To bad they are an absolute cunt of a club with a whole load of pricks with the biggest mouths in world football.

Lionel Messi, Cesc Fabregas, Gerard Pique...all forged in Barcelona's hothouse of champions By Alex Kay
Last updated at 12:49 AM on 27th March 2010

Footballing geniuses with diplomas in tiki taka, a Spanish noun meaning an attractive style of football, using short one or two-touch passes. It is the reason Barcelona are the European champions.

A look around the dining room of the 18th-century country house tells you everything you need to know. The walls are adorned with photographs showing the

And that's just a start. More than 500 boys have spent their teenage years at La Masia since the club's social hub in the shadow of the Nou Camp was transformed into a factory for brilliant young footballers in 1979. Here you get the full works: 70 staff taking care of a maximum intake of 75 boys, aged between 11 and 18. Included among the staff are coaches, doctors, nutritionists, cooks, physios and psychologists. Some of the boys sleep there in four spacious dormitories.

They do not lack attention and there's a reason for that. Barca want to produce well-rounded individuals who have something to fall back on if they don't make it in football. Above all, they want to produce outstanding players, which is where the tiki taka comes in: short, sharp passing, with quick interchanging movements.
works. Johan Cruyff, who was Barca coach between 1988 and 1996, built his 'Dream Team' around La Masia products Pep Guardiola, Luis Milla, Guillermo Amor, Sergi Barjuan and Ivan de la Pena. Today Guardiola, now the side's manager, has probably the two best passers in the world in Xavi and Andres Iniesta. Their football is fast, successful, mesmerising. Next week, we will see if Arsenal can get the ball off them.

'The player who has passed through La Masia has something different to the rest,' explains Guardiola, perhaps the academy's greatest success, having won 16 trophies as a player and six so far as a manager with the club.

'It's something that only comes from having competed in a Barcelona shirt from childhood. It is vital for the club. It is the cheapest long-term investment that the club can make. You just have to see that Carles Puyol, Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi cost the club very little. I arrived at 13 and they helped me to grow up. I have great memories. I remember the first day, when my parents left me there, and how they gave me really good food.'
Representatives from Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham, Wigan, Birmingham, Stuttgart and Bordeaux are among those to have visited the academy in the past few years to see how it works.

Of great importance to the boys and their families is that it costs them nothing. 'The players are all given scholarships,' explains academy director Carles Folguera. 'The club pays for everything: food, board, teachers, teaching materials and also pays them a minimum wage so they can buy refreshments in their breaks each day.' It costs the club about £5million a year to run. That's peanuts when you look at the end product.

The majority of academic teaching is done outside the old farmhouse, with the boys transported to normal schools each morning - all part of the plan to keep them grounded before they spend the afternoons doing intense training back at camp.

'I think the two most important qualities for the boys are comradeship and humility,' adds Folguera. 'These guys might have been chosen to be part of Barca but it is humility that earns you respect. We don't want them to go around talking about huge amounts of money. You can be humble if your surroundings are, but it's tough. But take Iniesta - he is not arrogant, he more or less goes unnoticed.'
For Iniesta, who is from the small town of Fuentealbilla in central Spain, leaving his parents and moving to La Masia at the age of 12 was a stressful time. 'It was like the world was coming to an end. It was a new life and the impact was very hard. Being separated from my parents at such a young age was such an abrupt change. My father and grandfather dropped me off on the first night and I came to have dinner but I couldn't eat a thing. But they treated me very well. There were two telephones and we used to argue about who could use them to phone home. I didn't want to spend a night without calling my parents. But they see you're so young, that you lack affection and they help you.'

Helping the boys adapt and develop is a large part of what La Masia is about. When Messi arrived as a 13-year-old in 2000, a bone hormone problem meant that he was just 4ft 6in - the average boy that age is 5ft 5in. The specialists soon sorted that, Messi went on to score five goals on his youth-team debut and the rest is history.

'As a kid they teach you not to play to win but to grow in ability as a player,' says Messi, who shared a room with a basketball player. That's because Barca is more than just a football club and La Masia brings through players for their handball, hockey and basketball teams too.

Close friendships are formed; Everton's Mikel Arteta slept in the bunk above Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina, while Iniesta graduated with Barca keeper Victor Valdes. It's only natural, as the players spend 11 months of the year together.

'We used to spend hours in the hall,' says Iniesta. 'We'd play football, using the doorways as goal. It was banned so when the director heard the noise, we'd all run off into our rooms.'

