Today I could have written more on the latest press speculation (today it is Benzema, Keita, Pique and Rodrigo Palacio) but I was sent a link on Paulino Alcántara who you should all know was Barça’s highest scorer of all time. Alcántara was born in The Phillippines, where his Spanish father was stationed, on October 7th 1896.
He moved to Barcelona as a boy and joined Barça in 1912. He made his debut on February 25th 1912 at the age of 15, scoring a hat-trick in an 9-0 victory over Català SC. He was famed for his powerful shot with both feet. In 1922, playing for Spain against France he scored with a shot that was so hard it broke the net! In total he scored 357 goals for Barça in 357 games between 1912 and 1927. He won five Spanish Cups with Barça and ten Catalan championships (the Spanish Liga didn’t start until 1928).Check out this dedication to him. I believe the gentleman with the bowtie and moustache who appears in the early clip is Joan Gamper the club’s founder. (Please correct me if I am wrong)
6 responses so far ↓
Siim // May 15, 2008 at 20:19
357 goals in 357 games - now that is something. Reminds me Gerd Müller who scored 68 goals in his 62 games for German national team.
History is important part of the club and great players form big part of it. Obviously, Paulino Alcántara is one of them.
barcaman78 // May 15, 2008 at 20:36
perhaps this is where the barca board want to take the club by hiring guardiola as they may have felt on some level that with rijkaard the history and culture the club was being lost on some of the current (and soon to be ex) players? imagine how paulino would feel about the controversy associated with the present squad!
pablo // May 15, 2008 at 22:04
I am glad you wrote this article Nic.
I have read so much on Paulino Alcántara, who would of thought that Barca top scorer would be the first ever Asian (Filipino) to play in Europe, First ever Asian to score 357 goals in 357 games for Barca.
My girlfriend who is also Filipino, was so proud to know that Barca had a first legend that was pinoy.
There are some nice clips on you tube if you do a search.
Thanks Nic for that.
ae // May 15, 2008 at 23:53
Did anybody know about this history fact?
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Amongst the highlights of matches played at the Mini, the Copa del Rey match in the 1983-84 season between a Barca reserve side, known at the time as Barça Atlètic, and the Real Madrid first team stands out. The 0-0 draw turned out to be an historic result as the 1-0 scoreline in the return leg proved to be enough to put the Barça youngsters through.
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Andrew // May 16, 2008 at 5:09
Hey Nic this was a really cool post. I’d enjoy reading more about some of the past Barca greats over the summer if there are any slow news days with transfer rumors and stuff. Then again with so many changes to watch for I can see if you don’t get an opportunity for that.
Titi186 // May 16, 2008 at 13:25
Another great post Nic.
I am a really young guy and dont know a lot of Barcas history and this is going wayyyy back but is still relevant today. I wish Barca would find someone like him today who could score 357 goals in 357 matchs - I think the team would struggle to score that many goals!
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