However, yet again Barcelona are bucking the trend; along with having the most actively international side with 81% of their first team having represented their country in 2011, they are doing so with Europe’s smallest collective side, with the Barca boys coming in at an average height of 5’9. Their smallest player is expectantly Leo Messi at just 5’61/2 and their tallest is Gerard Pique at 6’4. The blueprint that Barcelona set is seemingly not just their tiki-taka football; as well as the fluid, attacking possession football they play, Barca are proving that small, technically gifted players can outplay the big boys, quite literally.
Manchester City’s creative hub comes in the form of Silva, Aguero and Nasri, and before Carlos Tevez departed he was the spearhead to a diminutive attacking trio. Swansea’s height hasn’t come with a detrimental effect either; Britton and Allen dictate their midfield at 5’6 tall each, Wayne Routledge paces up and down the flank at 5’7 and Nathan Dyer bombs down the other 2 inches shorter, at 5’5.
Brazilians
In my last article, I explained and justified my adamant view that Neymar must immigrate to be a great and for Diego, it remains the “objective” and “the dream” for every Brazilian to “play in Europe, in the Champions League, at a big club.” The trend shows that is the considered view of many Brazilians with 528 playing in Europe; however, that figure is down 7% from 2010 and is explained, in part, by the new money in Brazil that can bring the old boys home and keep the new ones in. Yet, the money isn’t bringing success, “Brazilian football has never been so rich in money and poor in quality,” said Brazilian sportswriter Benjamin Back, in the wake of Santos’ humiliating defeat to FC Barcelona in the FIFA Club World Cup final, which may also explain the decrease: Brazil aren’t producing on the scale they were.
However, the ones in Europe excel and, understandably, 73% of the top 15 clubs in Europe – based on the percentage of active internationals a club has – have at least one Brazilian on their books. The only exceptions are Celtic – an anomaly on the list due to their vast amount of Home Nations players – West Brom, Manchester City and Zenit. Only 2 Brazilians were in the top 20 for the Ballon d’Or: Neymar and Dani Alves.
With Neymar at Santos, this leaves only one Brazilian in the top 20 players in Europe, and he plays in a team that many consider the greatest ever: Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona. In the past, and as recently as 2005, 3 Brazilians were in the FIFPro World XI, never mind the Ballon d’Or shortlist. It suggests, and it is a view I hold, that the quality in Brazilian football is declining and for the players that do have the potential to be world class, their interests lie outside of their homeland.
Again, Barcelona buck the trend; in Adriano they have a useful back-up to Abidal and Alves and a player who popped up with two goals in the FIFA Club World Cup to finish joint top scorer with his teammate, Messi. In Dani Alves, they have the only Brazilian in Europe to make the top 20 for the Ballon d’Or, and a right back who has twice been in the FIFPro World XI. Their two other Brazilians, Henrique and Kerrison, 25 and 23, aren’t as effective and both are currently back in Brazil on loan.
Written by Jordan Florit for www.maycauseoffence.com/ For more articles visit my website or my Twitter @JordanFlorit
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