Knowledge: Lazy-ass footballers

"Last week my favourite footballer Roberto Baggio and I couldn't help noticing that in his illustrious career he played in 16 World Cup finals matches, but only nine qualifiers," writes Marc Harrison. "Which players have found themselves on the plane without having put much effort into the qualifying campaign?"

Step forward Giuseppe Bergomi. "A late call-up to the 1982 squad at the age of 18, Bergomi played the final three matches of the tournament," writes James Borg. "Since Italy won the World Cup in 1982 and hosted it in 1990 they did not have to qualify for either the 1986 or the 1990 World Cup. Bergomi played three matches in 1986 and, as team captain, played all seven matches in 1990. He was then dropped from the Italian national team during Arrigo Sacchi's tenure. He was recalled to it just in time for the 1998 World Cup and played another three matches in that tournament. Overall record: zero qualifiers, 16 tournament matches."

--guardian.co.uk

"Has any Uefa nation played against all the other nations in Uefa?" tweets Chris Shilton. "If not, who has played against the most and the least?"

Several readers emailed in to point out that Estonia will become the first nation to collect the full set of 52 when they face France in June. "France is traditionally one of Europe's top teams and currently on the rise again," Estonian Football Association chief, Aivar Pohlak, said. "But if we look at the match purely from the Estonian football perspective, then for us it is an important fact that we will be the first European football team to have played an official match with every other Uefa member."

"History repeats itself"

La adunacíon

 Preluare+traducere:

Pe data de 1 noiembrie 2003 Marca îşi aniversa 20.000 de numere. Raul şi Joseba Etxeberria pozează în ajunul unui Real Madrid - Athletic.

Din acea zi Marca a avansat 5.000 de numere, ajungând astăzi la 25,000 . Lucru de admirat, considerând că între timp au trecut abia puţin peste 3.000 de zile. 

(Yilele numărate)

2003: 29 days of November + December 30 = 59 numbers
2004 to 2008: 363 days each = 726 numbers
2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011: 362 days each = 2,172 numbers
2012: 30 days of January + February 14 = 44 numbers

TOTAL of 2 November 2003 to February 14, 2012 = 3001 numbers

Plecand de la numarul 20.000 (considerând că măcar acesta este corect), Marca îşi sărbătoreşte de fapt azi numărul 23.001. Marea săritură (dar nu singura) a avut loc undeva între 15 mai 2007 şi 7 iunie 2008, între care s-au succedat 386 de zile dar 2084 de numere Marca. Acestea pot fi verificate, dar dacă există vreun motiv pentru această accelerare ar fi interesat de ştiut.

Dacă vreun editor Marca va citi acestea, sper să nu se supere. Iar dacă se supără, să-şi amintească ce s-a întâmplat  Federaţiei Spaniole de Fotbal, care şi-a sărbătorit a 75-a aniversate în 1988 şi centenarul 21 de ani mai târziu, în 2009.

Madrid have had more penalties in the past three months than Barcelona have had in the entire time Guardiola has been in charge.

That stat, those complaints, reveal something but perhaps not what those who lay such weight by them would wish (the same people, incidentally, who dismissed conspiracy theories when they were presented by the other side … and so it goes round and round). They reveal that Madrid's attacking has been relentless this season – there are few genuine question marks about those 10 penalties being perfectly correct decisions – and that Barcelona have more vulnerable than before. Yes, decisions matter; but the sensations are driven by more than just stats and suspicions. For Barcelona a bad decision is game-changing when once it may not have been. Madrid, in contrast, have blown teams away. They keep giving opponents the first goal – six times this season they have been behind, five times they have won the match – and still slaughtering them.

They are relentless, irresistible and boast gigantic variety about them. The sheer number of great players they have was likely to tell eventually – on Sunday, the 13 players who turned out for Madrid cost a combined €364m* – and although the tensions have been real, and the mistakes apparent, the work that Mourinho has done is impressive. He has also been given a second year – a concession not made for any of his predecessors.

*Barcelona's cost €115m, in case you're interested.

Spot the difference

After 22 games:

2010-11
               P    W   D   L    P
Real Madrid    22  18   2   2   56
Barcelona      22  20   1   1   61

2011-12
               P    W   D   L    P
Real Madrid    22  19   1   2   58
Barcelona      22  14   6   2   48

'Guess it's not so much that they do better as we suck.