Eric idol

ERIC ABIDAL dedicated his emotional return for Barcelona on Saturday night to his cousin Gerard.

This is the man who donated part of his liver when the France defender suffered a recurrence of cancer and this Wednesday marks a year since Abidal, 33, underwent the transplant.
On Saturday, a week after boss Tito Vilanova returned to the Barca bench after he himself had three months of cancer treatment in the US, Abidal played for 20 minutes in the 5-0 demolition of Levante.
The Nou Camp ovation was hair-raising.
He said: “My cousin had never been to hospital and the first time he did they cut open his belly.
“Without my cousin I wouldn’t be here. It’s a unique moment to play after a year.
“I had support from so many — my family, my friends and everyone at the hospital, who are good people fighting like me. We must never stop fighting, there’s always hope.
“Maybe I am an example, without wanting to be one. I try to do the best I can and, if I can advise people about my fight, then even better.”
Abidal was given the honour of lifting the Champions League trophy as captain at Wembley following Barca’s 2011 win over Manchester United after he had returned from his first bout of cancer.

MY HERO ... Eric Abidal (left) has much to thank cousin Gerard for

It could be deja vu next month at the Wembley final — but first the Catalans must beat David Beckham’s Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday.
Abidal joked: “I was careful in the warm-up not to get injured.
“Tito told me to be calm and that after a year out it would always be tough. I didn’t want to force myself too much. I wasn’t nervous but I was focused.
“I felt well. I missed a few passes but it’s normal after a year. I fought to come back and, thank God, I am well.
“When they told me that I had a recurrence I had the same mentality as the first time.
“God decides. I am very happy with Tito because he has returned from America and is very well. I wanted to finish my career playing. Now I feel well and, if I can continue for one, two or three years then I will.”
Barca vice-president Carles Vilarrubi revealed Abidal could become an ambassador for the club when he retires.
Vilarrubi said: “He’s being converted into an icon of the values that are implicit in the way Barca are and act as a club, such as hard work, professional integrity and ability to overcome difficulties.”
They talk a good game those Catalans, don’t they? If only they played like that too. Oh, sorry, I forgot.
PS: Lionel Messi was out injured on Saturday after scoring in 19 consecutive Liga matches — against EVERY team in La Liga. Pity Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored against all 19 clubs last year but not on the trot.
Ex-Arsenal ace Cesc Fabregas replaced Messi against Levante and scored the first hat-trick of his career.

Di Canio must answer

PAOLO DI CANIO’S fascist background and the way his new club Sunderland dealt with it sparked outrage last Monday.
Then, on Friday, AEK Athens outcast Giorgos Katidis copped a five-match ban for his Nazi salute.
Curiously, the Italian hothead and the Greek moron are linked in more ways than one.
Former Greece Under-21 player Katidis had already been banned for life from the national team by their Football Federation and suspended until the summer by AEK.
The difference between the fascist salutes of Di Canio at Lazio in 2005 and the Nazi gesture of Katidis last month?
Katidis pleaded stupidity — after confessing he picked up the salute from Greece’s neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn. He apologised, claiming he did not know what it meant.
As for Di Canio? He got a one-match ban — and admitted he was a fascist.
The Italian made his beliefs public on the pitch and off it, saying: “I’m a fascist, not a racist.”
Di Canio sports a tattoo of the word ‘Dux’ — the Latin nickname of Adolf Hitler’s World War II buddy Benito Mussolini.
Yet, facing a groundswell of opinion last week, he hid behind a written statement finally distancing himself from the ideology.
The Italian and Sunderland want to have their cake and eat it. When his appointment caused fan unrest, he didn’t want to talk about his beliefs.
But Di Canio cannot be judged solely on what happens on the pitch. He must answer questions.
Fascism always prevails when people turn the other way out of fear or indifference.
We do not want any idiots in Britain who think fascist salutes are cool because Di Canio did it.
Idiots much like Katidis, who copied it without knowing — as he claimed — what it represented.