© EuroFootball.com
In the 17th round match of the Spanish championship played away, the players of "Barcelona" took the field wearing not the traditional "blue and grenadine" jerseys.
Before the match against the team of "Valladolid", the players of the Catalan team wished strength in an original way to the head coach Tito Vilanova, who is fighting throat cancer.
"Seny, pit i collons!!!" - read the inscription on the "Barca" players' gear. In Catalan, it means "healthy mind, pride, and eggs". On the front of the jerseys was the photo of T. Vilanova and the traditional Catalan phrase "Anims" (strength, hang on).
As reported by the Spanish sports media, goalkeeper Xavi revealed that the phrase about "eggs" is one of the favorite phrases of the "Barcelona" coach. The 44-year-old strategist constantly reminds his players of it before every match.
In the duel against Valladolid, "Barça" was led by the assistant coach Jordi Roura, but this did not affect the team's performance at all. The elevated Catalans defeated their opponents with a score of 3:1, recording their 16th victory out of 17 possible in this Spanish championship season.
This is the second time that the "Barcelona" players have expressed moral support to their team's coach with special inscriptions on their jerseys.
On November 19, 2011, before the match against "Zaragoza", the players of the Catalan team wore jerseys with the inscription "Tito, d'aquesta també ens en sortirem". In Lithuanian, it means "Tito, we will also get through all of this". This was how the team encouraged T. Vilanova, who was then working as an assistant to Josep Guardiola and had just been diagnosed with throat cancer.
By the way, on Saturday "Barcelona" received another piece of good news. T. Vilanova was discharged from Vall d'Hebron hospital after a successful operation and will celebrate the holidays with his family.
