Cover Story

From little things

OAN LAPORTA is a Catalan
separatist, a politician whose
sometimes delirious discourse
focuses largely on the pride of his
stateless nation. He carries a burning
nurtured the world’s finest footballer. He is also the
former president who removed the Spanish flag from
Barcelona’s headquarters, replacing it with Catalonia’s.  
 So, when Laporta declared this summer that “FC
Barcelona won the World Cup, only they were wearing

big things
desire for Catalan independence from Spain and the
injustice of the way he claims the nation plunders
Catalonia’s resources, pillaging from Barcelona and
growing rich from its loot without giving anything back.
He also happens to be the former president of the
most significant Catalan flagship of all: Fútbol Club
Barcelona. Not just the former president but their most
successful former president, winning two European
Cups, humiliating the representatives of Castillian
centralism in their own home and boasting that he
the wrong shirts” no one was particularly surprised.
And no one took him particularly seriously either. After
all, he would say that.
 But here’s the thing: he might just have had a point.
The Spanish national team’s captain is a Madrileño;
the coach Vincente Del Bosque has significant ties
to Réal Madrid; the right back, Sergio Ramos, is
images DAVID RAMOS / GETTY IMAGES + FC BARCELONA

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 Air we go: Pep
Guardiola is an
ex-La Masia boy
from Sevilla; and one of their central midfielders, Xabi
Alonso, is Basque. But when la selección took to the
field against Holland in Johannesburg last July, five of
their starting XI were Catalan: Joan Capdevila (who
plays for Villarreal), Gerard Piqué, Carles Puyol, Sergio
Busquets and Xavi Hernandez. Better still, seven were
Barça players: Piqué, Puyol, Busquets, Xavi, Pedro
Rodríguez, David Villa and Andres Iniesta.
As if that was not enough, the man who imposed
a style, a football identity, on la selección was
Barcelona’s Xavi. Barcelona’s Iniesta got the winning
goal in the final, Barcelona’s Puyol got the winning goal
in the semi-final and Barcelona’s Villa got the winning
goals in Spain’s other victories.
Over on the bench was another Barcelona player:
goalkeeper Víctor Valdés. Oh, and there was Cesc
Fabregas too: the Catalan from Arenys del Mar who
began his career at Barcelona before joining Arsenal
and was desperate to return home again. Plus Pepe
Reina, who began his career at Barcelona before
joining Liverpool.
That was Laporta’s point. Casillas’ penalty save
had been vital, Ramos’ performances superb, Alonso
a central figure. You could also argue that Villa, from
Asturias in the north, was more Valencia’s player than
Barcelona’s having not yet played a game for his new
club, but still . . .
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Barcelona might not have won the World Cup –
although can you imagine the Spain side plus Leo
Messi? – but they had gone a long way towards doing
so. And it was not just that Barcelona had players in
the World Cup-winning side; it was that they made the
players in the World Cup-winning side.
Of the seven Barcelona players in the Spanish
starting XI, six had been brought through the club’s
youth system. So too Fabregas and Reina. So too
Messi – the world’s best player, holder of the FIFA
World Player award, and the Ballon d’Or. Argentina?
Messi joined the Catalan club at 13.
Real Madrid may claim to have signed seven Ballon
d’Or winners in nine years but not one of them won
the award for what he did at Madrid; in each case he
joined the club with the award under his arm.
Meanwhile, Barcelona’s winners – Figo, Rivaldo,
Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Stoichkov – have won the
award while Barcelona players or, more traumatically,
just after leaving. More significantly, Messi is the
current holder, and among the 2010 candidates are
Xavi and Iniesta. “We create Ballon d’Ors,” Laporta
bristled. “Others buy them.”
Barcelona create a lot more besides. When they
defeated Manchester United in the 2009 Champions
League Final, en route to an historic haul of six trophies
out of six, seven of the starting 11 were homegrown.
Gerard Pique
“Two years ago,
Sergio Busquets and
Pedro Rodríguez
had just won the
Third Division title.
Now they have won
the World Cup”
In the dying minutes, another youth-teamer, Pedro,
also made an appearance. All are products of La
Masia – the symbolic home of Barcelona’s youth
system, its academy.
There is no sign of the supply drying up. At least,
that’s what Barcelona hope. Of the current 19-man
first team squad, 10 are La Masia graduates. And the
reason that Barcelona have limited the squad to 19 – the
smallest in the top flight – is that coach Pep Guardiola
has, in his own words, “blind faith” in the youth team
players he can call into the squad. Maybe not so blind.
At the time of writing, Barcelona B (the reserve team),
were just three points off the top of the Second Division.
And, yes, that is the Second Division.
I t is hard to look at La Masia and not think of the
opening line of the Asterix books, to see Gaul with
