Reporting from Camp Nou (although belatedly)

As Ronaldinho took to the field, the last player to do so for either team, 96,315 people cheered and applauded. A chant of ‘Ronny, Ronny, Ronny’ started around the stadium. People smiled as he lined up with the Barcelona team for the photo just before the Joan Gamper trophy kicked off. Before the match Ronny had bowed to every corner of the stadium and did a few tricks with the ball before rattling the crossbar with a piledriver of a shot in the final shooting practice. The day was a ‘fan day’ but it turned into Ronaldinho’s swan song, in a much publicised letter Ronaldinho paid tribute to the fans he was leaving behind one last time.

Ronaldinho had left two seasons previous, after an unsuccessful season. He moved to AC Milan and immediately professed his love for his previous club but his desire to win in Italy. In reality he was no longer needed at Barca as they got rid of Frank Rijkaard and promoted the Catalan Pep Guardiola as new manager. Guardiola was and is a legend for the club, he played 250+ games before journeying around some other European teams. He had managed Barcelona B for a year and now was ready for the main job. We all know by now what became of him, he was unbelievably successful winning the treble in his first year. A year where Barca had ‘lost’ Deco and Ronaldinho to european rivals, they won everything in sight and did so playing attractive attacking football with Leo Messi being touted as the best player in the world. Xavi and Iniesta became cruxes that the team played around and Ronaldinho was a distant flickering memory. Until that was, his return.

The match started and Ronaldinho promptly faded, he barely influenced the game. It was a sight many Barca fans were used to in his final season but even as they parted they parted on good terms, parting for them was such sweet sorrow as they remembered his unbelievable brace against the arch-enemy Madrid. Ronaldinho played the majority of the match before being summoned for a farewell substitution he applauded the stadium and left the field. Barca won the match in the end on penalties. As they lifted the friendly trophy ‘Ronny’ helped Carles Puyol, “Mr Barca”, carry it around the field. The press were deferential in their post-match comments as they said ‘Barca loves you’ to which Ronaldinho replied “& I love Barca”. They talked for 5 minutes with permanent smiles on their faces, the Studio crew flew through what little touches he had in the match before cutting to another interview. This time with Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic had arrived last season in a flurry of Hype, the Swedish striker joining for Jose Mourinho’s Inter with the lacklustre Samuel Eto’o going the other way, with 30m+ in cash. It was an astonishing transfer and was the biggest transfer of the summer. Zlatan was never fully welcomed, some worried he wouldn’t fit into Barca’s tactics, others argued he was the final piece of the puzzle and that he would give Barca the plan B they required. Ibrahimovic had a good season for Barca in statistical terms he finished with 22 goals in 42 games a Ratio that exceeded Ronaldinho’s first year and his overall totals. However, statistics just didn’t tell the full story, it was a warm night in Barcelona as the team beseiged the 10 man Inter in search of an elusive goal that showed how all Catalans fealt about ‘Ibra’ as Barca were battering the door down and with no need to defend, Guardiola made a substitution Bojan was summoned from the bench and was to replace the swede. Pep had taken off a striker as Barca searched for a goal, surely it was madness. In reality it was a change that was made too late. Ibrahimovic was terrible, again, he never was the Plan B Barca needed and as Barca were eventually eliminated it seemed to spell the end for Ibrahimovic.

As the interview aired on Catalan TV after the game, Ibrahimovic was barracked. Are you moving to AC? When? He responded in kind, hostile and combative Ibrahimovic didn’t give any definitive answers but showed his Irritation at Guardiola, i’m paraphrasing here but it went along the lines. ‘He [pep] doesn’t speak to me, when I walk into a room he leaves,maybe he is scared of me?’. The press continued to harangue him before he left.

A few days later he would move to AC Milan on Loan, the very same club that Ronaldinho had left to two years previous. The parallels with Ronaldinho’s move are evident. Both were big ticket items, showy forwards with all the skill in the world but not the mental resilience to do it week in week out in the mould of Leo Messi or David Villa. As they have both moved on (at 28 I might add) to Milan their values had dropped and they were ushered out the door at Camp Nou, the one difference is that with ‘Ibra’ it was not with a warm goodbye. I don’t expect that should AC return in a few years with Ibrahimovic leading the line he will get the same adulation that Ronaldinho did. But why?

P.S. The veteran striker whom Ibrahimovic will take playing time from, Pippo Inzaghi, played in the Gamper trophy too. He also scored, one of the best goals I have ever seen, you probably haven’t seen it but you should. Watch it here. From Seedorf (A legend) to Inzaghi (A legend) it was a pleasure to be there to witness it

During the takeover of Manchester City last summer, City’s Chief Executive, Gary Cook made several rather tasteless comments but one stood out above all the others for me. During an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Cook was outlining City’s plan for world domination. As Wednesday’s defeat at Tottenham showed, sometimes things don’t go to plan.

