John Carter

[TOMISIN🏅 @tomisinfcb]

🚨Samuel Eto’o on Real Madrid appealing Vinícius Jr.’s red card against Villarreal:

🗣️Reporter: “Samuel, Real Madrid are appealing Vinícius Jr.’s red card, and if the appeal is rejected, he could miss the upcoming El Clásico. What do you make of the situation?”

🎙️Samuel Eto’o:

“Honestly, I won't be surprised if the appeal is granted. I won't be surprised at all. For me, when a player is sent off for violent conduct, there has to be a serious reason to overturn that decision.

If the incident against Villarreal is judged as it appeared on the pitch, then Vinícius should serve his suspension. That is what the rules are there for.

“But let me tell you something: the timing of this appeal makes the situation even more interesting. If the suspension stands, he misses the Barcelona game. And we all know how important an El Clásico is to Real Madrid, their supporters and their entire season.”

🗣️Reporter: “Are you suggesting that Real Madrid will use their influence to get him available?”

🎙️Samuel Eto’o:

“Do you really think Florentino Pérez will sit quietly and watch one of his biggest players miss such an important game without exploring every possible avenue?

I believe Real Madrid will do everything within the rules to get Vinícius available. They may not talk about it publicly, but the club knows exactly what that match means.

If the appeal is granted, people will have questions. If it is rejected, people will also have questions. The rules must be the same for Barcelona, Real Madrid and every other club.

“Because let Barcelona win another important LaLiga match, and suddenly the conversation changes. People start talking about referees, decisions and Negreira again. It becomes the headline instead of the football.”

🗣️Reporter: “Would Barcelona be worried if Vinícius is cleared to play?”

🎙️Samuel Eto’o:

“Honestly, Barcelona should not be afraid of Vinícius playing. In fact, they should be happy if he does.

We have seen El Clásicos where Vinícius and Mbappé struggle to find the right balance together.

“Both want to attack, both want to make the difference, and sometimes the team loses its structure because everyone is waiting for individual brilliance.

“Football is not about collecting the biggest names and expecting everything to work automatically. It is about balance, movement and understanding your teammates.

If Vinícius plays, Barcelona must focus on exploiting the spaces Real Madrid leave behind. Let them bring their biggest stars; the important thing is whether those stars can function together as a team.

“At the end of the day, I want the decision to be made according to the rules, not the size of the club or the importance of the fixture.

And once the whistle blows, let the football do the talking.”

[John Carter @JohnCartersb]

@tomisinfcb That's never a red card

[John Carter @JohnCartersb]

@tomisinfcb He is right

[John Carter @JohnCartersb]

@tomisinfcb He is very good

[TOMISIN🏅 @tomisinfcb]

🚨Jürgen Klopp on the unexpected changes in Karim Adeyemi’s game and the technical level he brought from Barcelona:

“When Karim came into the Germany camp, I thought I knew exactly what I was going to see.

Fast player.

Explosive player.

Very dangerous when there is space.

I was wrong.

I saw a different Karim.

And honestly, that surprised me.

The first thing I noticed wasn't his speed. It was his touch.

We were doing a small-sided game in training, and the space was tiny. Normally, this is where you immediately see who is comfortable technically because there is nowhere to hide.

Karim was taking the ball and getting out of pressure with one touch.

Sometimes two opponents would come toward him, and instead of fighting them with his physical qualities, he would simply move the ball into the space they had left.

I stopped watching the player and started watching the details.

That was when I thought, ‘Ah… Barcelona.’

You could see the technical education in him.

The body orientation.

The first touch.

The way he receives the ball already thinking about the next action.

Those things are difficult to fake.

And when you put him alongside the German players, you notice it even more.

I'm not saying the other players aren't technically excellent. They are.

But Karim had brought a particular level of technical confidence from Barcelona that stood out immediately.

He wasn't afraid to receive the ball in bad positions.

Actually, he seemed to enjoy it.

And I love players like that.

