FC Barcelona is in turmoil. That sentence is oxymoronic considering that the Catalonian giants are sitting second in the table behind Real Madrid by a single point. They have also reached the final of the Copa Del Rey and it is almost inevitable that they will qualify for the quarter final stage of the Champions League after beating Manchester City, away from home, by two goals in the first leg.
Therefore it seems a bit harsh to say that FC Barcelona are in a spot of bother considering that the off field antics— which is somewhat unfamiliar for the club in recent times— have not translated into their results in a negative way.
Yet as I mentioned in my previous article, which previewed the Madrid derby, that the changes happening in Barcelona’s board room, as well as the (relatively) new manager Gerardo Martino reportedly losing support from some of his players, will mean that Barcelona won’t be the champions of Spain once again.
In addition to all this misery, the influential Spanish centre back Carlos Puyol has announced that he is leaving Barcelona at the end of the season which could potentially add to their defensive woes next season.
The transfer of Neymar is what has caused dissension amongst the ranks. For those who aren’t to speed, Barcelona were charged with tax fraud and were forced to pay €13.5m to the Spanish authorities.
In the wake of this incident, Sandro Rosell, stepped down as president of the football club and Josep Maria Bartomeu took over the post. Rosell denied the allegations made against him and wanted to clear his name, but he stepped down during the case, fearing that the allegations would harm the club’s image. Rosell’s resignation in January failed to prevent an image from being tarnished by this scandal.
Rosell, despite being one of the most-voted for presidents in the club’s history, was disastrous on some levels beyond the Neymar scandal. As Spanish football journalist and expert Sid Lowe pointed out in a piece for The Guardian:
“He will be remembered as the man who sold Eric Abidal and sold the shirt to Qatar Airways. The man who fell out with Johan Cruyff, Pep Guardiola and even Messi. He was a man who lacked the charisma and charm, the approachability and popularity of Joan Laporta, the former president and his rival who he so resented and whose shadow he could never escape.”
Lowe’s words are damning of a man who damaged a club. Selling a decent defender as he recovered from cancer as well as selling out the club’s shirt to a company was unthinkable. And then to fall out with a club legend, and their best head coach and player for a generation was unforgivable.
The worst part of Rosell’s reign is that despite being successful in bringing trophies home to the Catalan club, he was never going to be as successful as Laporta. Despite Laporta’s almost dictatorial and undemocratic stance with his club (as well as his desire for mixing Catalonian nationalist politics with football), Rosell’s predecessor will always be remembered for bringing in Guardiola and creating the most dominant force in European football since the turn of the century.
Laporta is also going to be a problem for the new president Bartomeu, who will have little time to make his impression on a club, before a potential election in 2016.
Although according to an interview El Confidencial had with Gerard Pique, the issues with the boardroom did not affect their performance as much as Tito Villanova’s departure as manager. Villanova was pretty much forced to leave because of medical issues and therefore the club brought in Martino to take charge.
Understandably many people in the Spanish press have criticised how Martino’s men have played this season. Whilst it is not obvious to many casual observers of the Spanish game, Martino has been making Barcelona play some more direct football, away from the simple passing game that Guardiola installed into the club. It is almost considered a slap in the face to the dynasty that was built up in Barca.
Yet Martino’s men are still winning and have conceded the joint fewest goals in La Liga so far this season. Its proof that they are winning but it’s not with the same swagger that the Barca of only a couple seasons ago had.
One would have to look at their 4-1 victory (yes, people have been criticising a victory) against Almeria last Sunday. They did take a 2-0 advantage within the first half hour but they conceded not long after they went two up. It took them until the last 10/15 minutes of the game to get themselves a convincing scoreline. It was evident that if it were not for a gulf in class between the two sides then Barcelona would not have got away with losing a step or two.
And to add to the criticism, two of their goals came from rebounds— the latter was from Puyol who actually came on as a substitute and rejuvenated the squad’s performance. If Puyol is revitalising a team then this Barcelona squad does have cause for concern in regards to their tactics since they should be bullying teams of Almeria’s standards. It’s the same erroneous tactics that were employed by Martino in a 3-1 defeat to Real Sociedad less than a fortnight ago.
The only redeeming thing about the current lack of balance off the field for Barcelona is that it is not really affecting their results as of yet in the league and cups they are participating in. Yet if things do not improve at both boardroom and backroom level, then we could see a near trophy-less era similar to what their nearest rivals Real Madrid endured after the 2002 Champions League success.
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