Spanish Inquisition: Barcelona Must Rekindle Their Spark To Beat Valencia & VfB Stuttgart

Posted Friday, March 12, 2010 by Goal.com

Last weekend when Barcelona stammered to earn a hard-fought 2-2 draw at Almeria and surrendered pole position to Real Madrid in La Liga – just don’t repeat that to Dani Alves – there was a sense of uneasiness around the Camp Nou circles as more and more admissions and revelations were made.

The players have had little choice but to come out and admit that they are not playing as well as they should, the coach has had to publicly warn his charges to buck up, and even their own legendary master Johan Cruyff slammed certain figures for not being committed enough.

But now that Real Madrid have crashed out of the Champions League and the Spanish press are dedicating every stroke of the keyboard and every drop of ink on the Galacticos capitulation, Barcelona’s “problems” suddenly do not seem to be that significant after all. But make no mistakes, there are issues to sort out.

Call it a problem, call it a slight hiccup, call it whatever you want. There’s no denying that the Blaugrana are performing well below par, and that’s straight from the horse’s mouth. And whether or not anyone else wants to admit that the Catalan juggernauts are currently going through a blip, the one certainty is that they have to rekindle that old Barcelona spark if they are to negotiate Valencia in La Liga this Sunday and VfB Stuttgart in the Champions League on Wednesday.

But where and when did the cracks start to appear in the Barca armour?

Ironically enough, it started against Valencia. A meeting at the Mestalla in mid-October revealed to the world that invincibility of Pep’s Dream Team can indeed be shattered. The match ended goalless but Los Che succeeded in taking the game to and outplaying the Blaugrana. It was the first time in a long, long while that Barca’s full strength side looked second best and teetered on the verge of defeat in a competitive match.

Three days later, however, with the signs staring them in the face, ‘El Tricampeon’ were finally vanquished, at the Camp Nou no less, when a dogged Rubin Kazan came, saw and conquered. Further unconvincing performances followed but by and large, Guardiola’s gladiators managed to fend off criticism due to their ability to grind out victories even when they weren’t playing at full throttle. And when they returned from Abu Dhabi clutching the FIFA Club World Cup trophy in what would now be famously known as the Sextuple, talks of a decline were promptly and emphatically disposed of.

Barca's superstars feeling vulnerable

The Catalan heroes were rewarded with a two-week Christmas break and that was when Barca were expected to recharge their batteries and come back in 2010 stronger, better, more vibrant and more exciting than ever before. But the exact opposite happened.

A tame 1-1 draw at home against Villarreal to kick off the new year was followed by their second home shock of the season when they stumbled to a 2-1 defeat against Sevilla in the Copa del Rey, a reverse which ultimately led to their exit from the cup competition. Still, Barca managed to bounce back with the promise that it would only be a matter of time before they would return to their menacing best now that they have one tournament less to worry about.

But after weeks and months where even the genius Guardiola failed to lift his troops to recapture their old form, they have now been forced into submission to admit that they are indeed not playing well.

There has been no fiercer critic than Cruyff. The Dutch master’s main condemnation is that there are some players in the Camp Nou dressing room who are not giving their 100%. Who those players are, I leave it to you to speculate.

There’s also criticism that the team as a whole have not been able to learn from their mistakes after Cruyff pointed out that they had three bad games in a row, starting with the 2-1 loss to Atletico Madrid, a flattering 4-0 win over Racing Santander and culminating in the 1-1 draw at Stuttgart a fortnight ago in the Champions League.

Ofcourse, Barca’s definition of “playing well” varies dramatically from what others would consider to be a good performance. There are only two football clubs in the entire world where a 4-0 victory would draw more contempt than praise, and FC Barcelona is one of them.

Things have been a bit messy at Barca lately

You wouldn’t bet against Barca to put in an average display and still beat Valencia and Stuttgart, but the fact of the matter is, Guardiola needs to find a way to relight his players’ imagination and swiftly return to top form before the business end of the season approaches, before more doubts and more nerves start to set in. Whether their dip in performance is down to fatigue, the team strategy, the psychology, the lack of motivation, it’s up to the gaffer to find a solution.

If they do get past the Germans in the Champions League, bigger, tougher opposition will await and it won’t get any easier in La Liga either. They have to entertain Osasuna and Athletic Bilbao and sandwiched in between is a trip to Mallorca, a side who have lost fewer times at home than Barca in all competitive matches this term. Then ofcourse comes the big one: El Clasico, at the Santiago Bernabeu, followed by crunch ties against Deportivo La Coruna and Espanyol.

As Cruyff cautioned, Barca have to rediscover their old football philosophy and apply it on the pitch. In other words, back to basics.