Soccer Slant

As Barcelona prepared to face Real Madrid, all the talk leading up to the penultimate game of the season surrounded the pasillo. In the end that turned out to be a mere anecdote, as Barcelona were thoroughly dominated by a Madrid side still celebrating its second league title in a row. The attitude of the Barca players was impassive, as if they couldn’t wait for this dreaded season to finally end. Only Carles Puyol, Victor Valdés, and the great Lionel Messi seemed to care that they were being over run by a side that had nothing to play for. The rest of the Barca players apparently didn’t realize how important this match was for their fans. Aside from the three points (which were important, considering Barca will now have to travel to a far off Eastern European city in mid August to play a Champions League qualifier), the Clásico could’ve given the fans something to finally feel proud about, even if it was just for their own dignity. Instead, it confirmed the fans’ worst expectations: that this talented Barca squad simply doesn’t care anymore.

This marks the second year in a row that Barca has failed to win a major trophy under Frank Rijkaard. Dark times loom ahead, as President Joan Laporta and his board have brought out the knives in response to the fans’ and media’s call for a limpia (clean out). It’s amazing to think just how fast and far this team has fallen in the past two seasons.

On May 17^th, 2006 a Giuliano Belletti strike past Arsenal’s goalkeeper Manuel Almunia in the 80th minute gave Barca its second Champions League trophy, thus completing a spectacular league and European Cup double. It seemed as if that Barca side was going to dominate Spain and indeed all of Europe for years to come. They had the world’s best player at the top of his game in Ronaldinho, an emerging talent whose progression seemingly had no limit in Lionel Messi, a centre forward who could not stop scoring in Samuel Eto’o, and a solid crop of home grown talents mixed in with savvy foreign additions that completed what was the most formidable squad Europe had seen in quite some time.

Their play was absolutely sublime. Rijkaard forged a modern version of Johan Cruyff’s fabled dream team. His 4-3-3 was based on precise and cohesive movements, both in attack and defense. Their intense pressure in the attacking third, led by the indomitable Eto’o, absolutely suffocated their rivals as they were trying to play the ball out of defense. Xavi and Deco in midfield circulated the ball around the pitch with such sense and precision that opponents eventually tired themselves out. The killer point was on the wings with two maestros in Messi and Ronaldinho, each playing on his opposite foot, giving them the ability to cut inside while skilled attacking fullbacks like Belletti, Sylvinho, or Gio Van Bronckhorst overlapped around the outside. Rijkaard’s Barca was a devastating inside-out threat, with the ability to fulminate teams from either flank or the center. The fullbacks were true unsung heroes in this system. They weren’t very high-profile players, but they were crucial in liberating the genius of Messi and Ronaldinho.

The sheer class of the Brazilian superstar really set the team apart. He was a terrifying threat for any defense, with the ability to do it all. He could overwhelm opposing fullbacks with an explosive first step and tremendous power. He had the creativity and vision to pick apart a defense with both long and short passes, and his ability to put in precise in-swinging crosses was extremely underrated. Whenever he touched the ball, the entire stadium edged to their seat in anticipation as defenders quivered. His magnum opus came when the Santiago Bernabéu rendered him his own personal pasillo after a 2-goal performance in a 3-0 thrashing for the Culés. Truly an awesome footballer who looked destined to etch his name among the pantheon of all-time greats.

Ronaldinho’s miserable descent into apathy is the tip of the iceberg for a club that has been consumed by its own success. Staying at the top is always harder than reaching it, and Barca have shown exactly how to ruin a great situation. Undoubtedly, one must look at the two men at the top: President Joan Laporta and Sporting Director Txiki Beguiristáin, to find the main culprits behind Barca’s struggles. They created a culture of conformism and preferred to minimize problems rather than attack them. They didn’t realize the gravity of last season’s collapse in the final stretch, and preferred to find solace with the fact that they finished even on points with the champions, Real Madrid.

Laporta did an excellent job of turning around a club headed nowhere when he took over from the dreadful Joan Gaspart in 2003. With the help of Sandro Rosell he modernized the club, improved its economic situation, and put in motion a sporting plan that would elevate Barcelona to the top of European football. In those early years, Laporta inculcated a corporate culture based on team-work, and with Sandro Rosell’s keen eye for talent and sharp negotiating skills, they were able to build a spectacular squad without spending an exorbitant amount of money. The problems began during the 2004-2005 campaign, when five board members, with Sandro Rosell at the head, resigned their posts due to their differences with Laporta, who they accused of hoarding too much power among other things.

Control over transfers was now in the hands of Beguiristáin, and the results have been disastrous. Transfers like Maxi Lopez, Gudjohnsen, Mario, Ezquerro, Thuram and Zambrotta have either disappointed or failed to play significant roles. The failure to bring in new blood has led to a stagnant squad filled with complacency. This season Barca signed quality players but some of them fit awkwardly into Rijkaard’s precise system. Eric Abidal, for example, is an excellent full back. Defensively he is very responsible and has tremendous strength. What he lacks, however, is the attacking talent and clarity in the final third necessary to provide proper width down the left flank. Gabriel Milito, for his part, doesn’t possess the precise long range passing that was a hallmark of Edmilson and Rafa Marquez.

Above all, however, Barca’s problems have been manifested in the signing of French superstar Thierry Henry. He was billed as the next Galactico who would complete a dream quartet with Ronaldinho, Etoo, and Messi. The Cuatro Fantasticos, as they were dubbed, were billed as the greatest forward line of all time. Rather than look for the best fit, Barca went after the best name to forget the horror of the previous season. The signing has been a fiasco. Henry has underperformed, scoring just 10 goals in the league thus far. Moreover, he is another large ego in a clubhouse already plagued by in-fighting and individualism. His signing followed an injury-riddled season with Arsenal, and doubts about his physical condition have only grown stronger. Just one year removed from his seismic transfer, rumors are that the club is looking to offload him.

Manager Frank Rijkaard also deserves his fair share of the blame. He managed his squad in a player-friendly manner, asking them to hold themselves accountable for their behavior. This worked well initially, but he eventually lost control over the squad. The unity that was so important to Barca’s success evaporated over night, and Eto’o’s outburst in Villafranca revealed a squad that was bitterly divided into two camps. He has failed to keep his squad motivated, and the string of last minute losses in last season’s collapse showed that he did not keep his team fully concentrated. Tactically, Rijkaard has not been able to find proper alternatives to his 4-3-3 once teams figured out how to stop it. His system in the past year and a half has looked stagnant and flat the majority of the time. After crafting a team that scored at will, the goals have dried up despite boasting an embarrassing array of attacking talent.

All is not lost, however. Barcelona still posses a very exciting young core of talented players led by Messi, midfielder Andrés Iniesta, and 17 year old phenom Bojan Krkic. That is a solid foundation to build around, and with a few shrewd signings they could compete for the title very soon. They have elected to promote from within to replace Rijkaard as the legendary Josep Guardiola, a stalwart in the midfield for Barca in the 90’s, will become the first team manager after this season. His only experience to date is with Barca’s second team, but he still carries tremendous weight in Barcelonismo. A bold move no doubt, and Laporta’s legacy will undoubtedly be tied with Guardiola’s success or failure in the near future, but without a change- if only in attitude- at the top, it won’t matter who is managing the team.