SirBalon

This is a hell of a lot worse than the sickness Term-X had, and I thought that was impossible. Seriously though... All of this I KNOW will be alienating the true Man Utd fans we have and could possibly have because they won't want to associate with all of this idolatry nonsense.

I think I'm right in saying that it was Fabio Capello who used him the most and had most confidence in Guti. I can't depict the moment you've described in my mind mate but I'm sure it's there. Where Guti would play well was when the opponent would sit deep and defend in numbers... If you gave him time to think, he'd invent something radical and special. His problem was when Real would face top sides that would go out to beat Real Madrid like for example a Barcelona, Valencia or Athletic Bilbao who had a great record against Real at the time. Against those sides he tended not to play because he'd get caught in possession and his work rate for a central midfielder wasn't optimum. Infact, a bit like Mesut Özil at Arsenal strangely enough. On the Barcelona side of things, there was a player of magical majestic moments that unfortunately never ruled the world like many thought he would and definitely how I thought he would. What happened there nobody knows but the world could've been his oyster. He is one of the Johan Cruyff kids, a total invention by Cruyff and he couldn't have picked a better seed to nurture because it came from a royal historic crop being none other than the grand nephew one of Real Madrid's greatest ever players, Paco Gento. This player's name was Iván de la Peña. Nicknamed "The Little Buddha" (El Pequeño Buddha) I don't know if you have knowledge of him mate, but this kid was amazing Spike... Trust me! This isn't nostalgia here or even some move to add a Barcelona player of some sort. This player should've been destined to become the best player in the world at the time and for a long time too. But whatever it was, there was something that just didn't finalise it and I'm talking minute details that never finished it all off cleanly like polished titanium... He was brushed titanium, beautiful and faultless but you wanted to see that final push where he'd be the finished shining article so as to worship as a footballing god in the best part of the pitch as a midfielder. His eye of the needle passing, the measuring of his passes, the weight, the power and out and out vision was that of god like status. His technical ability was almost perfect with a very low centre of gravity due to his typical northern Spanish stature of shortish but stocky. And his vision for beautiful goals was sublime! I still remember the day he was signed by SS Lazio in 1998 was a very sad day because the Barça fans loved HIM most of all the star names and they all thought he would be the one the future would be built around. Incredibly, De La Peña ended up at city rivals RCD Espanyol in his latter years where is where most people will remember him as a sporadic (a-la Guti) player of magical moments. But that wasn't the kid Cruyff placed in the side. The 'Little Buddha' was to have been Cruyff's master stroke and believe it or not, Cruyff's failure to finish him off was part of the legend's fall out with the Barcelona board who had been platting behind his back to have any reason to push him out as he had become so so powerful... Those times were almost like Shakespeare's play on Julius Caesar where Brutus finally sticks the knife in the back, only that this was the now down to be massively corrupt pst president, Josep Lluis Núñez. Many great players wore the Barça colours, but the only one that was ever permitted to be a poster in my bedroom with those colours was Iván de la Peña. One of the biggest frustrations in football for me to be honest.

For some reason I've stopped getting alerts on the @ function... Have to have a look at my settings tomorrow morning. Guti was an extremely gifted player with some extraordinary flashes of utter brilliance. But you said it yourself... His career practically means nothing of any note and he never even managed to be a feature for Spain. His attitude was terrible and very public too which doesn't win you any privileges with your coach whoever he may be. He is a cult figure for the fervent and fanatical Real Madrid fan though with his famed hatred for Barça being one of the reasons for this. But he was gifted and a shame he threw it away in various different ways. There's one particular piece of play that comes to mind nearer the end of his career where he backheels a deliberate pass for a goal but I can't remember who it was against only that I remember thinking it was magical and inspirational.

That's a classic and one of my favourite moments hahahaha. The greatest comedy series of them all! Although I loved to count with this chap...

Mathis is proper hard mate... My worst subject at school to be honest.

I better you on that because I get multiplied! neeeh!

I want you to rate my underpants! On a serious note... I get that too and I don't even recognise 90% of the people it does recommend hahaha.

Thankfully in my home both my wife and my self are very organised and to be honest I don't know how I'd feel with the opposite as organisation and hygiene is an OCD of mine (but I don't impose myself on anyone and if it hasn't been done, I just get on and do it myself). I even have labels pointing in the correct direction both in the fridge and the cupboards.

Usually it's the other way around with wives hinting to husbands.

What made you think I would disagree with you there because you seem to have made that point like I may have a category system of points for importance in life. I agree with you there and infact I never said that meeting Messi was the great part of that particular story and more so the idea behind it which sounds rather ridiculous and that you would think would never come to fruition. The end result of both stories is important to me because of how I am as a character though... Romario's stance is rancid where at least Messi entertained the situation in rather strange circumstances to the ordinary. That doesn't mean I am (again) categorising each character on the end results and is an "observationalists" judgement on both people in certain situations. Romario has gone onto try and make a mark of impoverished people in politics within his own country which shows that categorising people on one off actions is mostly erroneous.

You're being pedantic now mate. He didn't meet anyone. He let an unknown unto his home. Anyway... It doesn't have to mean anything to you and there may be others that feel the same. For me it's a cool story and most of all if it made someone happy then I'm all for that no matter who it is. I like positiveness and not rancid stances in life always looking for the negative side to portray.

Yeah... People as famous as him let you into their house most days. I remember going to Beverly Hills and having brunch with a few of that lot that live in the area. There's a story of a young guy travelling all the way form northern Brazil (on the outskirts of the Amazon forest) all the way to the south on a bicycle to get a photo and autograph done with his idol Romario. When he arrived he refused to see him at the training grounds saying he was an idiot. Imagine he'd knocked on his door at home.

