’60 Minutes’ Profiles Lionel Messi, FC Barcelona for American Television Audience

The FC Barcelona story has been told over and over again … but never like this.

Leading American news program 60 Minutes profiled Barcelona in an episode that aired on Sunday. Bob Simon and his team of journalists visited the storied Spanish soccer club, taking an in-depth look at the secrets to its success. It’s titled “Lionel Messi and the Ascent of Barca Soccer.”

The 13-minute segment starts just before a recent edition of “El Clasico” — as Barca’s games against arch-rival Real Madrid are better known. It then takes viewers into La Masia, Barca’s prestigious youth academy, which developed many of the club’s stars of the present and does so today with eyes on the future.

Viewers meet players such as Cesc Fabregas, Gerrard Pique and Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi, who discuss what the game and the club means to them. Pique even brings 60 Minutes cameras to Barcelona’s dressing room, where the memories of past greats like Johann Cryuff and Diego Maradona loom large.

Lastly, 60 Minutes, speaks to club president Sandro Rosell, who describes how Barcelona sits at the intersection of sports and Catalan politics.

Analysts have hailed Barcelona as the best soccer team on earth. Click here to see the 60 Minutes segment on how that came to be.

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