The Pride of Vallekas

His story is not unique. It is a story of a family fleeing violence, settling in a foreign land and making a name for themselves through hard work. It's the story of a striker named Tariq Spezie. It's a story that interested me because his brothers (Omar and Nura) were born in Dubai, a city I've lived in. And he was born in Sharjah, merely an hour away from Dubai. His Italian father from Verona (who worked in a tire company) and Spanish mother from La Mancha - which explains his last name Sevilla - saw the political situation in the region worsen. It eventually led to the Iran-Iraq War, and the family relocated to Italy with their one-year infant, and later to Spain. Tariq played youth football in modest clubs in Catalonia, such as Racing Blanenc and Vilobí, and supplemented his fluent Italian with Castilian and Catalan. However, he moved to Valladolid due to a family relocation, and made his senior debut with Real Valladolid B at the age of 19. He would compete the 1...

At the age of just 30, striker Joaquín Larrivey decided to leave the sunny Balaidos for the even sunnier Abu Dhabi, joining Baniyas. Sorry, not "decided". "Decided" is a strong word. "Decided" means that the player had one or more options and picked one without coercion. "Decided" means that the player had a fair choice. Joaquin loves new challenges. While playing for Cagliari, he scored a hat-trick against Napoli, got on the European radar and then disappeared off it just as quickly by signing with Mexican Liga MX club Atlante. After scoring 12 goals for Celta Vigo in the 2014-15 season, Joaquín Larrivey was set for his next adventure. He had two years on his contract remaining, but clubs were willing to pay and Celta were willing to sell. Moreover, his playing style was much more similar with the stereotypical "English striker" - a hardworking, physical, opportunistic poacher who capitalizes amazingly well on sloppy positioning ...

Michele Taylor is the voice of the Barcelona women's team. Full stop. You can follow her on Twitter here . If you're interested in following the Barcelona women's team for official updates, follow them here . A bit about yourself and your background I’m a Fiji-Kiwi. Born in Fiji and then moved to NZ with my family when I was 15, where I finished school and then worked in professional photography/film processing/photo printing until 2004 when I moved to Dubai. Since then, we’ve also lived in Germany, Australia and Spain. Now we spend our time between our families in Germany and New Zealand. How long have you been a fan of Barcelona and what made you support them in the first place? We watched the Men’s 2008 Euro Final between Spain and Germany, and were amazed by Spain’s playing style. It was beautiful to watch. When we moved to Barcelona in early 2009, we quickly became fans of the FCB men’s team. Their playing style was so exciting! We attended as many games as ...