Give them the ball when everything is comfortable and everybody looks good.

Give them the ball when two players are coming to destroy the situation.

That's when you find out what a player really has.

Karim surprised me there.

And then, of course, you remember what he has physically.

That is the scary part.

Because the technical player is already difficult to defend.

The fast player is difficult to defend.

Now put both versions into one player.

What are you supposed to do?

I told him once, ‘Karim, you don't always have to prove that you are the fastest man on the pitch.’

He laughed.

I said, ‘I'm serious. Sometimes your first touch can beat the defender before your legs ever have to.’

That is the change I have seen.

He is not trying to win every situation with speed anymore.

Sometimes he wins it with his brain.

And that tells me he has grown.

People will always talk about his pace because it is obvious.

You see him run and everybody notices.

But as a coach, I am more interested in what happens before the run.

Why did he receive the ball there?

Why did he take that touch?

Why did he wait half a second?

Why did he suddenly accelerate?

Those little decisions tell you where a player is going.

And with Karim, I saw something I wasn't expecting.

The player who arrived from Barcelona had brought a technical level that, in certain moments, was simply the highest in our German group.

Not because he was trying to show everybody he was better.

He wasn't.

It was just natural.

He had learned to make difficult things look normal.

And that is what Barcelona can give a footballer when the environment is right.

So yes, I saw a different Karim.

But perhaps the funny thing is this:

Maybe he didn't become a different player.

Maybe we are simply seeing more of the player he was becoming all along.

And if he can combine that Barcelona technical education with the speed and explosiveness he already had...

Then Germany doesn't just have a fast winger.

We have a footballer who can make defenders ask the wrong question.

And when a defender starts asking the wrong question, Karim Adeyemi is already gone.”

[TOMISIN🏅 @tomisinfcb]

🚨Sir Alex Ferguson on Lionel Messi saying the match against England left them physically and mentally weakened before the final against Spain:

“I understand exactly what Lionel is saying, and I actually think people are missing the point.

When you play a match like England before a final, people only look at the result. They see who won, who scored, who qualified. They don't see what the game takes from you.

A semifinal can take something from a team.

Your legs feel it. Your concentration feels it. Your emotions feel it. And sometimes, even when you win, you arrive at the final carrying things that nobody watching from the outside can see.

That's why I believe Messi when he says that game made them weaker.

People will say, ‘But they won against England, so how can it have hurt them?’

That's football.

You can win a battle and still lose something for the war.

I learned that over many years as a manager. Sometimes you leave a semifinal dressing room celebrating, music playing, players shouting, everybody delighted.

But I would look at them and think, ‘How much have we got left?’

Because the final doesn't care about what you did three days earlier.

The final asks you for everything again.

And Spain were waiting.

That's the part people forget. You don't get to recover emotionally just because you've reached the final. You don't get to tell your body, ‘We need another performance tomorrow, so forget what happened.’

The body doesn't negotiate like that.

And Messi understands these things better than most footballers because he's played at the highest level for so long.

He's felt the difference between arriving at a final fresh and arriving there carrying a semifinal in your legs.

So when Leo says, ‘That game made us weaker,’ I don't hear an excuse.

I hear a footballer explaining something that managers have understood for decades.

The England match may have been a victory.

But victory doesn't always mean you arrive at the next match stronger.

Sometimes you arrive with fewer legs, less energy, less sharpness.

And against a team like Spain, that small difference can become enormous.

That's what makes finals so cruel.

You can prepare for months. You can win the semifinal. You can believe you've done the hardest part.

Then you walk into the final and discover that the hardest part was having enough left to do it all again.

So yes, I believe Messi.

If Lionel Messi tells me his team wasn't the same physically after that England match, I'm not going to sit in a studio and tell him he was wrong.

He was on that pitch.

He felt it.

And sometimes the people who played the match understand the truth of it better than the people who watched it.

That's football.

You don't always lose a final because the other team was better.

Sometimes, you arrive at the final already carrying the weight of the match you had to survive to get there.”

