Sam and Rik were at Camp Nou on Saturday as Barcelona ended 2022 with a disappointing 1-1 draw against Espanyol. Marcos Alonso gave Barça the lead in the Catalan derby, but Joselu's penalty earned Espanyol a point before referee Mateu Lahoz took centre stage.
After the game, Sam and Rik discussed the performance, Raphinha and Ansu Fati concerns, the Lahoz circus, Lewandowski's on hold ban and more.
Happy New Year and here's to a Siempre Positivo 2023!
2022-12-31 19:05:42 +0000 UTC
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Sam, Rik and Toni answer all your questions ahead of La Liga's restart. From their Barca support levels to Messi's 'bisht', which split opinions...
2022-12-23 14:53:37 +0000 UTC
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Hello! The second podcast this week will be based around your questions. Comment below (or on Discord) with any queries you have for Sam, Rik and Toni on the back of the World Cup, Messi's glory, Barcelona's return to action or the January transfer window... although the more imaginative questions are often the best.
2022-12-20 12:01:05 +0000 UTC
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Sam, Rik and Toni discuss Lionel Messi winning the World Cup with Argentina on Sunday, beating France on penalties in the final. Rik reveals the celebrations in Barcelona and Toni takes a look at Barça basking in the success of the club legend.
Also:
++ Competition winner(s) announced!
++ Dembele and Kounde's final
++ Barça performances in Qatar
++ No injuries! (that we know of)
++ Signing a World Cup star for Barça
2022-12-19 13:36:27 +0000 UTC
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Sam, Rik and Toni start to turn their thoughts back to Barca and what's coming up in January, in the market and on the pitch.
-rik’s world cup experience
-uk vs spain xmas war
-no money
-memphis
-bellerin
-busquets
-alemany’s darts
-no lewandowski options
-messi
-kounde at RB
2022-12-15 23:55:55 +0000 UTC
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We decided to do an experimental, conversational pod, without a structure for this episode, with things relatively quiet in Barcaland, talking about Messi's World Cup, and Luis Enrique leaving Spain, manipulated audios, Luis de la Fuente and more...
2022-12-14 13:41:02 +0000 UTC
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Spain are out of the World Cup. Another eight Barcelona players are on their way home, leaving just Frenkie de Jong, Memphis Depay, Jules Kounde, Ousmane Dembele and Raphinha competing for the trophy in Qatar.
Where did it all go wrong for La Roja?
Sam, Rik and Toni discuss the goalless draw against Morocco, which ended with Spain losing on penalties to exit the competition at the last 16 stage. Did Luis Enrique get it wrong? Is he too stubborn with his Plan A? Are Spa...
2022-12-07 10:34:41 +0000 UTC
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Sam, Rik and Toni discuss Spain's 1-1 draw with Germany at the World Cup, with Luis Enrique once more starting five Barcelona players in the game. Still no minutes in Qatar for Ansu Fati or Eric Garcia, though.
They then take a couple of questions -- on Gianni Infantino and Barça's youngsters -- before discussing Xavi's interesting comments on young Brazilian striker Endrick and Pep Guardiola's even more interesting comments at the Catalan Football Awards on Tuesday. Is he openin...
2022-11-29 15:08:14 +0000 UTC
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Sam and Toni discuss his trip to Ireland, Spain-alona's fantastic start at the World Cup (including Toni's pessimism!) and take your questions on Ronald Araujo's fitness, Barça's World Cup planning, the view on Pep Guardiola as he signs new Manchester City deal and the move to Montjuic.
2022-11-25 09:55:46 +0000 UTC
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Hello guys, what a showing from Spain… to rehash a joke I used on Discord, the best I have seen Barça play since Xavi took over.
Anyway, get any questions you may have for Toni (or me, Sam) in the comments and we will record on Friday. And we will send any general World Cup questions you may have on to our AFP man on the ground Rik.
Thanks!
