Goal machine, Bojan Krkic shows why he's so highly rated and why he'll rule the future.



While still a hot shot for the Spanish national team as against Serbia, Bojan Krkic has stamped his feet in the sands of time for the Catalan national team, when the 17 year old scorer appeared for the Catalunya national team and scored in the match against the Basque state. The match was played at San Mames, with Bojan opening scores and threatening to score more before the Basque team rallied round to secure an equalizer through Aritz Aduriz. The young goal poacher who has been tipped by Gillette to rule the future of football, now stands taller and hotter than ever in the eyes of many football followers.

FC Barcelona's brilliant forward, Bojan Krkic has set yet another record.


The young goal machine became the youngest player to be called to the Catalan national team at the age of 17. Bojan was unavoidably selected by the Catalunya technical crew, as efforts have been stepped up ahead of the friendly match between Catalunya and the Basque State on December 29.


Six FC Barcelona players were called for the encounter, with other players coming from the likes of Espanyol, Deprotivo La Coruna and Gimnastic de Tarragona, among others. The full list includes:


Goalkeepers: Albert Jorquera (FC Barcelona), Victor Valdes (FC Barcelona)


Defenders: Carles Puyol (FC Barcelona), David Garcia (Espanyol), Javier Chica (Espanyol), Bruno Saltor (Almeria), Carlos Garcia (Almeria), Dani Tortolero (Gimnastic de Tarragona), David Belenguer (Getafe).


Midfielders: Xavi (FC Barcelona), Marc Crosas (FC Barcelona), Sergio Gonzalez (Deportivo La Coruna), Ferran 'Coro' Corominas (Espanyol), Angel Martinez (Espanyol), Joan Verdu (Deportivo La Coruna), Jose Maria Soler (CE Manresa).


Attackers: Bojan Krkic (FC Barcelona), Antonio Pinilla (Gimnastic de Tarragona), Sergio Garcia (Real Zaragoza).

CATALUNYA - EUSKADI 2:2 (0:1)


Goals:
0-1 Adurizt (19')

0-2 Llorente (65')
1-2 Verdú (68')

2-2 Luque (84')


Attendance: 56,354


Catalunya: Víctor Valdés (Jorquera, 46); Curro Torres, Oleguer, Lopo (David Berenguer, 46), Fernando Navarro (Dani Fernández, 46), Roger, Gerard López (Jordi López, 55), Sergio (Verdú, 66), Jonathan Soriano (Oscar Serrano, 66), Corominas (Pinilla, 77) and Luque.


Euskadi: Riesgo (Lafuente, 46); López Rekarte (Murillo, 85), Aitor Ocio (Cruchaga, 46), Labaka, Casas, Orbaiz (Garitano, 85), Mendieta, Muñoz (Aramburu, 46), Aduritz (Llorente, 46), Uranga (Mikel Alonso, 46) and Gabilondo (Tiko, 55, Doñabeitia, 72).


Yesterday Catalunya and Euskadi (Basque country) played their first match for 35 years and the two teams drew 2-2 in front of more than 56,000 fans in Camp Nou. Catalunya fought back after the team went 0:2 behind. Adurizt (19') and Llorente (65') put Euskadi in front while Verdú (68') and Luque (84') levelled the score in a very entertaining encounter.


The Basque team had the better start in the opening minutes of the match. A sixth minute save by Victor Valdez prevented Catalunya to go behind. Aitor Ocio missed with a free-kick minutes later but it took not much longer before Aritz Aduriz clipped the ball over Valdés and into the net.


Catalunya came better into the game now and Albert Luque had a goal ruled out for offside and Roger fired over the crossbar with a long distance shot. The last chance for Catalunya before the halft time break came from Jonathan Soriano but Asier Riesgo had not problems to keep his sheet clean so far. Valdés made a superb save from Gabilondo just before the halftime withle.


The Basque Country again started better into the second half and Mikel Alonso came close to score. But the Basque had to wait until the 65th minute when substitute Fernando Llorente headed the ball into the top corner of the goal from 14 yards.


With 0:2 down the Catalans battled back and scored the 1:2 through Barça B player Joan Verdú, who's free-kick deflected from the wall into the goal. Luque scored the deserved equaliser 7 minutes from time. Luque celebrated the goal by lifting his shirt to show a get-well message for Samuel Eto'o.


The performance shown on the pitch was that worth of two national teams but even the date of the match was set by FIFA, the two nations will still have some way to go from here to get officially recognised. The two presidents of the Catalan and Basque governments, Pascual Maragall and Juan José Ibarretxe, explained their point of view. At half time Catalan Maragall stated to the media:

Now we should be allowed to play in official competitions, it is something that must happen.

Basque president Ibarretxe had similar ideas and expressed his strong opinion about the same issue:

This is something more than a game between friends, it is clear that we want to have a national team and to play official matches as a team.

Catalonia coach Pere Gratacós has announced his squad of 19 players for the match between Catalonia and Euskadi (Basque country) on Sunday, October 8, at Camp Nou. The coach called up Barça's Valdés, Jorquera and Oleguer for the encounter.


The Catalan squad against Euskadi (Basque country):


FC Barcelona: Valdés, Jorquera and Oleguer
RCD Espanyol: Corominas, Moisés Hurtado and Joanthan Soriano

Valencia CF: Curro Torres
Deportivo: Sergio, Lopo and Verdú

Zaragoza: Sergio García
Getafe: Belenguer

Ajax: Roger
Monaco: Gerard

Newcastle: Luque
Mallorca: Fernando Navarro and Jordi López

Nàstic: Antoni Pinilla and Oscar López


The Basques team have beaten Catalonia in most of the matches played so far: winning six, drawing once and losing just the once.
The first ever Euskadi-Catalunya encounter was played in 1914, but there is no record of the result!


But coach Pere Gratacós is confident for the upcoming match on Sunday evening:

We have a competitive team, but against Euskadi, we have a poor record until now. Let's see if we can change things.

Anybody who regularly reads FC Barcelona Blog has known for several month that Arsenal´s captain Thierry Henry will join FC Barcelona should the French international decide to leave Arsenal. An announcement about Henry´s future is expected after the Champions League Final in Paris. (click here to see the original article written way back in January).


So, why is Real´s sport director Benito Floro having a go at Henry, Europe´s second best goal scorer now?


In an interview on Punto Radio's chat show "El Mirador del Deporte" (Focus on Sport), Floro impotently announced that Real would not be making a play for the Arsenal Superstar.

"When he was 25 years old it appears that coming to Madrid wasn’t the best option for him." he said, with an arrogance similar to that other famous Benito, "If he didn’t have the desire to play for Madrid then, why should he have developed it now?"

You're spot on there, Benito! If you weren't good enough for him then, you're CERTAINLY not good enough for him now.


Why would Thierry Henry wish to join the troubled Merengues when he has the option of expanding his successful career with the Champions in Catalunya, should he opt to move away from North London?


As regular readers will know, FC Barcelona Blog reported on 22nd of April that Real Madrid´s then president Fernando Martín was keen to sign Henry and tried, unsucceessfully, to scupper the agreement between Barca and Henry (click here to read the article).


Now this complete U-turn. Hmm, it seems to me that Mr. Floro is just chewing on sour grapes.


If you've ever questioned Thierry Henry's genius as a player, click here to watch his 'Fast & Furious' video on metacafe.