Andoni Zubizarreta
- Thread starter Barcaman
- Start date
TornAndFrayed
Banned
on suarez
sacked in the morning
sacked in the morning
DonAK
President of FC Barcelona
Looks like Zubi was sacked because of rightfully pointing the direction Bartomeu's way.
Don't think he was a good Sporting Director, but every decision certainly wasn't his
douglas
Was a bit sad to read too tbh. Despite of everything, the guy's a Barça legend so I hope things gets right for him.
Don't think he was a good Sporting Director, but every decision certainly wasn't his
douglas Was a bit sad to read too tbh. Despite of everything, the guy's a Barça legend so I hope things gets right for him.
El Flaco
Active member
Zubi's interview with El Periódico
It’s been a year now. What a rough and unjust exit, right?
Before and now, a year later, I am absolutely convinced that my exit from Barça was not about some professional issues, it was not about my work, the squad that we built or lack of involvement. My exit had more to do with the politics of football, a field where I don’t do very well. The truth is that I don’t know how to move in the dark side of politics and of football. I didn’t before and I don’t now. It might be one of my flaws.
Time has proved you right…
The criteria we used and the selection we made were very clear, that’s why both Josep Maria Bartomeu and I shared them, that’s why we have designed a squad and made a big investment for 18 months, due to the FIFA ban. A year and a half later, the feeling is that our work was good, that we built a good, competitive squad, that we were right in choosing the coach, the football idea continues, some players have grown like we were expecting them to, others have adapted… After that decision, when I see Barça playing, I feel both satisfaction and pain at the same time.
What are you left with a year later?
Football. After a difficult year, I can say that football saved me from the disenchantment and disappointment. Football brought me out of the cold, the loneliness, the mud I was left in on that January 5th. By football I mean the game itself, what happens on the pitch: the ball, the goals, the plays, the goalkeeper saves, the assists… Because no one can imagine how alone I felt that day. Not because Barça fired me, but because I was left alone facing the greatness that Barça represents.
I see that not even knowing that your work has kept Barça on top of the football world balances out that pain and bitter taste.
It’s obvious that for Narcís Julià, Albert Valentín and me, who formed a fantastic work team, seeing that everything we thought out, reasoned, planned and executed has worked out and has kept Barça being the model, like it was proven a couple of weeks ago in Japan, is a reason for pride and satisfaction. That’s the part of football that has saved me. The part that has nothing to do with the business, the politics, the statements… In the end, it’s always football that saves you. And that makes me proud. Because it’s my work, the idea based on which we explained the things we did, why we did them and how.
Doesn’t that make you feel happy?
My weakness is that I can’t convert that which makes me feel proud into happiness. So, no, it doesn’t make me happy. It makes me proud of the work I did with Narcís and Albert, but not happy because that plenitude of happiness only happens when you share your success with others, obviously your colleagues, but also with the players and coach. And that’s where I’m alone again. On January 5 of last year, the Three Wise Men (traditional Spanish holiday on January 6 where gifts are given) brought me coal, a big lump of coal, and I was left alone facing the immensity of a club like Barça, left only with myself, my family and my closest colleagues. And I wasn’t even able to watch the game for the contradiction that was happening inside me where both disenchantment and the satisfaction of a work well done both lived. The work everyone did.
Is that why you declined the club’s invitation to go to the Club World Cup in Japan?
I’ve normalized my relationship with the club and with the president, but I still have a weird feeling in my stomach. I don’t ask anyone to share this, but I do ask for respect and understanding. I gave up that trip because, next to the enormous satisfaction of being able to enjoy a unique and extraordinary moment, of seeing that your team is named the best in the world, there was also the frustration of being an outside of the club, of that group, of that achievement. And, having that contradiction of feelings, it didn’t make much sense to make the trip. I thanked the president, of course, but I preferred to stay home.
How did it all start?