2022-11-23 20:05:35 +0000 UTC
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Keira Walsh speaks about life at Barcelona, the problem with having a Manchester accent, the passion of the supporters, underrated Patri Guijarro and her excitement at playing at Camp Nou on Thursday, when Barça host Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
She was speaking to Sam and various other journalists on Tuesday.
Sam is then joined by Rik to look at how he's getting on at the World Cup. He saw Robert Lewandowski miss (another!) penalty as Poland were held by Me...
2022-11-23 14:01:58 +0000 UTC
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Sam is joined by football analyst Domagoj Kostanjsak, who is also the author of the new book Anatomy of a Genius: Leo Messi's Tactical Evolution at FC Barcelona. They discuss how the idea for the book came together, what it covers, Messi's evolution at Barça (of course) and the best version of Messi. There could be no shortage of debate on that point!
Later this week there will be the audio from a virtual round table with Barça midfielder Keira Walsh. Barça's women are back at ...
2022-11-22 20:46:38 +0000 UTC
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LaLiga has stopped but Barcelona's players have now. Of Xavi Hernandez's current, first team squad, 16 are off to the World Cup in Qatar this month (and they will hope spilling into next month, too). Sam, Rik and Toni look at the Barça players who will take part in the finals, discuss who they are most looking forward to watching with their national teams and predict which ones have the best chance of going all the way.
2022-11-17 08:01:00 +0000 UTC
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Join the Siempre Positivo World Cup competition for the chance to win two Barcelona tickets or a year-long subscription to the podcast.
All you have to do is comment below with your World Cup predictions:
Winners:
Runners up:
Third place:
Fourth Place:
Top scorer:
Tiebreaker: Total tournament goals (there are 64 games in total, to help you guess!)
Points will be awarded in the following manner:
20 for correctly predicting the winner...
2022-11-16 17:48:53 +0000 UTC
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With LaLiga breaking for the World Cup, Sam, Rik and Toni look ahead to Barcelona's plans for the upcoming month and look back on the season so far. They discuss Barça's best player, best signing, best moment and much more as the league stops with Xavi Hernandez's side top, two points clear of Real Madrid.
Running order:
-- Barça players at World Cup
-- Barça's World Cup plans
-- Season review so far
-- Best player
-- Best signin...
2022-11-15 15:30:31 +0000 UTC
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We answer all the extra questions we had last week when Pique's retirement party postponed this pod. On the following and more:
-Alba
-Madrid vs Barca
-Stoichkov
-La Masia defenders
-Kessie
-Gavi
-Captains leaving
-Ansu
-UCL KO positive
-Arnau Martinez
-Sam and Moi, sitting in a tree
-January exits
-How big is Siempre Positivo?
Apologies that the sound is not quite up to the normal level, in parts we had t...
2022-11-11 14:34:27 +0000 UTC
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Sam and Toni talk about Barcelona's impressive 2-1 comeback win with 10 men at Osasuna on Tuesday night in a pod recorded while in situ at the gala for Robert Lewandowski to receive his golden shoe on Wednesday.
2022-11-09 17:31:39 +0000 UTC
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Here is the audio interview Barcelona and England right-back Lucy Bronze did with Sam for ESPN last week. She was speaking ahead of the 4-0 Clasico win against Real Madrid on Sunday, but the interview touches on subject that extend beyond that game. Apologies for some slight wind interference at times, but it was a windy day on Pitch 6 at Barça's training ground.
Bronze speaks about the emergence of Madrid, the intensity of training at Barça, the attention to detail and what mak...
2022-11-07 16:24:34 +0000 UTC
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There is a lot to talk about as Sam, Rik and Toni return for your Monday dose of reaction and news from Barcelona. Gerard Pique bid farewell to Camp Nou with a 2-0 win over Almeria with the goals coming from Ousmane Dembele and Frenkie de Jong.
Then, on Monday, Barça were drawn against Manchester United in the Europa League playoff round.
