the "I can't hear you" gesture to his own fans just a few months ago after scoring against Lazio (following some barracking for sloppy play), will be expected to celebrate in some outrageous way, if he scores.

He may not want to do an Adebayor, run the length of the pitch and slide on his knees in front of the Inter fans, first of all because there would be plenty of them all around him - the game, after all, is at the San Siro - and secondly because his joints may never recover from such a trauma, considering the traditionally bad shape of the Inter pitch, which he surely remembers.

It would be extremely funny, then, if both the fans and Ibrahimovic ignored each other: the self-fulfilling hype spread in the past month or so by the blood-thirsty media would deflate in a heartbeat, or perhaps find other way to express itself.

Ironically, Ibrahimovic's departure may have helped Inter become a better team; a subject that has already been discussed at length in Italy. In the previous couple of years, regardless of whether Roberto Mancini or Jose Mourino were managing the side, Inter's main weapon had been the long punt towards the Swede, who would then often create something out of very little in one-on-one situations.

Teamwork would be evident in bringing the ball up field in other instances, or in defending, but rarely were Inter as entertaining as the collective skill value of their players warranted. Without Ibrahimovic, and with the addition of ball-playing central defender Lucio, Inter are now playing a better brand of football, coupled with their now traditional strength.

Curiously enough, a strong physical presence now seems to be Juventus' trademark, too. At times, last year, it appeared to be their only weapon, along with Alessandro Del Piero's revival. Times have changed and Juve have added a few touches of class that have taken them to the top of the table on full points alongside Genoa and Sampdoria. Another impressive display in Rome, where they had already dispatched Roma fifteen days earlier, saw them emerge with a 2-0 win over unlucky Lazio, who must still be encouraged by the way they exchanged blows with the visitors.

Juventus look solid, menacing and skilful, a trait that had already emerged under the unfortunate Claudio Ranieri, but seems to have been accentuated by the better skill factor under his successor Ciro Ferrara. There seems to be a wave of growing enthusiasm among their fans, although the hype many in the media dispense when dealing with anything bianconero may actually come back and hinder, rather than help, the team.

Take Diego, for example. The Brazilian is possibly the summer's best signing for a top side, along with Eto'o and Milito, and he has displayed excellent control, vision, industry and passing, coupled with a deceptive strength that he probably developed by playing in the Bundesliga. The way he held off John-Arne Riise while scoring Juve's first goal two weeks ago made him an instant hit with fans and highlighted his uncommon set of skills, but the hype soon got out of hand and it was refreshingly surprising to hear Antonio Di Gennaro, the former Italian international turned TV analyst, strike a cautious note live on air when the hype-pumped question "is Diego a great player, a superstar or a word-class phenom?" was posed to him.

Di Gennaro, after a brief pause, replied "right now, a great player", a TV set-hugging response if there is one. A calmer, reasoning voice putting a brake on the outsized expectations on the Brazilian, who was more subdued at Lazio on Saturday before going off injured - not the first time since his arrival that his body has betrayed him. He won't appear on the European scene for a while, to the detriment of Juventus' bid for a long run in the Champions League which seems entirely possible, but hey, we cannot be distracted by looking too far ahead, can we?


Més que un club.

Offline trinikev

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #15 on: September 15, 2009, 07:57:39 AM »
2 best teams in the world?  Inter?

CORRECT. Underestimate them at your own risk.
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Offline Disgruntled_Trini

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #16 on: September 16, 2009, 08:03:38 AM »
Eto'o out for revenge against Barcelona


All eyes may be on the reaction of the Inter Milan fans to Zlatan Ibrahimovic's arrival back at the San Siro, but there will be another striker on show on Wednesday night who has a point to prove to his former employers.


Eto'o is happy at his new club, Inter.

Ibrahimovic may now be wearing the stripes of the Blaugrana, but it was Samuel Eto'o who elevated himself to become one of the club's top ten all-time goalscorers in a five-year association with the club, before making way for the Swedish striker and being forced to build himself a new career in Italy.

Eto'o's exit from the Nou Camp was shrouded in mystery. The striker had one of his most productive seasons ever, helping the club to win the Spanish treble with 34 goals in 44 appearances , but was deemed surplus to requirements to the extent that Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola was willing to sell him AND part with £35 million for a chance to sign Ibrahimovic.

