It’s Ronaldinho’s birthday! He never gets me anything, so I didn’t bother either. But I will type a few paragraphs as an excuse for us to watch the Brazilian’s first league goal for Barcelona.
The Catalans’ first home game of the 2003-2004 season was an unusually nocturnal affair. Barcelona had hoped to line up against Sevilla on Tuesday 2nd September. This early evening date would have allowed Barca’s legion of international players to take to the field, cheat on their countries, and still be home in time for that weekend’s Euro 2004 qualifiers.
This turned out to be a fine plan on paper, if not in practice. It was decided that Sevilla’s first XI were far too busy to be playing football on Tuesday night - they’d be washing their kit or some equally implausible excuse. The game would be played the following day.
This stubbornness irritated Barcelona no end; instead of remaining aloof in the face of provocation, the club indulged in some equally bad behaviour. Sevilla would get their game on the day they wanted, only Barça would pick the time.
It was this unsightly scrapping that filled the Camp Nou with 80,000 fans at five minutes past midnight on Wednesday 3rd September.
Barcelona slumbered through the first half, going a goal behind to a José Antonio Reyes penalty after ten minutes. But Ronaldinho roused the home side from their nightmare and won a point with a ridiculous second half goal.
Accompanied by the assembled hordes of the press, Sven-Goran Eriksson muses over England tactics in June 2004: “Balance is the key word”, Eriksson said. “If the balance is not OK in the midfield, the whole team suffers… [Steven] Gerrard might be the best…”
In January 2006, the Liverpool captain confirmed a nation’s suspicions - Eriksson is clueless.
Tuesday 7th March 2006: Barcelona prepare to face Chelsea in the Champions League.
The Catalan side lead 2-1 from a controversial first leg which saw Chelsea’s Asier Del Horno red-carded for a challenge on Lionel Messi. Del Horno’s Argentinian victim was subsequently accused of “play-acting” by José Mourinho. The consistently quotable Blues manager served up headlines as he expanded on his theory: “How do you say ‘cheating’ in Catalan?”
Such comments go some way to explain the friendly welcome Chelsea received on their arrival in Spain: showered not with gifts, but saliva. This enmity was built on solid foundations of loathing from last year’s contest between the clubs.
Barça fans can’t forget Mourinho’s allegations against their manager, Frank Rijkaard. It was claimed that the Dutchman unfairly influenced the match referee by speaking to him during the half-time interval of the first leg. Chelsea lost that match, but they went on to win the tie at Stamford Bridge a fortnight later.
Ever quick to sniff out the stench of bad blood, UEFA warned players and management that their behaviour would be monitored. They needn’t have worried.
Less than four days after prodding Bryan Robson to the edge of reason, Mourinho set about easing tensions in the Camp Nou tunnel. Barcelona captain Carles Puyol is greeted with diplomatic skill.
Olympique Lyonnais’ Brazilian midfielder Juninho goes by the sobriquet Pernambucano. This cunning piece of South American nomenclature lets us know that he was born in Pernambuco state in the northeast of Brazil. It also helps to distinguish him from his namesake, Juninho Paulista.
Paulista found fame in the Premiership with Middlesbrough as… well… a Brazilian midfielder. Not so long ago, there was a need to avoid confusion between one Juninho and the other. How things change. The last time Paulista appeared on my radar - in front of a permanently disappointed crowd at Celtic Park - he was struggling to trap the ball, let alone knock it into the net from forty-odd yards like this.
AC Ajaccio were the little Brazilian’s Ligue 1 victims on Saturday. Keeper Stéphane Porato may be in need of a full-frontal lobotomy, but that shouldn’t detract from the free-kick. Is there another player in the world who would have the nerve to shoot from artillery range and still be able to put the ball on target? One name is enough when you’re the only person on the planet who can do it.