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Barcelona - More than a club

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Monaco defender Eric Abidal thinks he may still have had a future with Barcelona if Pep Guardiola had remained in charge.

 

The 34-year-old Abidal left the Catalan club at the end of last season after it was decided not to offer him a new contract, and he instead signed for Ligue 1 newcomers Monaco soon after.

 

Abidal spent a year on the sidelines during his time with the Primera Division champions as he recovered from a liver transplant conducted last April, having previously had surgery to remove a tumour in March 2011.

 

And although the player accepts Barca's decision not to extend his stay, he admits he still feels bitter about the way things ended.

 

"The problem was that I was out of contract," Abidal told French newspaper L'Equipe.

"In these cases, your contract is either renewed or it ends. I was prepared for both scenarios.

"It was tough to accept but you don't have a choice.

 

"What was difficult to understand was what Barcelona said during my final press conference. By suggesting it was a career choice, that made other clubs doubt (the situation).

 

"It was not even about money. The proof being that every month I was ill the club didn't pay me."

Abidal also thinks the departure of Guardiola at the end of the 2011-12 campaign did little to help his chances of staying with Barca.

 

"Certainly (things would have been different had Guardiola stayed)," he said.

 

"He is a person who likes me a lot and with whom I am still in contact.

 

"He is a great coach and it was he who gave me my chance. If he had still been there, I may have been able to stay on."

 

However, Abidal is now aiming to repay the faith shown in him by his new employers, saying: "My adventure with Barcelona is over but I'm very happy to have started another one with Monaco.

"I want to give back to Monaco what Monaco have given to me."

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/8908786/ligue-1-eric-abidal-says-he-may-still-have-had-a-future-with-barcelona-if-pep-guardiola-remained-in-charge

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Not the only one taking a pop at Barca today

 

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has hit out at former Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola, labelling him a "spineless coward" and while also stating his time at the Catalan club was like "being back at school".

Ibrahimovic, who now plies his trade in Ligue 1 with Paris Saint-Germain, did not hold back from criticising the current Bayern Munich manager in his new autobiography I am Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The striker spent one full season with Barca in La Liga following a £56.5 million move from Inter Milan. However, the Swede has used the book to tear into his experience at the club and claims stars such as Lionel Messi and Xavi were treated like school children.

"I'd already got the impression that Barcelona was a little like being back at school," Ibrahimovic wrote. "None of the lads acted like superstars, which was strange. [Lionel] Messi, Xavi, [Andreas] Iniesta, the whole gang - they were like schoolboys.

"The best footballers in the world stood there with their heads bowed and I didn't understand any of it. It was ridiculous. Everyone did as they were told. I didn't fit in, not at all. I thought, just enjoy the opportunity, don't confirm their prejudices.

"So I started to adapt and blend in. I became way too nice. It was mental. I said what I thought people wanted me to say. It was completely messed up. I drove the club's Audi and stood there and nodded my head.

"I hardly even yelled at my team-mates any more. I was boring. Zlatan was no longer Zlatan."

Ibrahimovic goes on to reveal how tempers flared between him and Guardiola following Barcelona's 2010 Champions League semi-final exit to his old club Inter Milan, who were managed at the time by Jose Mourinho.

"I completely lost it," Ibrahimovic said. "You might have expected Guardiola to say a few words in response, but he's a spineless coward."

In stark contrast to his opinions on Guardiola, the 31-year-old was much more complimentary about Mourinho, who has since returned to the Premier League to manage Chelsea.

"Mourinho would become a guy I was basically willing to die for," Ibrahimovic says. "He works twice as hard as all the rest. [He] Lives and breathes football 24/7. I've never met a manager with that kind of knowledge about the opposing sides.

"It was everything, right down to the third-choice goalkeeper's shoe size. He's elegant, he's confident. He looked small next to the players but I sensed it immediately: there was this vibe around him.

"Mourinho created personal ties with the players with his text messages and his knowledge of our situations with wives and children, and he didn't shout.

"He built us up before matches. It was like theatre, a psychological game."

http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/235717.html#17RHdjeoBgT4TX3Q.99

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Maybe the Barcelona players have respect for the manager Zlatan? Maybe he didn't respond because he's a bigger man than you and not a "spineless coward"? 

 

That article leaves some of the best bits out, when he threatened Guardiola to the extent that "if I was him, I'd have been shitting myself". He accused Messi and Pep of having a sycophantic relationship  as well, because Guardiola allowed Messi to play in his preferred position up front instead of him. 

 

He's a tool who deserves his ligaments on the receiving end of  Jake Buxton cruncher. 

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