The mental fortitude of Barcelona’s 18-year-old starlet Bojan Krkic is being severely questioned after the Spanish-Serb midfielder was seen crying on the bench after being replaced by Thierry Henry during Sunday night’s match at the Nou Camp against Getafe.
Suggestions are growing in Spain that Bojan, who was widely tipped to be the next-best-thing, will ultimately fail to live up to expectations. Such expectations have been placed astronomically high on the upstart, ever since Bojan came onto the scene and received three Spanish call-ups before he even made his debut for Barca.
But Bojan’s psychological temperament has long been in doubt, initially flagged up by the youngster’s withdrawal from the European Champions, citing illness and anxiety for his non-participation.
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Sadly, the pressure looks to be getting all to much for the teenager, who by all accounts is failing to perform this season, often being played in a wide right position rather than through the middle. Bojan has only made two starts under new Catalan boss Pep Guardiola, and is rumoured to be available on loan in January.
Bojan’s tears after being benched against Getafe can be seen here.
Getafe’s point at the Nou Camp, and their team performance was also a huge achievement for the club, particularly having regard to a training ground bust-up which occurred on the eve of the match.
At training prior to the fixture, Mario Cotelo and Cosmin Contra faced off against each other after a training exercise turned nasty, with coach Victor Munoz having to break up the fight between his players in front of the watching cameras.
The fracas broke out after Cotelo pressured Contra whilst he was on the ball during the exercise, when the Romanian turned around and swung with his arm twice at the back of Cotelo, provoking Cotelo to respond by kicking the ball straight at his teammate, Contra.
While it may not have been in the John Hartson-Eyal Berkovic class of training ground bust-ups, Cotelo and Contra fight is definitely worth a watch.
See how the bust-up unfolded here.
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about 1 month ago
maybe it is not so much his fragile temperament but his intense passion that reduced him to tears in this case. He must not be to mentally fragile to first be able to play at such a high level and also to score goals (and penalties). i would prefer to believe it is the desire to stay on the field and be a part of the team that caused this.
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