In my case it started when Sandro Rosell and Pep Guardiola put their faith in me, of course. And personally, when I met two wonderful and great professionals, Narcís and Albert. I didn’t chose them, they were in the club already and we made a great team. In 2010 Barça had to answer two vital questions: one, if it was able to maintain its footballing level, beyond what this extraordinary generation of players we had could extend it, and two, how could we maintain this excellence if Pep was no longer the coach, since everyone thought that this was only guaranteed if Pep stayed on.
Seeing the results, you could say you’ve answered both those questions.
Five years later, with better and worse moments, with good decisions and mistakes, of course, the Barça project is still there, its game keeps dazzling, the players, old and new, keep sustaining the idea, they’re still a footballing reference point for the whole world. But that’s solely the merit of who trains them and of the ones who play.
And of the ones that do the planning.
If we think of the Champions League final at Wembley in 2011, when we beat Manchester United 3-1 and we remember that they were also wondering what would happen to United after some great players left and Sir Alex Ferguson retired, it’s obvious that, seeing where each is now, our process of reflection, selection and analysis was the right one. With Pep guiding us we were already the bomb, in that moment we were at our peak, and despite that, out obsession at that time was how we were going to continue that excellence.
I suppose that the style of play chosen by Barça makes taking these decisions more difficult.
The road Barça has chosen is a singular one. Unique. And I’m not criticizing that, but there was a moment when a lot of people thought that this idea could only be sublime, extraordinary, with one coach, Pep, and once-in-a-lifetime players, born and raised in La Masia, like Victor Valdés, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi… It was normal that lots of people thought that when one or two of these pieces would no longer be there Barça would have to do what the others are doing, which is good, it’s another way of winning, it can even be pleasant, but that wouldn’t be Barça anymore. What’s the added problem? That, unfortunately, you don’t have a mirror in which to look, you can’t learn from others because no one plays like you do, so no one has had to go through that transformation. Even more than that, when you look around you realize that everyone is dressed for winter and you’re still wearing short sleeves and you think ‘Damn, maybe I should put on a jacket’. Or do we keep doing our thing?
And Barça keeps doing its own thing.
Like it has always done. We are fortunate that the players have always been convinced of the fact that we had to persist with our style. They are the ones that face the difficulties presented by the model and their opponents. If we analyze the finals of Wembley in 2011 and Berlin in 2015 when you see the two teams playing, you see Barça playing, there’s no doubt. Ter Stegen instead of Victor, Alba instead of Abidal, Rakitic instead of Xavi, Suárez and Neymar instead of Villa and Pedro, but Barça was Barça. Now it has horizontal stripes instead of vertical ones, but it persists in the same idea.
You have always defended the players and you have always put them at the forefront of the idea.
I defend the club, the coach, the dressing room, my work team, the idea… Look, I would have wanted, you can’t imagine how much, for Pep to be our Alex Ferguson and that he had stayed here for decades. Because Pep told me something amazing one day. With Pep and his staff we started to analyze rivals meticulously, we hadn’t done that with the same precision before. I remember that Xavi told me: “Andoni, when we go out to play we have an idea, a perspective of what we’ll encounter. Pep helps us imagine where the space will be found, where we’ll be able to do damage.” That’s what Xavi used to tell me. And you know what Pep used to tell me? “Andoni, everything Xavi tells you is true, we try to help them with the analysis of the rival and the solutions that we create for each game, but they’re so good, Andoni, that they always find better solutions than the ones that we offered them.” You see, that’s why I praise our players, because they’re so good, because they know how to do this better than anyone and, beyond that, they do this under the greatest pressure in the world. That’s the most difficult thing: to be as good as they are wearing Barça’s shirt and knowing that they always have to win. And when I say always, I mean always.
The idea of play, that’s always been the magic of Barça, wasn’t it?
