Barca have been rolling over when they play the said Spanish clubs for years.

ing you mean.

Yeah

38,000 at the Camp Nou last night for a cup semi. Rubbish fans.

Jesé's now scored against Atleti, Barça, Athletic & Valencia. Not a bad start to his career.

That said, we've got to be careful not to overhype the lad. Very early days yet, and while he's shown character, he's hardly taking games by the scruff. Long way to go before we can talk about a player with something more than just great potential.

Couldn't have put it better myself, IOAG.

I was surprised by DTKF's over-enthusiastic prophecy that Jese was a 'superstar' in the making. Darren is more measured than that.

Jese has done well. But i don't see superstar there. He obviously has great confidence and he is fast and powerful but compared to say an Isco? The difference is clear as day.

But as IOAG said elaborated , Isco has yet to learn to play for the team and his work ethic is severely lacking.

Let's not forget Sergio Canales? Remember the hype?

But in Jese, RM might have finally found their next home-grown star. But too early to judge yet.

True about Canales, but it's also fair to say he broke through at a much smaller team. Never really kickstarted a career in a big team. He also had two severe injuries at a vital point in his development. That can happen to anyone, but it isn't really a scenario you'd normally factor in.

Re Jesé and Isco, you're right regarding ethos, but they're skills are very different so imo the comparisons stop there. I've always preferred the playmaking type, but Jesé brings different qualities.

Jesé will still have an extremely hard time making it at RM because of the players he has to fight with for a place in the side. Even if he did objectively outperform Bale, the Welshman's price tag would still be a huge obstacle to overcome.

"their skills"

Re Jese and Isco, sure their skills are very different but i disagree the comparisons stop there. Both are adept are playing at either side - though some would argue that Jese is best deployed up front. Both are of a similar 'age group', breaking through around same time in the same generation, playing for the same club. Both are also competing for playing time with two high-price tag players in Bale and Ronaldo.

There are more similarities between both situations than differences. Jese is obviously a talented player but i am just reticent to overhype a kid that has ONE start all season.

Fair enough, 'stops there' was a bit radical, let me explain more clearly. I essentially consider Jesé to be a wide player who can also play the striker role (he did indeed play there at times for Castilla), while I see Isco as a playmaker who can also play out wide. I also think their attributes are quite different, the former being more about power and pace, while the latter is more or a finesse player with excellent vision.

Talking about Jesé as a striker, who would you start if Benzema is suspended/injured, him, Morata or someone else (CR, Bale)?

Personally, i would start with Jese up top. Tough on Morata but hey ho.

I don't think Bale has the attributes to lead the line. Even though, his most productive season came from being deployed as an enganche/ supporting striker.

Despite CR's fecundity in front of goal and other attributes, i don't think he leads the line particularly well.

Agreed - I'd go for one of the two Castilla lads. Morata is probably more fine-tuned for the position, but I'd also lean towards Jesé due to the character and confidence he's displayed.

Cristiano or Bale might likely get more goals than either of the other two, but at the expense of getting them from the wings where I think both would be more productive.

For all the criticism he gets, I actually like Benzema a lot. It's often said that he seems uninterested, but the other night at Bilbao for example he was by far the most involved of all of our attacking players. Shame he had a real off-night though.

spain losing 3-2 to russia in the euro futsal semi

GOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

3-3

How many of the players are Catalan?

not many of them thank fook

Strange, usually Spain needs help from the Catalans to win.

Ah the player with the most caps and goals is from Barcelona - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javier_Rodr%C3%ADguez_Nebreda

no

no and no

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain_national_futsal_team#Players

Five of the players play for Barcelona

4-3 russia after ET

i think thats it

Only 2 of the players in the squad are Catalonian, Pinky. The majority are Madrid-born.

Five of Russia's players are Brazilian-born - the winning goal was scored a bloke called Robinho.

Only 2 of the players in the squad are Catalonian, Pinky. The majority are Madrid-born.
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That's what they want you to think.

I personally helped deliver them all.