its tents and its resistance. A tiny little hamlet holding
out against the world. La Masia isn’t much to look
at. A traditional Catalan stone farmhouse, it’s pretty
enough, but it’s the fact that there’s something utterly
incongruous about it that draws you in – a curiosity,
a wonder that it’s still around, stuck between life and
death; maternity hospital on one side, crematorium on
the other. A stone farmhouse dwarfed by the stadium
and city that has grown up around it, engulfing it.
 La Masia was constructed in 1702. A peasant
farmer’s home, 610 square metres in size, although
it looks less, and spread over two floors, a modern
day use was found for it during the 1950s as a kind of
construction headquarters – what would these days
be a pre-fab Portacabin occupied by dusty shoes
and high-visibility fluoro vests, home to architects and
builders as they set about constructing the monster
right next door – Barcelona’s Camp Nou.
 When work finished on the stadium – still the
biggest in Europe – La Masia was abandoned and
stood empty. In 1966, it became Barcelona’s social
centre and then, in 1979, the club bought it outright. It
became a residency for young hopefuls – the kids who
came to Barcelona to try to carve out a football career.
 From the windows there is much to see: the city’s
prostitute population for a start. David Beckham
recalled watching the “other lads” leaning out of the
window, whistling and cat calling at the girls on the
street when he stayed there for a weekend after
winning a Bobby Charlton Soccer Schools competition
as a kid. But, more importantly, you can see the
small pitch where, until three years ago, Barcelona’s
first team trained and, behind that, the Camp Nou:
a constant expression of what they were striving
towards. Aspirations in concrete and grass.   philosophy – the philosophy that has finally brought
 Almost 500 footballers have lived at La Masia over
the years, amongst them Cesc Fabregas, Guillermo
Victor Valdes
Amor, Mikel Arteta and Leo Messi. With room for 60
kids in bunk beds, there is a library, dining room and
kitchen. The children are schooled there too.
 But it is more than just a residence. It is a kind of
indoctrination centre in all things Barcelona. It is, as
the official line has it, “the cradle of Barcelona’s youth
system.” La Masia is shorthand for their cantera, their
entire academy – a symbol.
Even those kids who never actually lived there are
always referred to as La Masia graduates and even
as they lose physical contact with the place, spiritual
contact, it is hoped, is to be maintained. The club’s
new youth academy, currently under construction at
San Joan Despí, on the edge of the city, has been
called “the 21st Century Masia”.
 Those who have been through La Masia graduate
with specific skills. Their education is a very particular
one. That’s why indoctrination really is the word. There
is a zealous, almost puritanical protection of a certain
social, political and football identity. A rigidity. You
could even call it a fetish. And that, say the school’s
supporters, is the secret of its success.
 Not just Barcelona’s success but now Spain’s
too. The Barcelona philosophy has become Spain’s
success with a first European Championship in 44 years
and a first World Cup ever. A style that across Spain has
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“The philosophical
father of Barcelona’s
approach is Johan
Cruyff – who led
the Dream Team
to four successive
titles and the club’s
first ever European
Cup. Cruyff became
a guru, laying down
a football identity
to aspire to”
come to be known as ‘tiki-taka’ – a nonsensical phrase
that broadly means touch-touch or tippy-tappy, one that
is all about positioning and technical ability, about short,
quick passing and possession.  Michael Robinson, the former Liverpool player who is
It is a style of which Barcelona are proud and one
they are quick to claim as their own. They are rather
less quick to recognise its origins in the Ajax Academy,
although they do recognise that the philosophical father
of Barcelona’s current approach is Johan Cruyff – the
former player who arrived at the club in 1973 and
changed their history, then later as coach led the Dream
Team to four successive titles and the club’s first ever
European Cup in the early 1990s. Cruyff became a
guru, laying down a football identity to aspire to.
Cruyff-ism was carried to the youth team. More so,
even, than the first team, bringing about a production
line of clever, technical footballers, determined to play
‘the right way’.
In Spain, youth systems are known as canteras,
or quarries, as if players are hewn out of the rocks;
Barcelona’s have been carved out of works of art.
At least that’s the self-consciously superior way
supporters talk about it. The commitment to that
approach is unwavering, which helps to bring stability
even in times of instability and generate a certain
type of player.
Some critics feel that might be a disadvantage,
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with Barcelona only producing that ideal type, but the
results have been astonishing.