The idea is not debated, it’s applied. It’s not a closed off idea. It’s our way of playing, but there will be times where we have to change a step to win, days in which things won’t go the way we want them to and we’ll have to find alternatives to get the result we need. And Barça has always done that, all its life. At Wembley, with Johan, were we Barça? Of course. Did we play like always? Obviously, but on the left side he played Juan Carlos to shut down Lombardo. And that didn’t mean we renounced the idea. It’s an idea that moves and evolves with the help of each coach and player. And all of it is Barça.
Including the goals that don’t look like Barça goals, that are far from this idea.
Including those goals, yes. It would be good and honest and gratifying to remember that we got to the Rome final with a shot from Don Andrés Iniesta from outside the box at Stamford Bridge, something unthinkable for Barça… and Iniesta. I remember like it was yesterday how in the 2-6 at the Bernabéu, the 1-3 goal was born out of Xavi applying pressure on Lass Diarra half an hour into the game, stealing the ball, passing it to Leo and goal! The second goal the other day in the final in Yokohama was born from Busquets stealing the ball in the central circle, long ball, sorry, sorry, magnificent deep pass to Suárez, a run from Luis and goal. Is that a sin? No, that’s also Barça, there are variants, tools.
An idea that, according to you, has no owner.
Yes, it has an owner: it’s Barça’s idea. We can look Barça and find the fabulous Barça of the Five Cups or that first idea with Michels, Johan and Neeskens. And, of course, we should talk about Cruyff as a founder and about Paco Seirul·lo, Pep, Tito, Xavi, Iniesta, Luis Enrique… I wouldn’t want to leave anyone out. But it’s all copyrighted by Barça and its authentic owners are the coach and the players that execute that idea.
What do you think of the ones that were saying that Luis Enrique was trying to erase all traces of that idea?
The same noise started in 2008 when Pep reached the Camp Nou bench and all hell broke loose. What have they done? A coach without experience! He’s only coached in Tercera! Initial doubts are very frequent. They returned in 2012 when Pep left and they said that the idea of that Barça would disappear. Remember: the players are old, the opponents know how we play, we have to change our ways… The debate over Luis was marked that the same process of polemics and pundits. On top of that, Luis arrived at the time when there was a lot of instability and in that sense, a lot of the kicks I took were for people who were above me. And in the end, people saw that the only thing Luis did was to enrich the idea, the game.
You’re still worried that the business will take over the football.
Now that I see it from another perspective I’m even more worried if possible. Look, the 2014 preseason was a European preseason with football and tranquility, that caused few injuries. The 2015 preseason was a tour, with trips, appearances, marketing, income, more money, more business and unfortunately more muscle injuries. It happens to all the big clubs, that find themselves obligated to tighten their calendars and gather income to be able to pay for their star players. Is this football or business? I feel like the business is imposing itself more and more on the game, on football, the sport itself.
I see that you have plenty of examples in your mind to reinforce that theory.
I recall a week in which I told the youth national team coach Luis Milla that the young Deulofeu was called up to play, in the same week or the same day, with the U17 team, the U21 team and the Olympic team. Insanity. Want another example? This season ends with the Euros, the Olympic Games and another Copa América. Yes, yes, another Copa América. And they just played one, but since it’s the centenary they’re organizing a special edition. Where? In the US. Impossible to get more marketing. I insist, we’re dismantling football, exploiting the players.
With more former players running the federations, organizations or clubs maybe this would have a chance to be solved.
The vision of the ones who have played could help to change some of these absurd decisions, but clubs need money to keep their stars. But yes, it would be good if someone would add a bit of sobriety in all this.
The original source
Translated by Grup14
Before and now, a year later, I am absolutely convinced that my exit from Barça was not about some professional issues, it was not about my work, the squad that we built or lack of involvement. My exit had more to do with the politics of football, a field where I don’t do very well. The truth is that I don’t know how to move in the dark side of politics and of football. I didn’t before and I don’t now. It might be one of my flaws.