'You feel the colours, the club and its badge,' says Pique, who returned to Barcelona after a spell with Manchester United. 'Above all it's about values, not only in football but on a personal level. I think the fans feel more connected to the team because of all the homegrown players.'

That's why La Masia is so special. And that's why Arsenal will have to produce the two best performances of their season to even be

DAY IN THE LIFE
7am: Get up.
7.30am: Communal breakfast.
8am: Minibus takes them to school in the city.
2pm: Return from school and have a communal lunch.
2.30pm: Some boys have a siesta while others do homework.
4pm-6pm: Intense training sessions.
6.30pm: Fit players head to the gym, while those carrying knocks or injuries have physio.
9pm: Communal dinner.
10pm: Bed time. Some players go straight to sleep but they are allowed to read, listen to music or do homework before lights out.

NEXT OFF LA MASIA'S PRODUCTION LINE
THIAGO ALCANTARA: The 18-year-old central midfielder is the son of Brazil’s 1994 World Cup winner Mazinho. He has Spanish and Brazilian citizenship, despite being born in Italy. Chelsea tried to sign him two years ago. Made his Barca debut at end of last season.
GAI ASSULIN: Dubbed the next Messi, 18-year-old midfielder Assulin also turned down Chelsea. The Israeli, who arrived at La Masia aged 12, is eligible to play for Spain, made his debut against
Tottenham at the Wembley Cup last summer and is being chased by Arsenal.
MARC MUNIESA: Centre back who made his youth-team debut aged 15 two years ago in a team of 17-year-olds. Has already played in La Liga and was in the Champions League final squad for last season’s victory over Manchester United.
MARC BARTRA: Struggling to establish himself in Barca side because of Pique and Puyol but is a massive talent. The 19-year-old can play centre back or full back and has been linked with a move to Barcelona’s bitter rivals Real Madrid.

Grow your ownGraham Hunter
February 5, 2011 - 1:32PM

Advertisement WATCHING FC Barcelona right now is like being ringside when Neil Leifer took his infamous snap of Muhammad Ali towering over Sonny Liston sprawled on the canvas in their 1965 title bout.

''Get up and fight, sucker,'' Ali yells and that roar has carried across the decades to Lionel Messi, Xavi, Gerard Piqué´, David Villa and Carles Puyol.

Anyone who doesn't surrender to them, they want to subdue with another flurry of blows - or lightning fast passes and goals.

They are the Beatles at Shea Stadium, almost drowned out by adulation, Seve Ballesteros conjuring stunning solutions out of problems at Lytham and St Annes in 1979, Brazil baiting the world in 1970, Elvis in his sexy, hip-shaking pomp - they make life worth living.

But there is process behind the brilliance. Genius has been harnessed to a remarkable training system which is identifiable but which FC Barcelona's youth Academy categorise as ''top secret''.

Recently the former coach of Real Sociedad, Raynald Denoueix, the Frenchman who marched a team starring Xabi Alonso, Nihat and Darko Kovacević´ all the way to the brink of winning La Liga in 2002/03 before being pipped by Vicente Del Bosque's Real Madrid side, visited Barcelona's academy.

He asked the head man, Guillermo Amor, ''What is the secret of how to train your players to pass and move so well, to press the ball so intelligently and to be so aware of where they should be on the pitch when the ball is lost?''

The atmosphere turned chilly: ''That's like asking Coca-Cola to share their recipe,'' replied Amor with a very faint half-smile to remove some of the sting.

Hyperbole, since Manchester United and Ajax have both produced Champions League winning squads based around academy talent over the past decade and while Arsenal seems as happy to pinch talented youngsters as to breed them, it too invests in footballing youth. Whether any of the development eras in living memory have been this strong is open to question.

The squad may emulate its record-breaking season of 2009, when it became the first Spanish team to win the treble of La Liga, the Spanish Cup (Copa del Rey) and the Champions League.

After which, in the same calendar year, it also added the Spanish Supercup, the European Supercup and the World Club Championship.

Barca recently ended the half season by scoring more goals and winning more points than any team in Spanish history, humiliated an improving Real Madrid side 5-0, possess seven of the team which started the World Cup final in Johannesburg last summer and is already through to April's Copa del Rey final - against hated rival Madrid again.

Should it defeat Atlé´tico Madrid at the Camp Nou, in front of 98,000 roaring Catalans, it will break a Spanish record of 15 straight league victories which has stood since Real Madrid in 1960-61.

People want to know how this squad has set historic high water marks in the past three years?

