FCBARCELONA.CAT

28.04.2007 11:41

Gio bets on AZ

Sergi Nogueras

This Sunday sees one of the most dramatic ends to the Dutch league in recent history. Van Gaal’s AZ, Koeman’s PSV and Ten Cate’s Ajax will fight it out for top spot. Gio has a good idea who the favourites are.

Gio knows the Dutch league well and has worked with all of the top three coaches, either at Barça or for the National squad. Van Gaal’s AZ, Koeman’s PSV and Ten Cate’s Ajax are neck and neck going into the final game of the competition.

The blaugrana left back knows who his money will be on: “The league is very open. Since the first day, it seemed PSV would win again having opened up an 11 point gap. Now, the three teams are on a level pegging and I believe it is AZ who have the upper hand, due to their game against Excelsior”.

Spoken with Cocu

Apart from the coaches, there are many ex team mates involved in the three way battle: Cocu, Reiziger and Kluivert of PSV and Davids and Gabri of Ajax. The player he has been in contact with the most has been Cocu: “I’ve spoken a lot with Philip in the last few weeks. He’s one of the most important PSV players who can help them lift the title. However, in the last few games, they’ve been hit with injuries causing them to lose valuable points”.

In the same 11 as Koeman

As well as having served under the top three coaches, Gio also played with Koeman for two seasons. The time was with Feyenoord, and also in the team, was ex blaugrana, Henrik Larsson: “He was a great player. He came from Barça and spent two years with Feyenoord. He was the best player in that year. He made some great passes and was a great person”.

No repeat in La Liga

La Liga is also experiencing a somewhat tight finish to the season; Barça sevilla and Madrid all vying for the top spot. Despite this, Gio hopes the final of La Liga is not so dramatic: “It’s very equal at the moment with only one or two points’ difference, however, I hope that when the last game comes around, we have an advantage”.