Time has proved you right…
The criteria we used and the selection we made were very clear, that’s why both Josep Maria Bartomeu and I shared them, that’s why we have designed a squad and made a big investment for 18 months, due to the FIFA ban. A year and a half later, the feeling is that our work was good, that we built a good, competitive squad, that we were right in choosing the coach, the football idea continues, some players have grown like we were expecting them to, others have adapted… After that decision, when I see Barça playing, I feel both satisfaction and pain at the same time.
What are you left with a year later?
Football. After a difficult year, I can say that football saved me from the disenchantment and disappointment. Football brought me out of the cold, the loneliness, the mud I was left in on that January 5th. By football I mean the game itself, what happens on the pitch: the ball, the goals, the plays, the goalkeeper saves, the assists… Because no one can imagine how alone I felt that day. Not because Barça fired me, but because I was left alone facing the greatness that Barça represents.
I see that not even knowing that your work has kept Barça on top of the football world balances out that pain and bitter taste.
It’s obvious that for Narcís Julià, Albert Valentín and me, who formed a fantastic work team, seeing that everything we thought out, reasoned, planned and executed has worked out and has kept Barça being the model, like it was proven a couple of weeks ago in Japan, is a reason for pride and satisfaction. That’s the part of football that has saved me. The part that has nothing to do with the business, the politics, the statements… In the end, it’s always football that saves you. And that makes me proud. Because it’s my work, the idea based on which we explained the things we did, why we did them and how.
Doesn’t that make you feel happy?
My weakness is that I can’t convert that which makes me feel proud into happiness. So, no, it doesn’t make me happy. It makes me proud of the work I did with Narcís and Albert, but not happy because that plenitude of happiness only happens when you share your success with others, obviously your colleagues, but also with the players and coach. And that’s where I’m alone again. On January 5 of last year, the Three Wise Men (traditional Spanish holiday on January 6 where gifts are given) brought me coal, a big lump of coal, and I was left alone facing the immensity of a club like Barça, left only with myself, my family and my closest colleagues. And I wasn’t even able to watch the game for the contradiction that was happening inside me where both disenchantment and the satisfaction of a work well done both lived. The work everyone did.
Is that why you declined the club’s invitation to go to the Club World Cup in Japan?
I’ve normalized my relationship with the club and with the president, but I still have a weird feeling in my stomach. I don’t ask anyone to share this, but I do ask for respect and understanding. I gave up that trip because, next to the enormous satisfaction of being able to enjoy a unique and extraordinary moment, of seeing that your team is named the best in the world, there was also the frustration of being an outside of the club, of that group, of that achievement. And, having that contradiction of feelings, it didn’t make much sense to make the trip. I thanked the president, of course, but I preferred to stay home.
How did it all start?
In my case it started when Sandro Rosell and Pep Guardiola put their faith in me, of course. And personally, when I met two wonderful and great professionals, Narcís and Albert. I didn’t chose them, they were in the club already and we made a great team. In 2010 Barça had to answer two vital questions: one, if it was able to maintain its footballing level, beyond what this extraordinary generation of players we had could extend it, and two, how could we maintain this excellence if Pep was no longer the coach, since everyone thought that this was only guaranteed if Pep stayed on.
Seeing the results, you could say you’ve answered both those questions.
Five years later, with better and worse moments, with good decisions and mistakes, of course, the Barça project is still there, its game keeps dazzling, the players, old and new, keep sustaining the idea, they’re still a footballing reference point for the whole world. But that’s solely the merit of who trains them and of the ones who play.
And of the ones that do the planning.
If we think of the Champions League final at Wembley in 2011, when we beat Manchester United 3-1 and we remember that they were also wondering what would happen to United after some great players left and Sir Alex Ferguson retired, it’s obvious that, seeing where each is now, our process of reflection, selection and analysis was the right one. With Pep guiding us we were already the bomb, in that moment we were at our peak, and despite that, out obsession at that time was how we were going to continue that excellence.
I suppose that the style of play chosen by Barça makes taking these decisions more difficult.