Firstly, this team lives or dies by the philosophy that the ball is more important than gold, jewels, a winning lottery ticket or your new-born baby. Johan Cruyff played like that, taught that and prolonged success means that it is now a doctrine.

Secondly this squad is largely home bred.

At the Camp Nou they believe it is more effective to teach raw talents a defined footballing doctrine than buy brilliance every season or two and try to fuse different playing styles into a cohesive whole.

On Cruyff's arrival as coach in 1988 he instructed that every age group, from nine-year-olds upwards, must play the 4-3-3 system, learn to cherish and use the ball well and must ''play with attacking flair''.

Somehow his philosophy has endured his sacking in 1996 after winning with what became known as Barç¸a's ''Dream Team'', lean years between 1999 and 2005 and now appears visionary again.

When I first moved to Barcelona in 2002, the city's dominant team was playing atrociously. But no one lost faith in the core values.

Since then there have been two magnificent eras, that of Frank Rijkaard as coach, Ronaldinho, Deco and Samuel Eto'o (Champions of Spain, Champions of Europe) and the current one - former captain Pep Guardiola at the helm as coach and driven by Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Victor Valdes, Gerard Piqué´ and the conductor of the orchestra, Xavi, who has lived through the entire boom-bust-boom rollercoaster.

Something important separates those eras.

The first had three foreign protagonists at it's sharpest edges - Rijkaard, Ronaldinho and Deco. Each lost their way eventually, allowed success to dull their competitive spirits and professionalism.

Now the absolute key players for FC Barcelona are all Catalans or, like Messi, ''feel like a Catalan because I've been here for 11 years and this is home''.

Xavi says: ''When I was growing up as a fan, the big players were all foreign - Rivaldo, the De Boers, Vitor Baia, Luis Figo, Juan Antonio Pizzi. Now we have an identity with the club and with the fans - it can make a difference.''

Xavi, like the majority of the squad, is a product of ''La Masia''.

That's the Catalan name for a farmhouse and that's precisely where talented kids from outlying districts live when they are trained at Barcelona's youth academy.

They are taught skills, they are educated but above all they must embrace and practice that Cruyff doctrine.

Xavi explains: ''When you train La Masia as a kid there are phrases drummed into you which still flit through my head during matches 19 years later.

''Charly Rexach [legendary Barç¸a striker and one-time Cruyff lieutenant] always used to yell at us: 'not one-touch football! HALF-TOUCH football'.''

Most teams practice two-touch football, one touch is elusive, dangerous and rarely perfected. But who can defend against properly executed half-touch football?

The current right back, Brazilian Dani Alves, once answered when I asked how much it helped to have Xavi as the fulcrum of the team.

''You, me, that guy over there … we all live on this planet,'' he told me, ''but Xavi, he's from a different planet in a different time zone and that's why he sees all the passes ahead of everyone else.''

The result is that the three places on the podium for this year's FIFA Ballon D'Or (the award for world footballer of the year) were all occupied by Barcelona players, Iniesta, Xavi and the winner Messi. It is the first time this has happened in 56 years.

Barcelona's three Ballon D'Or players arrived at La Masia aged 11, 12 and 13 respectively and all measure around 170 centimetres.

''Even better than rewarding the La Masia philosophy,'' Xavi argued, ''is that we've shown talent matters more than height, physique or brute force in modern football.''

Guardiola adds the extra element. Schooled 150 metres from the stadium, a ball boy when Terry Venables won Barca the league in 1985 and midfield maestro when the Catalans won their first Champions Cup, at Wembley in 1992, he has imbued this squad with hunger.

''Pep almost has a sickness for football,'' explains Xavi. ''He lives it and studies it and is remorseless in pushing us,'' he said.

How do you stay focused and hungry for more, I asked Messi a couple of weeks ago? ''Pep Guardiola is 'on us' every moment we train and play - he's right on top of you pushing you for more,'' Messi said.

In celebrating the club, the team the philosophy and the moment there isn't enough room to give Messi the praise he merits.

Suffice to say that this young, small Argentinian may eventually set aside the hoary old debates about Pelé´ and Maradona.

Messi is creating a strong case for being considered the greatest footballer the world has ever seen. Brutal injury or the demise of the planet before he reaches retirement are the only obstacles to formalising that accolade.

Sell the car, stow away on an ocean liner, move in with the neighbours if they show Spanish football live - just get to see this Barcelona team as often as you can while the blood is throbbing through them.

No one has ever played better football - don't be the sucker who misses it.