During a rather ill-judged interview, which looking back, is quite hilarious now, Cook had this to say: “China and India are gagging for football content to watch and we’re going to tell them that City is their content. We need a superstar to get through that door. Richard Dunne doesn’t roll off the tongue in Beijing. Ronaldinho brings access to major sponsors and financial reward”

Going on their current way of doing business at Manchester City, they’ll try sign Ronaldinho, who is nowhere near the player he was between 2003 and 2006. Yet Richard Dunne has been instrumental in Aston Villa’s fantastic form this season by continuing in the same vein that saw him Manchester City’s player of the year in 4 out of his last 5 seasons at the club. A great club build from the back by having a superb defence which allows the flair players to express themselves. Cook was out of order to pour scorn on Dunne especially judging by the comedy defending Lescott, Toure and Bridge have offered so far this season.

If anything, Manchester City are crying out for a player like Richard Dunne, but as Cook said, he doesn’t sell shirts in China. Why on earth would Manchester City want someone who can defend but just isn’t glamorous enough. He just gives 100% and puts his body on the line, always pushing himself to keep his side in every game. For club and country, Dunne has always been Mr. Consistency over the last 6 seasons and Aston Villa are now benefiting from his work rate.

Since joining Villa, Dunne has slotted in seamlessly and allowed O’Neill’s side to concentrate on their effective counter attacking game. By knowing they have such a dependable and reliable player behind them, Villa’s attacking quartet can concentrate on trying to run teams ragged. With the pace that Villa have, Dunne’s strength and presence at the back allows the team to quickly break out and take advantage.

With the experience last season will have given some of the players, they’ll know that they have to avoid a repeat of running out of steam once the season came down to the run in. With Downing now almost fully match fit and Collins complementing Dunne at the back, Villa have a real squad that can enable them to stay the pace.

Everyone has been surprised by Everton’s slow start, but they’ve been ripped apart by injuries to the point they were reliant on the youth set up at Goodison, but Spurs and Manchester City are also up there with Villa. For once we have 7 or 8 sides battling at the top of the table and the Premiership is all the better for it. Liverpool continue to press the self destruct button too which strengthens the pretenders attempts to gain a top 4 slot.

Under Martin O’Neill and with the reliable Richard Dunne in the team, Aston Villa will be hoping they can look down on Manchester City. I wonder then if Gary Cook will see any Aston Villa shirts with Dunne on the back during his summer holidays. I really hope he does.

Portugal manager Luiz Felipe Scolari stirred the footballing pot when Chelsea announced an agreement with him to become their next manager, at the termination of his Portugal contract after Euro 2008. Throwing even more chum into the water, are the ever truthful transfer magicians, who now have just about everyone available linked to Chelsea.Big Phil supposedly will start his reign with an audacious £60m bid for AC Milan star Kaka, which may or may not include Didier Drogba and/or Shevchenko as bait. He may also set his sights on Andrea Pirlo, with a £7m per season contract.Additionally, he may look to bring in Portugal and Barcelona midfielder Deco, who is free to discuss terms with other teams. Barcelona will also shed longtime Chelsea target Ronaldinho, who played for Scolari when he coached Brazil. But, they may include Samuel Eto’o with Deco in a £43m deal.Scolari may convince Frank Lampard to stay with a lucrative new contract, or, alternatively, be the factor that forces him to go to Inter Milan.Cristiano Ronaldo’s flirtations with Real Madrid may be the work of Scolari, who wants the player to move away from potential rival Manchester United. However, Big Phil may fancy the lad himself and jump into the bidding with Real Madrid.Big Phil may nab Robinho and David Villa as well just for the hell of it.Tyler Duffy has been a contributing blogger to EPL Talk since 2006.  His work can also be viewed as a weekly soccer commentator for TheBigLead and on his blog at Odds and Sods.

On July 5, Premier League star Fernando Torres is scheduled to play in the Free Kick Master 2008 tournament at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas.

Accompanying the Liverpool striker at the event is a who’s-who of the star players in the world including Lionel Messi, Ronaldinho, Rafael Marquez, Alessandro del Piero, Robinho, Deco, Didier Drogba (final negotiations; announcement expected soon), Emmanuel Adebayor (final negotiations; announcement expected soon), Robert Pires, Kasey Keller and many more. For the complete list, visit the event’s web site.

The event is a free kick tournament featuring some of the best free kick takers competing against world-class goalkeepers. The tournament will be available on TV via pay-per-view across the United States. Free Kick Masters 2008 will also be distributed around the world on TV via Fox Sports International.

Ticket prices range from $20 to $750 (for VIP seating).

As I wrote previously, it looks like Manchester City are going to sack Sven-Goran Eriksson after just one season in charge. In that article, I outlined my reasoning for stating that this was a bad move.

Pat Doyle of The Guardian has his say on the matter, The Telegraph ponders the candidates to replace Sven, while The Independant earlier discussed the rumoured transfer list that Sven and Shinawatra were to discuss. The list apparently included names like Ronaldinho, fellow Brazilian Jo (CSKA Moscow) and Liverpool’s Peter Crouch.

What do you think of the move to dump Sven?