[retired_mystikalpharie]

Ronaldinho double gives Barcelona 3-1 win over Hearts

GLASGOW (Reuters) - Ronaldinho scored twice as Barcelona wrapped up their Scottish pre-season tour with a convincing 3-1 win over Hearts before a record 57,857 home crowd on Saturday.

The Brazilian put Barca ahead with a 21st-minute penalty and restored their lead with a 40th-minute header after Finn Juho Makela had stabbed in a quick equaliser from Christophe Berra's header across goal.

Second half substitute Thierry Henry, who scored in Barcelona's 1-0 win over Dundee United on Thursday, set up the third six minutes after the interval for Mexican teenager Giovanni Dos Santos.

The Frenchman ended a fine run by squaring a pass to the 18-year-old who slotted home from close range.

The friendly was played at Murrayfield, home of the Scotland rugby union team, to accommodate a bigger crowd. The previous record for a Hearts home match was 53,396 for a Scottish FA Cup match against Rangers in 1932.

Dos Santos and Bojan are playing well, especially the future Barça’s all time goal scorer.
Henry clearly needs more playing time but is showing his talent playing with the kids.
Abidal has been a rock so far.
Touré has a lot of work to do. He has decent technique but he has to be more aggressive.
Zambrotta has been impressive, can’t wait to see the real Zambro.

The goals:
Ronaldinho, penalty (two games, two penalties. Scottish hospitality). 0-1
Oleguer at his best. 1-1
If Sylvinho wasn’t a highway for wingers... (Spanish expression). 1-2
Bojan-Henry-dos Santos > Ronaldinho-Eto’o-Messi. 1-3


PS: PMLF, Ronaldinho didn’t choke but he's still fat (not Adriano fat though).

[retired_snowshoe]

Was at the match today. Toure is a brick shithouse and has the potential to be one of the best holding midfielders. Thuram was a different class and I have to say, Bojan looks very good as well for his young age.

[retired_felicityh]

Fiorentina forward Adrian Mutu reveals in an interview that he turned down an offer from Barcelona and discusses about Fiorentina and the upcoming Serie A season.

First of all, Mutu revealed the reason for staying at Fiorentina and refusing an offer from Barcelona.

“I’ve decided to stay here especially due to the affection that fans have for our team. Here in Florence everyone lives of football.

“To be honest, I never knew exactly about an offer coming from Barcelona. All I know is that I don’t want to change clubs and my agent, who handles all these situations, knows that very well: I want to stay in Florence at all costs and I don’t care about the money.

Interesting, I suppose he thinks there is too much competition for a start.

PS: PMLF, Ronaldinho didn’t choke but he's still fat (not Adriano fat though).

Have to agree, he was bigger. Do Ronaldo, Ronnie and Adriano pig out at steak houses or something in their summer breaks?

[retired_Angela Adams]

That Bojan-Henry-Giovani combo the stuff of wet dreams.

Oleguer giving us all hope of salvaging something in the champs league.

[trotamundos]

So Mutu never knew about an offer from Barca, yet that snippet claims he turned it down.

Awesome journalism, and Juve believes it :thup:

[retired_kimmymarlo]

yeah, no reason for us to sign Mutu at all :/

[retired_felicityh]

Nah, it says he ever knew EXACTLY about an offer and he wanted to stay in Florence. Read it closer.

[retired_felicityh]

*never knew

[retired_Angela Adams]

What is it about the italian leagues that makes them so hard to leave for players that play there? Is it a sign of the awesomeness of the country in general? :cool:

[trotamundos]

Originally posted by Juve4EVA:
Nah, it says he ever knew EXACTLY about an offer and he wanted to stay in Florence. Read it closer.

I have read it. He's ever spoken to Barca at any point. He's claiming his agent rejected it because he wants to stay in Florence and that he never knew what the offer was about.

Rubbish. There was never an offer. Awful journalism. And then you ignore his reasoning anyway, and say that it was because competition for places would have been too tough.

So you don't make sense, either way.