Many believed Inter got the best of the deal, but the reasons for Guardiola's decision remain unclear. His public statement was unusual, as he claimed: "There are no footballing or personal reasons or anything about his behaviour. It's simply a question of 'feeling', and that's how I feel.''

Eto'o claimed recently he had no idea why the club had decided to let him go, telling Catalunya Radio: "Since the moment I joined Barcelona and since my very first game for them, I did all I could to do the job asked of me. I never refused to do anything, unlike some of the other players at Barca who said no, and refused to play there.

"I didn't have any problems, but okay, if Guardiola said that I had no feeling for the club, that's his opinion. I always committed myself, and I will show him that this week," the 28-year-old added. ''My only problem now is that I still have no idea what he means by this 'feeling'."

With only a season left on his contract, the ''feeling'' may be that Eto'o lacked the commitment of others at the club. Rumours of dressing-room disharmony under the previous coach, Frank Rijkaard, did not help matters; but nor did the player's own behaviour. His refusal to come on as a substitute in a league match against Racing Santander in February 2007 sparked criticism from the press, his manager and (incredibly) from that shining example of work-ethic Ronaldinho who accused the Cameroonian of not putting the club first.

From then on, Eto'o looked a marked man. And it proved so upon the appointment of Pep Guardiola. The Nou Camp legend, for his part, is not lacking in managerial acumen despite his relative lack of experience and knows what makes the club tick. He made it clear immediately that the trio of Ronaldinho, Deco and Samuel Eto'o were not part of his plans for the coming season and began to build for his own vision.

With Ronaldinho quickly sold to AC Milan and Deco to Chelsea, Guardiola, though, reaped the rewards of keeping Eto'o for one more season. The summer scrabble for his signature - including a bizarre link to Uzbek side FC Bunyodkor - failed to warrant any actual offers, but his goals spearheaded the club's drive for success and he was able to develop an almost telepathic understanding with his fellow forwards Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi. However, after such an amount of speculation, his time in Spain always looked likely to end before his contract did.

The key point from the player's point of view appears to be that he did not feel supported by the club. He could happily make a claim to be the best striker in the world based on current form, but Barcelona's refusal to give him a contract with increased wages appeared to be the final straw after a number of incidents (including a training ground row with Guardiola) that soured his perception of the club.

Offered just a two-year deal on the same terms as before (hardly pocket change but we've been here before with the Ashley Cole saga), Eto'o is a player that needs to feel wanted. His leaving cannot be blamed on a declining relationship with the Barcelona fans - unlike Emmanuel Adebayor's high-profile exit from Arsenal to Man City this summer - but, instead, on a growing dissatisfaction with the running of the club. If he scores against his old side on Wednesday, perhaps a gesture towards the directors' box (rather than the away fans) can be expected.



The striker's career at the Nou Camp ended after failing to impress Guardiola.

Some would argue that Eto'o is more likely to hit the net during the game than his replacement, Ibrahimovic, especially in a competition in which the Swede has struggled to make an impact in the past. A sublime strike against Parma at the weekend gave notice that Eto'o is a man with something to prove and two goals in three games suggests that he will hit the ground running; although Zlatan has also been receiving rave reviews for his start to his career in Spain.

As Zlatan may benefit from working under Guardiola, Eto'o seems to have found a new lease of life under Jose Mourinho at Inter. Having claimed that he had wanted to work under the Portuguese boss for some time - despite a falling out when Barcelona met Chelsea in the Champions League four years ago - the striker made it clear that he would ''work to repay him the faith he has shown in me." An interesting statement, given the reasons for his move and his tempestuous relationship with Guardiola.

Clearly feeling that he was treated badly during his final years at Barcelona, the Cameroonian may have been a victim of Guardiola's desire to shake up the dressing room; a reminder of an era in which player power had more of an impact. The coach admitted that letting such a talented player join Inter may have been a mistake; but Eto'o will be hoping to show him first hand, just how much of a mistake that was.


Més que un club.

Offline Disgruntled_Trini

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #17 on: September 16, 2009, 08:08:52 AM »
---henry---zlatan---messi---
------keita------xavi---------
abidal------yaya--------dani
-------puyol-----pique-------
-------------valdes------------

I eh know if Iniesta ready to start ah big game like this.