[John Carter @JohnCartersb]

@tomisinfcb He is right 👍

[John Carter @JohnCartersb]

@tomisinfcb This is very emotional

[John Carter @JohnCartersb]

@tomisinfcb What a player

[TOMISIN🏅 @tomisinfcb]

🚨 Luka Modrić on facing Pedri in the match vs Spain:

“Honestly, Pedri was unstoppable. There were moments when I was thinking, ‘How am I going to get the ball off this guy?’ He was moving between the lines, turning away from pressure and controlling the game like it was nothing.

At one point, I had to foul him just to stop him from getting away from me. That tells you everything. When a midfielder makes you resort to that, you know you’re dealing with a special player.

For me, Pedri is the best in his position. He has the intelligence, the technique, the calmness everything.

And obviously, when I retire, players like Pedri are the next generation of elite midfielders. I have no doubt about that. The future of midfield belongs to players like him.”

[John Carter @JohnCartersb]

@tomisinfcb Merino is clutch

[TOMISIN🏅 @tomisinfcb]

🚨 Mikel Merino on what Luis de la Fuente told him before coming on against Croatia:

“Honestly, I’ll never forget that moment. When we were 1-0 down and I was waiting to come on. Luis looked at me and said, ‘Mikel, it’s that time of year again. It’s time for you to do what you do best.’

I knew exactly what he meant. He knows me, he knows what I can give the team, and he knows I love these moments. I looked at him and said, ‘I promise you, I’ll bring us back into this game.’

Then I came on and scored two goals. Two! I couldn’t have written it better myself.

But honestly, the goals are not even the biggest part for me. It was the trust. He had faith in me when we were losing, when we needed someone to change the game, and he believed I could be that player.

As a player, you feel that. You feel when your manager genuinely believes in you. It gives you another level of confidence.

He trusted me to do what I do best, and I’m happy I didn’t disappoint him. He gave me the opportunity, and I gave him the response he was asking for.”

[John Carter @JohnCartersb]

@tomisinfcb The greatest ever

[TOMISIN🏅 @tomisinfcb]

🚨Casemiro on Messi’s farewell match:

“I can’t believe Messi’s retirement from international football will hurt me this much. I never liked him during the Clásico days, but after becoming teammates, I finally saw why people call him the GOAT.”

“I’ll be in the stadium for his farewell. Only if I’m kidnapped will I miss it.

[John Carter @JohnCartersb]

@tomisinfcb The greatest ever

[John Carter @JohnCartersb]

@tomisinfcb The number should be retired

[John Carter @JohnCartersb]

@tomisinfcb He is right

[TOMISIN🏅 @tomisinfcb]

🚨 Thierry Henry on Viktor Gyökeres’ incredible form for Sweden compared with Arsenal:

“Look, I don’t think Gyökeres suddenly became a bad striker when he joined Arsenal.

You watch him with Sweden and you see confidence, movement, aggression, goals. Then he goes back to Arsenal and suddenly he looks like a completely different player.

So for me, you have to look at the manager.

Arteta has his ideas, his structure, his way of playing, but sometimes you have to adapt your system to the striker you have.

Gyökeres is not a striker you buy and then ask him to become something he isn’t.

Let him run. Let him attack space. Let him be aggressive. Get the ball into the areas where he can hurt defenders.

With Sweden, he looks free. At Arsenal, sometimes he looks like he’s thinking too much.

And when a natural goalscorer starts thinking instead of reacting, you have a problem.

So I’m not blaming Gyökeres.

I’m asking whether Arsenal are actually using him in the way that made them spend so much money on him in the first place.

Because the Sweden version of Gyökeres is still there.

Arteta just has to find it.”

[John Carter @JohnCartersb]

@tomisinfcb What a player

[TOMISIN🏅 @tomisinfcb]

🚨Rodrigo de Paul: I fought for Messi in every match we played for Argentina,I will be fighting one last time at his farewell game for sure.