The road Barça has chosen is a singular one. Unique. And I’m not criticizing that, but there was a moment when a lot of people thought that this idea could only be sublime, extraordinary, with one coach, Pep, and once-in-a-lifetime players, born and raised in La Masia, like Victor Valdés, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi… It was normal that lots of people thought that when one or two of these pieces would no longer be there Barça would have to do what the others are doing, which is good, it’s another way of winning, it can even be pleasant, but that wouldn’t be Barça anymore. What’s the added problem? That, unfortunately, you don’t have a mirror in which to look, you can’t learn from others because no one plays like you do, so no one has had to go through that transformation. Even more than that, when you look around you realize that everyone is dressed for winter and you’re still wearing short sleeves and you think ‘Damn, maybe I should put on a jacket’. Or do we keep doing our thing?
And Barça keeps doing its own thing.
Like it has always done. We are fortunate that the players have always been convinced of the fact that we had to persist with our style. They are the ones that face the difficulties presented by the model and their opponents. If we analyze the finals of Wembley in 2011 and Berlin in 2015 when you see the two teams playing, you see Barça playing, there’s no doubt. Ter Stegen instead of Victor, Alba instead of Abidal, Rakitic instead of Xavi, Suárez and Neymar instead of Villa and Pedro, but Barça was Barça. Now it has horizontal stripes instead of vertical ones, but it persists in the same idea.
You have always defended the players and you have always put them at the forefront of the idea.
I defend the club, the coach, the dressing room, my work team, the idea… Look, I would have wanted, you can’t imagine how much, for Pep to be our Alex Ferguson and that he had stayed here for decades. Because Pep told me something amazing one day. With Pep and his staff we started to analyze rivals meticulously, we hadn’t done that with the same precision before. I remember that Xavi told me: “Andoni, when we go out to play we have an idea, a perspective of what we’ll encounter. Pep helps us imagine where the space will be found, where we’ll be able to do damage.” That’s what Xavi used to tell me. And you know what Pep used to tell me? “Andoni, everything Xavi tells you is true, we try to help them with the analysis of the rival and the solutions that we create for each game, but they’re so good, Andoni, that they always find better solutions than the ones that we offered them.” You see, that’s why I praise our players, because they’re so good, because they know how to do this better than anyone and, beyond that, they do this under the greatest pressure in the world. That’s the most difficult thing: to be as good as they are wearing Barça’s shirt and knowing that they always have to win. And when I say always, I mean always.
The idea of play, that’s always been the magic of Barça, wasn’t it?
The idea is not debated, it’s applied. It’s not a closed off idea. It’s our way of playing, but there will be times where we have to change a step to win, days in which things won’t go the way we want them to and we’ll have to find alternatives to get the result we need. And Barça has always done that, all its life. At Wembley, with Johan, were we Barça? Of course. Did we play like always? Obviously, but on the left side he played Juan Carlos to shut down Lombardo. And that didn’t mean we renounced the idea. It’s an idea that moves and evolves with the help of each coach and player. And all of it is Barça.
Including the goals that don’t look like Barça goals, that are far from this idea.
Including those goals, yes. It would be good and honest and gratifying to remember that we got to the Rome final with a shot from Don Andrés Iniesta from outside the box at Stamford Bridge, something unthinkable for Barça… and Iniesta. I remember like it was yesterday how in the 2-6 at the Bernabéu, the 1-3 goal was born out of Xavi applying pressure on Lass Diarra half an hour into the game, stealing the ball, passing it to Leo and goal! The second goal the other day in the final in Yokohama was born from Busquets stealing the ball in the central circle, long ball, sorry, sorry, magnificent deep pass to Suárez, a run from Luis and goal. Is that a sin? No, that’s also Barça, there are variants, tools.
An idea that, according to you, has no owner.
