This is Barça!

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YOUR BLOG IS FUCKING AMAZING ! VISCA EL BARCA (:

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FOREVER AND ALWAYS VISCA EL BARCAAAA!!!

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AFR x adidas x You. Designing Lionel Messi.

Leo Messi needs you (or your more artistic friend) to design his next pair of adidas football boots, which he’ll wear during a match in December. WAIT. Read that last sentence again to make sure we’re on the same page. You can create a unique pair of adidas adizero f50s (just like ours, above) for Messi by visiting the new “miadidas configurator” here and submitting a design with various colour schemes and personal touches.

But you don’t really want to hear us go on and on about this, do you? Alright, we’ll turn this over to our favourite #10. Messi said: “In football, you express yourself with your feet, which is why I like to feel like I have a connection to my adizero f50s. Knowing that your boots are unique makes you feel special and makes you play with more confidence. I’m excited to see the designs that my fans create for me on the miadidas configurator and I look forward to playing in them.” 

Want more info? Head to facebook.com/adidasfootball or @adidasfootball (use the #miadidas hashtag to join the conversation), or even ask us @afootballreport. These boots make their debut this weekend, and the likes of Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema and AC Milan’s Riccardo Montolivo will be hitting the pitch with their own customised boots. [posted by Dominic and Eric]

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brazil 2014 world cup countdown (7/446)

the making of adidas jabulani ball

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Andres Iniesta: “You learn fast that possesion is king. And that never changes.”

Many began their development on the streets or in a playground, a stage which would then take plenty of aspiring footballers to the next level, the 5-aside arena, where futsal is played. A style of football religiously practised throughout South America and Spain, where illustrious names such as Redondo, Ronaldinho and Iniesta mastered the art of this game that revolves around fast touches and controlling the ball in small confined areas. It became a key influence behind their technical abilities and the widely praised ‘tiki-taka’ performed by Iniesta on a weekly basis. And as he points out, possession is key.

To celebrate Iniesta’s style of play and the launch of the new mint green Elastico Finale II shoe, Nike took Iniesta back to his roots, to Fuentealbilla, his hometown and to his ground. Where a much younger talented kid mastered the game of futsal, before jumping into the Albacete youth set-up and then joining Barcelona at the age of 12.

Although the game changed from 5 men to 11 as Iniesta grew up, his style and ability hasn’t, they remain loyal to futsal, which clearly shaped him into the world class player he is today. This is my ground. [Posted by Dom]

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Team Messi hits the pitch.

Okay, you’re the latest member to join Team Messi… Your face appears on the news, displayed on skyscrapers and you even get a mural painted by someone without your permission. You’re just a step away from being a meme sensation. You’ve become part of a movement, one which plays the Messi Way. So when you’re on field, how do you beat a player without the help of Xavi or Iniesta?

Stepping their game up a level with their talisman Leo Messi and his first signature adizero f50 boot, adidas have now created an innovative 3D digital video that uses your Facebook details creating a personalised experience. The music is fresh, the technology is clever, and you get a glimpse of what it’s like to be in the shoes of the boy from Rosario.

[whereisfootball]

‘He is like a Playstation player.’ – Arsène Wenger, 2010

Life is impossible to perfectly recreate, and football, restricted by reality, is the same. Video games are simply a reduced reflection of that on which they are based, and can never compete with the real thing – but that’s only obvious. There is only so much that current technology can achieve in taking life and art to the same level. There are only so many fingers on two hands, and only so many buttons and triggers that can be pushed at once. There are only so many different combinations resulting in only so many movements on the screen. A virtual Lionel Messi is good, but he has his limits.

The Messi that scored 91 goals in 2012 , that has won the Ballon d’Or for a fourth time, seemingly has no such limits. Wenger was wrong to compare him to the artificial imitation. The real Messi is far better.

We’re delighted to be working with Matheus, the man behind 8-bit Football, as we head into 2013. Words by Max Grieve.

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12-The Greatest

“Messi is the one that makes the difference, who takes us to another level. He’ll never be repeated. He’s the best player I’ve ever seen, the best player I’ll ever coach.”

-Pep Guardiola

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Carles Puyol + Peace Sign

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[whereisfootball]

8 years of Leo

The setting was the panoramic Montjuïchill, which oversees the Catalan capital from dusk til dawn. FC Barcelona, managed by Frank Rijkaard, were beating their hosts and city rivals Espanyol 1-0. In the 82nd minute match goalscorer Deco, jogged to to sideline and hugged a player with a short frame who was wearing the number 30 shirt. The midfield maestro came off for Messi, who in return, was making his first appearance for the club and becoming the second youngest to do so at that time.

In the short space of time, Messi displayed glimpses of magic, always looking to run into empty spaces, a technique he would later master and become renowned for. Following the final whistle, journalists approached the talented but notoriously shy forward, capturing his first words:

“I will remember these 10 minutes for the rest of my life, I am very happy.” 

His first goal arrived 7 and half months later, inside the roaring Camp Nou against Albacete and since then, the boy from Rosario has scored another 264 goals, alongsige zig-zagging through dozens of defenders, breaking numerous records and lifting plenty trophies, all of which are transforming him into one the best footballer’s of all time. Maybe, the best. 

And let’s not forget, Leo is still 25. [DV]

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Messi on the bench during the second half of the PSG game

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my love ∞ 

[whereisfootball]

“Messi” by Daniel Kliger

Oil on canvas. 18x24.

“Sport seems to me the best expression of modernism. It is a balance between war and art, competition and beauty. Lionel Messi, as one of our greatest footballers, is also our greatest warrior and our greatest artist. Here Messi finds himself in an impressionist landscape and under the more violent sky of a war painting like Benjamin West’s ‘The Death of General Wolfe.’”

Daniel Kliger lives in New York City, where he attends Columbia University. We’re delighted to be featuring “Messi” on AFR. [Posted by Eric]

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GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL MESSI

YEAAAAAAH

I BELIEVE IN BARÇA I DO I DO