Més que un club.

Offline 100% Barataria

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #18 on: September 16, 2009, 08:12:51 AM »
---henry---zlatan---messi---
------keita------xavi---------
abidal------yaya--------dani
-------puyol-----pique-------
-------------valdes------------

I eh know if Iniesta ready to start ah big game like this.

Is he injured DT?
Education is our passport for the future for the future belongs to those who prepare for it today

Offline Disgruntled_Trini

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #19 on: September 16, 2009, 08:27:30 AM »
---henry---zlatan---messi---
------keita------xavi---------
abidal------yaya--------dani
-------puyol-----pique-------
-------------valdes------------

I eh know if Iniesta ready to start ah big game like this.

Is he injured DT?


Since the 6-1 mauling of Real Madrid.

His first game since the CL final was Sat gone against Getafe.


Més que un club.

Offline kicker

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #20 on: September 16, 2009, 08:30:48 AM »
Live life 90 minutes at a time....Football is life.......

Offline Disgruntled_Trini

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #21 on: September 16, 2009, 08:31:46 AM »


Més que un club.

Offline capodetutticapi

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #22 on: September 16, 2009, 08:46:50 AM »
inter takin this one. :devil:
soon ah go b ah lean mean bulling machine.

Offline dinho

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #23 on: September 16, 2009, 09:16:42 AM »
prelude to the poison.....


Eto’o Keen To Prove A Point To Guardiola

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/88/spain/2009/09/14/1501546/etoo-keen-to-prove-a-point-to-guardiola

The Nerazzurri hitman still doesn’t understand why his former coach had a problem with him.

Inter and Barcelona will meet this week, to kick start their respective campaigns for the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League.

It promises to be an enthralling battle between two of Europe’s heavyweight clubs and the stakes have been raised even higher with the recent comments made by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who left the Italian club in the summer to join the Spanish outfit, and now Samuel Eto’o who went the other way.

The Cameroonian international is determined to do some damage this week, mainly to get back at former coach Pep Guardiola.

“Since the moment I joined Barcelona and since my very first game for them, I did all I could to do the job asked of me,” Eto’o explained to Catalunya Radio.

“I never refused to do anything, unlike some of the other players at Barca who said no, and refused to play there.

“I have always helped everyone, and for me last season was a good year, as we all worked together for the good of Barcelona.

“I didn’t have any problems, but okay, if Guardiola said that I had no feeling for the club, that’s his opinion. I always committed myself, and I will show him that this week.

“My only problem now is that I still have no idea what he means by this 'feeling.'”

The Nerazzurri and Blaugrana kick-off on Wednesday at 20:45 CET at the San Siro. Eto'o notched 34 goals in all competitions last season, including one in the 2-0 victory over Manchester United in the Champions League final.
         

Offline Disgruntled_Trini

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #24 on: September 16, 2009, 09:33:19 AM »


Més que un club.

Offline dinho

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #25 on: September 16, 2009, 09:54:23 AM »

prelude to the poison.....

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/88/spain/2009/09/14/1501546/etoo-keen-to-prove-a-point-to-guardiola


I am surprised you go to that site, let alone post the contents here.

i read the original article on Foxsports yesterday but could not find it when i looking to post it today...

so i googled the phrase he used and thats the article that came up.

the source and content is good in this one.
         

Offline Bourbon

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #26 on: September 16, 2009, 09:56:02 AM »
And since is group stages...and both should get out regardless.....i hope he purge dem good and proper. Eh want to raise de man salary buh could spend 40 million to ship him out? Ingratitude worse dan obeah.
The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today are Christians who acknowledge Jesus ;with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.

Offline dinho

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #27 on: September 16, 2009, 12:53:03 PM »
Zlatan just chrow way...
         

Offline Toppa

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #28 on: September 16, 2009, 01:06:17 PM »
Very keen contest so far! Exciting match.
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Offline Toppa

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Re: CL 09-10 • FC Inter Milan v FC Barcelona • 16/09/09
« Reply #29 on: September 16, 2009, 01:07:42 PM »
lol Eto'o giving them a lil thunder already.
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