Yes, it has an owner: it’s Barça’s idea. We can look Barça and find the fabulous Barça of the Five Cups or that first idea with Michels, Johan and Neeskens. And, of course, we should talk about Cruyff as a founder and about Paco Seirul·lo, Pep, Tito, Xavi, Iniesta, Luis Enrique… I wouldn’t want to leave anyone out. But it’s all copyrighted by Barça and its authentic owners are the coach and the players that execute that idea.
What do you think of the ones that were saying that Luis Enrique was trying to erase all traces of that idea?
The same noise started in 2008 when Pep reached the Camp Nou bench and all hell broke loose. What have they done? A coach without experience! He’s only coached in Tercera! Initial doubts are very frequent. They returned in 2012 when Pep left and they said that the idea of that Barça would disappear. Remember: the players are old, the opponents know how we play, we have to change our ways… The debate over Luis was marked that the same process of polemics and pundits. On top of that, Luis arrived at the time when there was a lot of instability and in that sense, a lot of the kicks I took were for people who were above me. And in the end, people saw that the only thing Luis did was to enrich the idea, the game.
You’re still worried that the business will take over the football.
Now that I see it from another perspective I’m even more worried if possible. Look, the 2014 preseason was a European preseason with football and tranquility, that caused few injuries. The 2015 preseason was a tour, with trips, appearances, marketing, income, more money, more business and unfortunately more muscle injuries. It happens to all the big clubs, that find themselves obligated to tighten their calendars and gather income to be able to pay for their star players. Is this football or business? I feel like the business is imposing itself more and more on the game, on football, the sport itself.
I see that you have plenty of examples in your mind to reinforce that theory.
I recall a week in which I told the youth national team coach Luis Milla that the young Deulofeu was called up to play, in the same week or the same day, with the U17 team, the U21 team and the Olympic team. Insanity. Want another example? This season ends with the Euros, the Olympic Games and another Copa América. Yes, yes, another Copa América. And they just played one, but since it’s the centenary they’re organizing a special edition. Where? In the US. Impossible to get more marketing. I insist, we’re dismantling football, exploiting the players.
With more former players running the federations, organizations or clubs maybe this would have a chance to be solved.
The vision of the ones who have played could help to change some of these absurd decisions, but clubs need money to keep their stars. But yes, it would be good if someone would add a bit of sobriety in all this.
The original source
Translated by Grup14
Last edited:
F
Flavia
Guest
[tw]696723495431106560[/tw]
I wonder who wanted him badly.
I wonder who wanted him badly.
Ghostmaster
Danger Ahead
Who wouldn't want attacking CB
raskolnikov
Well-known member
He seemed to. always chasing mediocrity with David Luiz acting as if he would have been perfect for us.
If Psg didnt act first since they already had Thiago Silva we definitely would have splashed 60+ mil on sideshow bob to see him fumble around in our defence.
If Psg didnt act first since they already had Thiago Silva we definitely would have splashed 60+ mil on sideshow bob to see him fumble around in our defence.
DonAK
President of FC Barcelona
Prob due to his own vested interests in Brazil(got a lot of business connections there)
xXKonan
Senior Member
According to SPORT, Zubi and Barto met together.
http://www.sport-english.com/en/not...ting-between-bartomeu-and-zubizarreta-4946763
http://www.sport-english.com/en/not...ting-between-bartomeu-and-zubizarreta-4946763
khaled_a_d
Senior Member
Anyone remember when Villa went to AM and we got 1st option on 2 Atletico young players (Manguillo & Saul) and fans were frustrated that Zubi didn't include Oliver Torres over those players?
Well ,1st option might mean a little ,but he actually got his midfield choice right between those players .
Well ,1st option might mean a little ,but he actually got his midfield choice right between those players .
khaled_a_d
Senior Member
For now ,I can't be sure 100% about fit from anyone from Atletico tbh . but Saul is the better player for sure and he is more versatile .can play CM,DM and even used as CB for Rayo IIRC and now he is playing RM
Isn't it nice to work for Barca and get jobs like that.
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