When I sit down and look back at my career as a footballer I think I'll be pretty happy with what I see. Some people may look at me and see a mostly bench player who isn't very good at any of the positions I can play, but these people have not achieved what I have. Even if they were to become football players in the top flight, they could never reach my level of success. When I look at my career I see a player who is able to play numerous positions as a capable backup. "But he sucks at all of them!" I can hear the haters cry. It doesn't bother me that the majority of these haters come from the fans of my own team, as most fans and pundits outside of the club do not vocalize their distaste for my quality as a footballer and, as they say, the silent majority is what really matters. The silent majority may not be clamoring for my autograph or anything, but I'd prefer to go after the stars of my own team for attention, too. It does somewhat bother me that my own fans let their jealousy make them pretend to favor newbies like Neymar and Suarez, but not too much, and why? Because I have won countless trophies with my club, and I play for the BEST club! I can understand that most of these fans, or "Culers", as they call themselves at times, really just wish they had my role with the club. All of the "I could do a better job" comments are proof of that. It's no wonder the club begged me to sign a contract extension.
Another thing I often hear are people complaining about how often I get injured. Have any of these people tried playing for an entire 90 minutes? How about an entire hour? There is a tremendous amount of strain put on your body when you do things like jog, pass, and fall down. I understand my absence hurts the team greatly when I get injured, as my two backups are less than capable, but when you're as valuable a player as me, you need to rest. Just look at how the coach is willing to risk our players in the midfield and forward line. If any of them get injured seriously (Which does NOT happen to me, thank you very much) we always have a replacement. But me? Who else will play LB when my presence is needed? Mathieu? Roberto? I'm the only one capable, and that's why this club needs me.
People also seem to completely overlook the fact that I am one of the only two footed players in the game. I can play on either flank of the defense. We have many fantastic players on the RB position, so I don't play there very often, unfortunately, but we do need a LB, and guess what else I can play!
Aw hell... Who am I kidding? I don't care at all. I'm not even the starting LB. I'm probably not even good enough to play for Barca at this point. But it doesn't matter! Give me money! Give me trophies! Give me exposure as an FCB player! Give me playing time! Give me.... ADRIANO!
Because if you don't it's age discrimination!