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Barcelona show first signs of vulnerability ahead of Champions League clash with Bayer Leverkusen
If there is one certainly in sport, it is that nothing lasts forever. Eras end and even the greatest teams or individuals eventually succumb to a weakening of their powers.
In football, the recurring debate over the past three years has not been whether Barcelona are the best in the world but whether they are the finest in history. Plenty of good judges have subscribed to that second description and, as Barcelona return to European club competition tonight against Bayer Leverkusen, they remain the clear favourites to become the first team in history to successfully defend the Champions League.
Yet beneath the usual tidal wave of superlatives, there is rare uncertainty. And an anomaly. It is the Spanish Primera Liga table, which shows that they are now 10 points adrift of a Real Madrid team who, under Jose Mourinho, have also scored 12 more goals.
On Saturday, Barcelona were even beaten 3-2 by Osasuna and they go into tonight’s first leg in Germany having failed to win any of their past four away games. It is the most significant show of vulnerability since Pep Guardiola became manager in 2008. The wider question is whether we are witnessing an inevitable blip or the first meaningful cracks during an extraordinary cycle under Guardiola in which Barcelona have won 13 out of 16 available trophies.
Graham Hunter has chronicled this period for his new book, Barca: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World, and believes that some perspective must be applied.
“They are still easily – and I mean easily – the best team in the world on their day,” he said. “They are capable of performing, at any time, as they did at Wembley in last year’s Champions League final. It is an extraordinarily big game against Leverkusen. If, in 24 hours’ time, Leverkusen had won the first leg and Guardiola said he was finishing up this summer, then we could talk again.
“Because a superhuman team have sometimes been approaching human, that shouldn’t signal the end of an era. I think there is no chance of that as long as Guardiola stays. All the key players are on long contracts and want to stay.”
There are also, of course, many mitigating factors. Pre-season, which included a tour of the United States, was far from ideal and influential players have subsequently suffered injuries. Gerard Piqué, Cesc Fabregas, Alexis Sánchez, Andrés Iniesta and Pedro have all missed significant parts of the season while David Villa is unlikely to play again before June. It has all contributed to inconsistencies in team selection, with Guardiola rarely fielding a settled defence and experimenting with variations on a 3-4-3 system.
The form of Real Madrid must also be acknowledged. “The 10-point margin looks pretty horrible but it’s because Real Madrid have been relentless,” Hunter said. “People need to look at both sides of the coin. Real Madrid have been the highest scorers in Europe.”
There are now clear signs that Barcelona are actively prioritising the Champions League. On Saturday, with a freezing pitch at Osasuna that had no undersoil heating, they rested both Xavi and Iniesta. Their relative difficulties in La Liga should also be set beside other performances this season. Barcelona have already won the European Super Cup, the Spanish Super Cup and the Club World Cup, while Mourinho’s Madrid were recently dispatched in the Spanish Cup.
Another positive for Barcelona has been the continued integration of exceptional home-grown talent such as Martin Montoya, Sergi Roberto and Isaac Cuenca. It is also expected that Guardiola will again renew his rolling one-year contract.
“All of this wouldn’t have happened without Guardiola, irrespective of this generation of players,” Hunter said. “Rust had set in. Above anything else, he galvanised them psychologically.”
Carles Puyol, the captain, has come to embody that spirit. “The league is not lost yet,” he said yesterday. “We will fight for all three competitions.”