FCBARCELONA.CAT

24.12.2008 13:49

Range of Christmas choices

www.fcbarcelona.cat

The club’s professional sports players will be spending Christmas in the traditional way with their families. However, some of them will have shorter holidays due to upcoming games.

At this special time of year many players are already back with their families in their own countries or cities. That’s the case with Pep Guardiola’s men, for instance, who since Sunday have been having a well-deserved break. As the next League fixture is against Mallorca on Saturday 3 January, the bulk of the squad will be back on the 29th. Just five of them – Alves, Cáceres, Keita, Messi and Eto’o – have permission to be away until 2 January due to the distance they have to travel to get home.

Shorter vacations

Playing duties have also affected holiday time for the basketball and handball teams who have seen their break cut to three and two days respectively by an ACB League fixture and the Asobal Cup. However, they will still be able to spend some time at home. For their part Barça Mobicat players are taking four days off to come back on Monday to start getting ready for the Catalan Cup. Quim Paüls’s men, however, have got an entire week’s holiday and like the indoor football team will be back on Monday.

Some of the players have been telling us how they are going to be spending Christmas this year:

FOOTBALL:

Dani Alves:

“I’ll be spending Christmas in Brazil with my family who I haven’t seen for almost a year.”

Samuel Eto'o:

“Like other Christmases, this year I’ll be with my parents and I’ll be having a good time with my kids like any other Dad would. Merry Christmas to everyone!”

Lionel Messi:

“I’ll be in Argentina, in my hometown Rosario, with my friends and family as I’ve always done. Plus it’ll be hot, not like here.”

Alexander Hleb:

“This Christmas I want to be with my family and friends. It’s a great time of year for all of us.”

Eidur Gudjohnsen:

“I’m off to Iceland to spend the holidays with my family and kids. I hope to be able to play in the snow up there and see Father Christmas. In my country we give our presents on the 24th in the evening, and we don’t have the Spanish tradition of presents at Epiphany, but when we come back to Barcelona I reckon my kids’ll be able to celebrate it as well. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

BASKETBALL

Roger Grimau:

“I’ll be spending the holidays here in Barcelona. We’ve got games, so I’ll try to spend time with the family but we’ve got a game on the 28th so we’ve got to be ready for that.”

Juan Carlos Navarro:

“I’ll spend Christmas with my family but we don’t have much time because we’ve got a lot of games. I’ll try to do everything I should, especially with my daughters because this is a special time for them.”

HANDBALL

Iker Romero:

“I hope to be with my family and friends at Christmas and enjoy my time off. I’d like to get back to where I’m from, Vitoria, because most of the year I can’t be there.”

ROLLER HOCKEY

Alberto Borregán:

“Like every Christmas I’ll be with my family and I’ll go and see my parents who live in León. I guess I’ll leave on Monday and be back the following one when I think we have training. So I’ll be with the family like every year.”

INDOOR FOOTBALL

Javi Rodríguez:

“Christmas is special to me as it is to everyone. I’ll spend the holidays with my family and friends and maybe have a few eats and some champagne.”