Friday, March 4, 2011

Bojan Krkic

Bojan Krkić Pérez, was born 28 August 1990, in Linyola, Lleida, Catalonia. He often known as just Bojan, is a Spanish footballer of Serbian descent who currently plays as a striker for Spanish La Liga club FC Barcelona.

Catalan mother (Maria Lluïsa Pérez). He played for Barcelona's youth teams from 1999 to 2006. A quick striker with quite notable dribbling skills, it was reported that he scored more than 800 goals for the youth teams in 7 years, but there is no clear evidence of this. He then played the 2006–07 season with the FC Barcelona B team until he signed a professional contract with the Barcelona A team upon turning 17. Bojan played his first match with Barcelona on 24 April 2007, scoring a goal in a friendly match against Al-Ahly.

On 16 September 2007 (at 17 years and 19 days), Bojan made his official debut for Barcelona against CA Osasuna, replacing Giovani dos Santos in the 78th minute and breaking Lionel Messi's record of the youngest Barcelona player to feature in a La Liga match. Three days later, he made his UEFA Champions League debut against Olympique Lyonnais, coming on at the 88th minute for Messi. He was, at the time, the youngest Barcelona player ever to feature in a Champions League game, at 17 years and 22 days. He made his second Champions League appearance on 2 October, coming on at the 81st minute for Ronaldinho against VfB Stuttgart. On 20 October 2007 (at 17 years and 53 days), Bojan made his first league start for Barcelona away to Villarreal CF and scored in the 25th minute. It was his first goal for the club's first team and it made him the youngest ever goalscorer for Barcelona in a league match.

Bojan scored his first ever Champions League goal on 1 April 2008 (at 17 years and 217 days) against Schalke 04, netting the only goal in the first (away) leg of the quarter-finals, making him the first person born in the 1990s to score in the Champions League and the second youngest player ever, behind Ghanaian forward Peter Ofori-Quaye, then playing for Olympiacos, who scored at the age of 17 years and 195 days. Bojan finished the season with a record of 10 goals, breaking Raúl's record of most goals scored in a debut season.

Upon the departure of Gianluca Zambrotta, Bojan was handed the number 11 shirt. After 14 games (13 of which he entered as a substitute), Bojan ended a goal drought by netting a brace against UD Almería in a 2-0 victory. Despite featuring less compared to the previous season, Bojan helped Barcelona to their 19th La Liga title. He also aided Barcelona to their first Copa del Rey win in 11 years by scoring five goals in the competition, including one in the final against Athletic Bilbao. Bojan was an unused substitute in the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final against Manchester United, which Barcelona won 2-0 and saw them cap off a treble-winning campaign. Bojan's three goals in ten appearances throughout the competition saw him finish as the equal sixth highest goalscorer for the season.

Sergio Canales

Sergio Canales Madrazo, was born 16 February 1991 in Santander, Cantabria. He is a Spanish footballer who plays for Real Madrid, as an attacking midfielder.

A product of hometown Racing de Santander's youth ranks, Canales was bought by Deportivo de La Coruña – 50% of the player's rights – in 2006, as part of the deal which saw Pedro Munitis return to Cantabria. Dudu Aouate and Antonio Tomás were also involved, in the opposite direction.

On 18 September 2008, he made his first team debut with Racing, playing in a UEFA Cup home tie against FC Honka of Finland (1–0 win). Roughly two weeks later, he first appeared in the first division, at CA Osasuna (same result).

Having gradually received more playing time with the main squad, Canales scored twice against RCD Espanyol on December 6, 2009 (4–0 away win), and repeated the feat at Sevilla FC on January 9, 2010 (2–1 at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán), receiving Man of the match accolades in the latter game. The following week, as Racing drew at home to Real Valladolid 1–1, he also found the net, and eventually finished his first full season with six goals and four assists, helping Racing narrowly avoid relegation.