Ahead of a decisive El Clasico, Barcelona deserve to be considered favourites for the league title – so what’s with all the crisis talk?
(Image credit: Getty)
There isn’t another club in world football like Barcelona. As a commercial organisation, the Catalan giant ranks among a select group of mega-brands – alongside the likes of the LA Lakers and New York Yankees – whose ubiquitous influence has come to define their respective sports.
More than just a seller of tickets and jerseys, the club has been largely responsible for sculpting the global identity of the European game. Its pithy motto – "Més que un club" (More than a club) – might seem like the work of a jumped-up business drunk on its own self-importance, but few can argue against Barcelona’s titanic impact on football and beyond.
Just as with that ill-fated ocean liner, though, no great power is invulnerable to sinking. For all its success, Barcelona have suffered under the weight of their own history in recent years, particularly in Europe.
On the face of it, failing to reach the last eight of the Champions League for the first time since 2007 makes for grim reading to Blaugranes who have watched their club juggle dirty politics, angry players and poor performances of late. But digging a little deeper than the headlines reveals a team in the home straight of a transition, years in the making – and one primed to challenge for silverware in seasons to come.
Many were quick to declare that a second remontada was never on the cards after PSG held Barcelona to a 4-1 defeat at the Camp Nou, and yet an impressive second leg display bore all the hallmarks of a disciplined group of players finally finding their rhythm. Had Ousmane Dembélé not forgotten his shooting boots in the return fixture, Paris may have found itself once again throwing away a seemingly-insurmountable lead.
Of course, results don’t always fall the way of the deserving team, but Barcelona’s performance nonetheless laid down a marker to Europe – and La Liga – that this is a club emerging from a so-called crisis with reason for optimism. Manager Ronald Koeman said after the game that he has no doubts over the "great future" of his squad – and this faith was well-founded.
Now only one point behind league leaders Atlético Madrid, Messi & Co are in control of their own destiny as we head into the business end of the season. A last-gasp win over Real Valladolid ensured Barcelona is the only team in Europe’s top five leagues to remain unbeaten domestically in 2021 – and yet this is still a club tarred by the brush of its internal mismanagement.
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Perhaps this reluctance to acknowledge Barcelona’s bright future stems, in part, from the misconception that its board has invested poorly in the years since the departures of Xavi, Iniesta and Suárez. Acquisitions over the past five seasons might look misguided now given how little those big-money signings have returned in Catalonia, but these deals were far from ill-advised at the time.
Dembélé, Griezmann, Coutinho and de Jong were all at the top of their game when they arrived at the Camp Nou, and still represent assets with enormous ability, even if that ability hasn’t yet converted into concrete value. Yes, their price tags were extortionate, but such was the state of the inflated market. These aren’t “finished” players; you need only watch highlights of France’s latest World Cup qualifying games to see the enduring talent of the two Frenchmen, for example.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing – especially when it comes to criticising the decision-making of businesses whose investments are based on sound judgement.
Another of these baseless misreadings is the notion that Barcelona is a club reluctant to move on from its old guard. A particularly embarrassing image to come from the first-leg defeat to PSG was one of a scrambling Gerard Piqué trying desperately to cling to the jersey of the prodigious Kylian Mbappé, which the world’s media saw as proof of the club’s misguided commitment to its old heroes. But there is nothing old about this Barcelona side.
(Image credit: Getty)
Make no mistake, the 33-year-old Messi is still the beating heart of this team – but it’s by no means a squad in its twilight years. The Barcelona of 2021 is actually the youngest of the last decade, and the likes of Fati, Pedri, Puig, Firpo, Trincão and Dest prove there’s quality – and longevity – in all areas of the pitch. These aren’t just promising youngsters, either, but accomplished players capable of holding down positions in the starting eleven.
Against Real Sociedad, Dest offered the first real sign that he has the potential to fill the shoes of the great Dani Alves if played in the right position and given the time to develop as an attacking wing-back. Pedri, too, seems well-placed to reach the heights of the legendary Spanish midfielders that came before him, while Fati is breaking more scoring records than he’s had birthdays. The point being: there’s no need for a rebuild at Barcelona, because this team has already been rebuilt.
This isn’t a side ill-equipped for success – it’s just one held to the impossibly high standards set by the outfits of Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique in years gone by. It’s a team whose latest performances have proven there’s success to be had when playing to the strengths of your new assets. Nobody at Barcelona is holding on to history – a certain ageless Argentine just makes it seem that way.
With Atlético still unconvincing in its pursuit of the league title and an injury-hit Real Madrid hampered by Champions League fixtures, Barcelona can seize the opportunity of this weekend’s El Clasico to march towards a twenty-seventh La Liga trophy – and put to rest any notions of being a club in crisis. Besides, if new club president Joan Laporta hopes to have any chance of keeping Messi at the Camp Nou this summer, a win over Los Blancos seems a good place to start.
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