FIFPro news
AFE's team without contract ties with CSKA Moscow
Wednesday 25 January
The Team of ‘AFE Sessions’ gave a sensational impression by achieving a well earned one-all draw against Real Madrid’s Champions League rivals.
The team of the Association of Spanish Footballers (AFE) for players without a contract, continues to fly the flag very high.
In the fourth game of their pre-match preparation, they achieved a one-all draw against CSKA Moscow, who are classified second in the Russian Premier League and are Real Madrid’s rivals in the round of 16 for the Champions League.
Playing an attacking game, trainer Sergi Barjuan’s pupils continued to show that they can earn a place in any team that will offer them a chance to rejoin the football market. Their understandable physical inferiority to their much more experienced and better coordinated rivals were more than overcome by the courage, the struggle and the solidarity of a group of players who, with barely eleven days of training, had formed a very compact bloc.
AFE Sessions did not suffer excessively and the skills of Francisco Reyes and Gio gave several warnings until, in the eleventh minute, Jonatan Valle let go with a shot from the front of the area to put the team of AFE in the lead.
In the second half, as has become usual in all these matches, Sergi Barjuan (and his assistants Javi Moreno and Miguel Peiró) lined up a totally different eleven. Roberto on two occasions, Jaime Ramírez on another, and Adri in a tussle with the goalkeeper in which he suffered a strong blow, came very close to increasing the AFE Sessions advantage.
Jonatan Valle
In the 81st minute, with the team of AFE feeling in total control, a dubious free kick was awarded by the referee and was exploited by centre halfback Vasin who, exploiting his height of almost two metres, headed the ball into the goal behind keeper Nacho.
After the game ended, Sergi Barjuan (who formerly played for Barcelona) expressed his satisfaction ‘with the work done by the lads, in both physical and footballing respects, which demonstrates to everyone in football that they can fit perfectly into their teams.’
For his part, the assistant manager for CSKA, Viktor Onopko, told that, as a former player for Real Oviedo, he is still affiliated to the AFE. He praised the Association’s initiative with the AFE Sessions. ‘I think this is a fantastic initiative. It’s very praiseworthy of the AFE to remember those who are having a bad time by not being in a team. More than that, they have played very well and I think it’s a wise move for someone like Sergi, who has lived and breathed so much good football, to be training them.’
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