All that and more:
-- Toni's unnecessary Burnley dig
-- Barça good vs. Almeria
-- Dembele alwa...
2022-11-07 16:04:41 +0000 UTC
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Barcelona defender Gerard Pique announced he will be quitting football after the club's final two pre World Cup games. Sam and Toni and then Sam and Rik spoke about the 35-year-old club legend (even if he splits opinions). We answer a few of the questions you put in, but given the situation, we decided a Pique pod was better and we'll do the other Qs next week!
2022-11-04 16:39:52 +0000 UTC
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Sam, Rik and Toni talk about Barcelona's 4-2 win at Plzen in their last Champions League game of the season, look at whether Dembele creates "nothing" and Toni is angered by this week's edition of the ratings.
--Routine
--A night at the circus
--Defence and habits
--Makeshift
--Wingers
--Dembele
--Pablo Torre
--Marc Casado
--Dembele II (stats edition)
--Ratings
--Rating the ratings
--Prize winner
--You can call me Nelson Mandela
2022-11-02 13:47:36 +0000 UTC
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Hello! We'll do a Q&A most likely on Friday, so fire in your questions. We've also drawn the winner of the signed international shirt of a Barca player... which we will announce on the post-Plzen pod, and then get in touch with the winner via email/Discord, as (spoiler alert), it's a Patron.
2022-11-02 11:26:40 +0000 UTC
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Sam, Rik and Toni discuss Barcelona's 1-0 win over Valencia, which moved Xavi Hernandez's side within one point of leaders Real Madrid, who slipped up against Girona.
That is now 38 league games in charge for Xavi and, despite the Champions League failings, he's secured enough points to win a league title in an 'ordinary' season, although maybe not in an exceptional one, which this one is shaping up to be.
Also covered on the latest episode of the podcast is Ansu Fati'...
2022-10-31 14:04:50 +0000 UTC
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Sam, Rik and Toni look at Barcelona's 3-0 defeat by Bayern Munich and Champions League elimination. They try and look at the bigger picture; what does this defeat and going out again mean for the club? In sporting terms, financial terms, and more.
2022-10-27 13:46:41 +0000 UTC
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Barcelona made it back-to-back wins in LaLiga with an impressive 4-0 win against Athletic Club on Sunday. Ousmane Dembele, Sergi Roberto, Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres scored the goals to spoil Ernesto Valverde's return to Camp Nou.
Sam, Rik and Toni discuss that win, Xavi's midfield four, Dembele's masterclass, Alejandro Balde for Spain and gentleman Valverde.
Thoughts then turn to Wednesday, when Barça's Champions League future will be in the hands of Viktori...
2022-10-24 12:43:18 +0000 UTC
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Rik and Toni talk about Barcelona's 3-0 win at Camp Nou, where Frenkie played as pivot and shone, and Pique was whistled by fans. Then, with Sam, we go through the questions we had left over from before.
2022-10-21 12:56:20 +0000 UTC
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Sam and Rik and then Rik and Toni chat about Barcelona's 3-1 defeat at the Bernabeu. Analysing the game, what it means for Xavi, what needs to happen, how can Barcelona be competitive again? It's all here.
2022-10-17 17:53:41 +0000 UTC
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Two eps in one day then, can't remember if we've done that before or not. But here you go!
Most of the Qs on this one were in the wake of the defeat, no, not defeat, draw. There are a few more which we didn't get to yet, on more timeless topics, so we'll probably do an extra Q&A next week or include them on another bonus pod.
2022-10-13 18:51:54 +0000 UTC
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Yes another Inter pun, yes another bad moment for Barcelona in Europe. They are virtually out of the Champions League in the group phase again. Sam, Rik and Toni sift through the wreckage.
2022-10-13 14:18:38 +0000 UTC
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Bit of a late call for tomorrow, but let's have ‘em
2022-10-12 21:09:38 +0000 UTC
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