The Barcelona Complex: Lionel Messi and the Making--and Unmaking--of the World's Greatest Soccer Club

Description

With rare and unrivaled access, bestselling coauthor of Soccernomics and longtime Financial Times journalist Simon Kuper tells the story of how FC Barcelona became the most successful club in the world—and how that era is now ending FC Barcelona is not just the world’s highest grossing sports club, it is simply one of the most influential organizations on the planet. At last count, it had approximately 214 million social media followers, more than any other sports club except Real Madrid CF—and by one earlier measure, more than all thirty-two NFL teams combined. It has more in common with multinational megacompanies like Netflix or small nation-states than it does with most soccer teams. No wonder its motto is “More than a club.” But it was not always so. In the past three decades, Barcelona went from a regional team to a global powerhouse, becoming a model of sustained excellence and beautiful soccer, and a consistent winner of championships. Simon Kuper unravels exactly how this transformation took place, paying special attention to the club’s two biggest stars, Johan Cruyff and Lionel Messi, who is arguably the greatest soccer player of all time. Messi joined Barça at age thirteen and, more than anyone, has been the engine and standard-bearer of Barcelona’s glory. But his era is coming to an end—and with it, a once-in-a-lifetime golden run. This book charts Barça’s rise and fall. Like many world-beating organizations, FC Barcelona closely guards its secrets, granting few outsiders access to the Camp Nou, its legendary home stadium. But after decades of writing about the sport and the club, Kuper was given access to the inner sanctum and the people behind the scenes who strive daily to keep Barcelona at the top. Erudite, personal, and capturing all the latest upheavals, his portrait of this incredible institution goes beyond soccer to understand FC Barcelona as a unique social, cultural, and political phenomenon. Review: Pleasure to read - I had never read the author, and I had no idea what style to expect. Some of these sports books are dense encyclopedias and some are just fluff. But as soon as I read the prologue intro to the major players and staff, I was already learning a ton and laughing my ass off. Just a joy to read. Review: Insightful, eye-opening and a little too fast at the end - This book is a must to all Barça's followers, especially those abroad. The first 2/3's are great. A piece of history that set's the fundation for the biggest run in the history of sports. It explains in deep the intricacies of the game in the setup of Catalonia and Spain, and it is very well written. But then the last third, arguably the most relevant for me at least, felt a little rushed, almost nothing that you didn't read on newspapers already. All in all, this is still a big recommend from my POV.