Such is the clarity of identity about Barcelona, that
now Spain’s leading football pundit, insists: “Show me
20 kids in a park and I can pick out the two who are at
Barça. When kids do get the chance to play in the first
team, the approach does not change and as a result
they’re more likely to feel comfortable, more likely to be
armed with the necessary tools to achieve.” As young
Barcelona player Jonathan Dos Santos said earlier this
year after being given his chance in the first team: “the
football is exactly the same.”
Stability, continuity, financial reward and ideological
tranquility are the result. As Hristo Stoichkov claims: “If
Barcelona tried to buy the players they have created, it
would cost them a billion dollars.”
“If we need a new player we will always look at the
youth team first,” says the director of football, Andoni
Zubizarreta, himself a former Barcelona legend.
Even Madrid’s spokesmen have lauded Barcelona’s
approach. Jose Mourinho said that Barcelona could
play “blindfolded”. He, on the other hand, has yet to
build an identity for Madrid.
“Barcelona are a club that for some time have
worked according to a certain philosophy and
personality and built projects according to that image
Sergio Busquets
holds off some
close attention
and what they think is right,” says former Madrid
captain Fernando Hierro.
It would be a mistake to place the credit solely at the
door of a La Masia philosophy – after all, Barcelona have
bought superstars too, from Romário to Ronaldo, from
Rivaldo to Ronaldinho, from Henry to Eto’o – but over
the last six years, they have won four leagues, a Copa
del Rey and two Champions Leagues, while Madrid
have won two league titles and failed to win a European
knock-out tie. Madrid were the 20th century’s most
successful club; the 21st century is a different matter.
“If you look at Barcelona’s culture, it’s the same at
Under 12 and Under 14 level,” says Zinedine Zidane.
“The guy who looks after the Under 16s plays the same
way as the first team. You don’t find that at Madrid. You
wonder what their style is. The style of Cruyff, of Pep
Guardiola, gives real identity to Barcelona – which is
something Madrid still need to find.”
Ah, Guardiola. Where that identity is most clearly
expressed and imposed is in midfield. A stylistic line of
continuity can be drawn from Fabregas to Iniesta, to
Xavi, down the years to De La Peña and Guardiola.
When Guardiola played, an opponent defined him
in a single word: “pam”. Single but many. “Pam-pam-
pam-pam-pam-pam-pam-pam”. Pass, pass, pass. Xavi
described he and Iniesta as “sons of the system”. Iniesta
recalls the Barça mantra: “Receive, pass, offer, receive,
Cruyff out the front
of La Masia during
his playing days
pass, offer.” And Fabregas adds: “If you’ve played at
Barcelona, you develop a taste for good football.”
“We are sons of the Dream Team,” Guardiola says,
“Trying to emulate them.” More than a son, he has
become its defender, protecting and enhancing the
legacy. Promoting it.
The day Iniesta first trained with Barcelona, Guardiola
was still a player. “You’re going to retire me,” he told
Xavi, “But this lad is going to retire us all.” The beauty for
Barcelona is that they have been able to work together
– the purest expression of a football identity, of the La
Masia model. A completion of the circle.
Guardiola was Cruyff’s captain. He then became
Barcelona’s second team coach. Now, he coaches the
first team. When Guardiola was promoted ahead of
Jose Mourinho – the man many in the media wanted
– Laporta declared: “We chose a philosophy, not a
brand.” Guardiola, one of his closest collaborators,
says he, “suckled at the teat of Cruyff”.
 With that education, Guardiola could hardly do
anything but respect La Masia. And in doing so, he
has allowed Spain to do so too. He has not wavered at
bringing through the kids he mentored. Two years ago,
Sergio Busquets and Pedro Rodríguez had just won
the Third Division. Now they have won the World Cup.
La Masia may not be much to look at, but it’s a tiny
Catalan farmhouse that conquered the world.
From country house to
dream academy
Matthew Hall charts the history of La Masia
TAKE THE Barcelona Metro to the Maria Cristina station, almost the last stop on the Green Linea 3.
Exit the station, ignoring the distraction of El Corte Ingles, the Spanish department store, and walk
down Avinguda Diagonal past the banks and cafes. Turn left at Avinguda Joan XXIII and stroll down
the sweeping hill toward the ever-looming Camp Nou stadium, Barcelona’s home ground. It’s an
imposing place of history, heroes, and legend; one of football’s true great venues.
But it’s the little stone building we’re interested in rather than Camp Nou,
or even the “mini stadium” where Barça teams play and train in a ground
bigger than some other clubs’ main facilities.
Pep Guardiola
(left) and
These days La Masia (“The Farmhouse” from Catalan),
architecturally out of context and literally in the shadow of the Camp
Carles Puyol
Nou, is behind a wire fence and gate. But on friendly days you can walk
up the driveway and knock on the front door to perhaps get a glimpse
of the future stars of world football.
