The Douglas mystery

Initial surprise followed by widespread criticism are the sentiments that Brazilian defender Douglas' first four months at Barca have provoked - a signing over which there is still almost universal confusion.

"Who is Douglas? Where does he play? As a forward? Goalkeeper?" were questions put to Barcelona's director of football, Andoni Zubizarreta, back in August. Far from being a sarcastic dig from a journalist, these were genuine queries asked by a young 'Azulgrana' fan in a car park. No answer was given though, Zubizarreta pretending not to hear.

The 24-year-old Brazilian came to Barca to strengthen a position that had been left very exposed in recent years. "We have great confidence in him, what Douglas does is bring more competition, which is what the coach wants", Zubizarreta justified at the player's official presentation.

With Dani Alves far from his best and FIFA's threat of not being able to bring in any new recruits for a year due to the illegal signing of underage players, Barcelona were looking around for a fullback. All they could find was a player from Sao Paulo, unknown in Europe. Even YouTube failed to turn up any exciting footage of the footballer in action.