The thing is Lavezzi is an Argentinian player. They probably did get it wrong and there's no particular order we can understand with how he's set them out and only means something to him. What I do know is that he made it all himself and didn't get any help from anyone outside... That part I was amazed at more than anything else (except for the Aldosiví story which I love).

To be honest I haven't watched it and I'm intrigued. Even though some will say that this is not the case on here, I am not biassed and I do know many things have been twisted in history so when I watch it I will give my honest opinion on what I know to be true and what I know to be false where some believe it's gospel. There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever though, that things were massively conditioned back then "for the good of the country" and many either suffered at the cause of it or were maimed in different ways which isn't always physical. I'll come back on this once I've watched it. I thought that too... From reading some Argentinian newspapers they seem to feel that the floored glass container full of shirts is dedicated to Argentinian football and to me that shirt seems to be an Ajax one. Maybe @NeymarPele can help us out here.

I don't know which thread to click on right now and it's making me dizzy. hahahaha... TF365's first totally retard moments.

Obviously nobody reads his Eurosport column on a regular basis because over the years he's come out with brilliant ones like when he said two years ago that Barça was finished and that they may not even qualify for the Champions League that season (he was opportunistic in that view after their defeat away to Real Sociedad in La Liga and Barcelona looked in crisis)... Barça went onto win the treble!

Photo diary of the event? Sounds great!

They are if you've got a powerful car to do them on. I think I'd give the Bolivian one a miss though unless the car has wings and they work.

Five most dangerous roads in the world The Atlantic Highway or Altanterhavsveien Norway The Gouliang Tunnel China Iroha Zaka Japan Nor Yungas or The Road of Death Bolivia Paso Stelvio Italy

That part is true with what Mourinho said on the amount of matches and looking to focus on one particular competition. I feel sorry for him to be honest because his squad is very thin with probably only a first XI to pick from as there hasn't exactly been a lot of investment in the side since Ferguson stepped down. It's not everyday United has seen themselves having to combine Europe with domestic football.

Story of the mysterious Aldosiví shirt Ever since Lionel Messi posted on Instagram his personal collection of shirts of other players he's played against, the social media has gone boom with all sorts of comments. Obviously in the picture Messi posted you can only see the ones directly around him and there are apparently dozens more unseen. Take for example the father of the Real Sociedad goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli who posted on his own instagram and emotional message saying that to see his son's shirt on display in Messi's mini shirt museum is something that has filled him with emotion and pride. Well there's another story that's surfaced because if you observe the shirts Messi has in a glass floor at his feet on the bottom left hand corner there's a football top that's caused a revolution back in Argentina with everyone asking themselves how that got there. The shirts at Messi's feet are Argentinian football club shirts of teams Messi has faced in the World Club Cup tournament over the years while playing for Barcelona. That shirt at the bottom left is of a club called Aldosiví which is a small club in the Mar de Plata region and has only been playing in Argentina's first division this season for the first time in decades. So how did that shirt get there? The Argentinian press tracked down the number on the shirt which belongs to a player called Hernán Lamberti (now playing in Central Córdoba de Santiago del Estero in the second division) who was playing for Aldosiví until last year and this is the incredible story he had to tell on how Messi has come by obtaining that shirt and even more extraordinary, the fact it's on main display in that glass floor casing. Here's what the tracked down Hernán Lamberti had to say about it to journalists; "The story is a bit of a strange one because what occurred was that a friend of mine, Roberto López that does my tattoos told me he was going on holiday to Barcelona and as a joke I said, you could take my shirt to Messi's house. He said, actually that's a great idea and I gave him the shirt to see if he could manage it." "How he managed to get it to Lionel Messi I will never know because he's never told that part of the story, but the next thing I saw was my friend send me a picture on WhatsApp (the picture above on the title) with Messi holding my shirt. It filled me with such emotion that I admit I started to cry uncontrollably." "The truth is that I felt so much emotion when I saw that photo because Messi must be sick of people approaching him for all sorts of things and here we have a situation where he's accepted a stranger into his own home with a strange request. I never thought I'd ever cry again after that moment I saw the WhatsApp picture but yesterday when I saw Messi's Instagram post and MY shirt in between legends of the game everywhere and in a glass casing, I fell to the ground crying and banging my fists on the ground with happiness in my heart. I'm in a state of shock!" Hernán Lamberti has posted this Tweet; Lamberti has had tens of thousands of comments on his Twitter account where before yesterday 90% of the football world had probably never heard of him before. My personal favourite is of all the comments that have been made was one I heard on the radio last night from an Argentinian journalist which is simple and to the point; "I love these things that football gives us at times. Messi has got Lamberti's shirt and Lamberti cries with emotion. Well I am also emotional and I will cry with Lamberti too."

Yep, you're right. Massive mistakes by the technical directors at Barça with Robert Fernández being in the firing line. To be honest, nobody knows who's controlling that side of things ever since Andoni Zubizarreta was practically sacked (is now technical director at Olympique Marseille)... There's also Ariedo Braida (the guy that put AC Milan on the map) who's making decisions. I'm really happy for Dani Alves. He loves Barça but the board messed him around and he messed them around in the end with the last laugh too. It's very difficult to plan a replacement for one of the best right-backs in history, and putting a central midfielder in there isn't the answer.

Yeah, that definitely reaches Cristiano Ronaldo levels and everything the guy's been about for over a decade. Well done! I get it, but there is a reason for the display.

It'd have a couple of teeth stuck to it.