Built as a country house in 1702, La Masia was later used by
architects and builders to construct scale models of the Camp Nou during
its construction in the mid-1950s before being shut down. It was used as
the club administrative headquarters in the 1960s but rapid staff expansion
saw staff move elsewhere. On October 20, 1979, La Masia was officially
reopened as living quarters for youth team players from outside the city.
La Masia originally housed 15 residents, who all lived on the top floor of
the building. It now features dormitories, bathrooms, study rooms, a dining
room, and kitchen. As the number of recruits grew, the club also established
La Masia II inside the Camp Nou, taking up two floors of the stadium with bedrooms.
Ten youth players now live in the original La Masia while up to 46 more can
reside in the stadium annex.
The club emphasises that players might become sports stars but there’s more
chance they will not reach the top level so their “training” is not just for sport but also life. Everyday,
the players are bussed to the city’s best schools. It is not always easy. Just ask Andres Iniesta.
“He was very close to his family and every goodbye each weekend would become a mini-drama,”
recalls Albert Benaiges, a La Masia coach. “Andres would be crying and he spent a lot of time at my
house. When my mother sees him smiling now she always makes a joke because she remembers
how much he suffered in those days.” Says Iniesta: “You would look out and there was the Nou Camp
stadium opposite. It was always on your mind, that the goal was to play there.”
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 MEANWHILE, IN MILAN...
Barcelona are famous for their work with youth. Milan, however, have revolutionised
the treatment of those at the other end of their careers. Davidde Corran reports
IT MIGHT seem slightly ironic but a chain-smoking
Belgian is leading the redevelopment of football’s
most respected injury prevention facility, “the Milan
Lab”. It all started in 2002 after AC Milan had seen
$A45 million spent to sign Fernando Redondo from
Real Madrid go to waste after the midfielder’s body
broke down completely.
Keen to ensure they wouldn’t make the same
mistake again, the Rossoneri teamed up with
Belgian doctor Jean Pierre Meersseman to try and
discover the secret to eternal youth.
On that front they might not have completely
succeeded, but when it comes to injury prevention,
Meersseman and his team of experts came very
close and along the way helped make Milan
European champions.
This was the start of the Milan Lab, a high tech
scientific research centre set up by AC Milan which
Meersseman blocked the transfer of the French left-
back after noticing his bad teeth during a medical.
Thanks to their work in the Milan Lab the Italian
giants understood that Cissokho’s dental problem
was one of the signs that a serious spinal injury
may pop up further down the track.
In 2009 Meersseman used this same approach
to solve David Beckham’s back issues, which had
troubled him for quite some time, by solving an
issue with one of his teeth.
In the past the Lab has also helped players
like Brazilian winger Cafu, rejuvenating a career
seemingly at its end thanks to injury, and Ronaldo;
before the serious knee injury that ended his
European career, the Milan Lab diagnosed the
Brazilian striker’s hormone problem in his thyroid
and helped him lose over five kilos.
Meersseman explains this thirst for information.
It has motivated the Rossoneri to update the
facility and give it, as a club spokesperson explained
to Football+, a “new look”. It’s an extensive process
that won’t be completed until next year.
“I think (the maximum age for a footballer is)
around 40. It used to be 34 at most,” Meesserman
explained shortly before former “ageless” Milan
captain Paolo Maldini retired in 2009.
AC Milan will be hoping to push that boundary
even further once the redevelopment of their
precious facility is complete.
“I think the
maximum age
for a footballer is

around 40. It used

the club claims has seen a reduction of traumatic
injuries by 90 per cent.
“If you can predict the possibility of injuries,
you stop the player before it happens,” says
Meersseman. He says the way to do this is by
studying the gait of a player’s jump. Using the
Milan Lab’s facilities he claims to be able to predict
with a high degree of certainty whether a player will
breakdown with an injury.
The lab is also consulted on all transfers to
the club. Take the case of Lyon’s Aly Cissokho.
“You can drive a car without a dashboard, without
any information, and that’s what’s happening in
soccer. There are excellent drivers, excellent cars,
but if you have your dashboard, it just makes it
easier. I wonder why people don’t want more
to be 34 at most”
information.”
AC Milan’s doctor
So while other clubs focus on treating injuries,
Milan have made prevention the key.
Yet while the model has never been perfect, last
season the lab hit a particular snag with a number
of players suffering serious injuries.

Paolo Maldini played

an astonishing 25
seasons with Milan

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