Barça & Real Madrid: The Spanish Ying Yang

A Year of Change

It is incredible how things can change in a single year in the world of football. Just 365 days ago, Real Madrid was on top of the world having conquered their precious 10^th UEFA Champions League, the European SuperCup, the FIFA World Cup of Clubs, and in the middle of a 20+ winning streak. For the first time in almost 15 years Real Madrid was once again the undisputable European reference. Carlo Ancelotti managed to create a harmonious team that united fans, management and players. Madrid was once again “Royal”.

At the same time, Barcelona was going through the roughest period of the season. Their game wasn’t convincing, Suarez wasn’t scoring despite all his efforts, and Luis Enrique’s relationship with the squad was more than questionable. Their defeat in San Sebastian against Real Sociedad was considered to be beginning of the end for the team with fans asking for the president to resign, as well as Andoni Zubizarreta.

F.C Barcelona in 2015 – Photo by fcbarcelona.com

Fast forward 12 months and both clubs seem to have traded spots. Barça just closed the year with 5 of the 6 possible titles with a treble included (first team to achieve this for a second time, and only team in Spain to ever win the treble). Meanwhile Real Madrid is in the middle of yet another institutional crisis, which includes a 0-4 defeat against Barça at home, as well as a shameful “suicide” & negligent elimination in the Copa del Rey.

These teams were born to oppose one another. I’m not talking about a team winning and another losing, which is expected since they compete in the same leagues. Their opposite nature goes a step further. In recent years:

• When Madrid had The Galacticos, Barca when through one of its darkest times in terms including 5 years without winning a title
• When Barcelona dominated with Ronaldinho, Madrid went through 3 coaches in a year, ending with Florentino Perez resigning and thus concluding the Galacticos era
• When Barça won their 6/6 titles, Madrid changed presidents once, and coaches 3 times
• When Madrid won the 10^th Champions League Barcelona changed president, coach, and was on the verge of changing coach again.
• Now that Barça has won their second treble, Madrid has changed coach, and may be doing so once again. Not to mention Florentino Perez’ decreasing popularity

Difference In Models

The only recent time I think both teams were at top level was when Mourinho coached Real. But even then, once the titles are counted, Barcelona had the edge. It is undeniable that, overall, the last 15 years has been dominated by Barça. From an institutional point of view they have had a much stable period.

Florentino Perez Popularity Decreases – Photo by Marca.com

It seems F.C Barcelona discovered what they wanted to be and they shaped their operating model against this idea long ago, which gives them a north whenever they have been lost. If you look at the list of coaches in the past 20 years there’s a similarity in styles; if you look at the types of players that have led Barça through different prosperous times, there is a common element as well.

Real Madrid, on the other hand, has yet to determine what kind of football they want to play. Their “flavour of the year” model of buying the best player (usually not in the market) has proven to yield short-term results. Some of them great, others not so much but overall the club seems to be in perpetual instability for the past 15 years. From Del Bosque to Capello, Pelegrinni, Mourinho, Ancelotti, and Benitez there are many different ideas and conflicting philosophies on what to do.

F.C Barcelona: Perfection Once Again

To win a treble in European football is to achieve perfection. Winning the league title, the domestic cup, and the Champions League in one season is something only 6 teams in history have done. To do this twice in less than 10 years is to carve your own legend in the history books and elevate your team to a level no other team can match. It’s easy to overlook the impact of what F.C Barcelona has achieved by pulling the perfect season for the second time. There’s a reason no other team had done it, ever.

The Two Faces of Perfection

First Team To Win 2 Trebles – Photo by Neogol.com

When Pep Guardiola led the team to first the treble, it was different from the way Luis Enrique did it this year. Guardiola’s team was like a symphony where every movement was well paced and meticulously planned; where goals were more of a cathartic release after a crescendo of passing and possession. Dominating the entire game in favour of the spectacle offered to the public was just as important as the final score.

Luis Enrique’s team is more like a jazz composition that combines beautiful melodies with room for improvisation. With Neymar & Suarez accompanying Lionel Messi, F.C Barcelona has been able to maintain their passing game while adding one of the fastest and more effective counter attacks in the world to their offering.

Both approaches worked and while purists of the Guardiola style may frown at the risks that this team takes, the core principles remain the same. Guardiola, Luis Enrique, Rijkaard, Rexach, Van Gaal, all these Barcelona coaches continued the style established by Johan Cruyff in 1990. Each with their own flare, but with a similar style. No, it is no coincidence that Barcelona has won 5 champions leagues in 23 years.

Messi: the common element

5 Champions Leagues in the last 23 years of which 4 came in the last decade. Pep Guardiola, Luis Enrique, and Frank Rijkaard to a lesser extend shared one common element: Lionel Messi. I’ve said it before: he is the differentiator. The club has built a team tailored to the Argentinian so he can lead the way to victory. Unfair to other players like Xavi, Iniesta, Valdes, Pique, Eto’o, Villa, Suarez, Bravo, Ter Stegen, and many others? Absolutely, they were all crucial to the success of the team at specific times. But Lionel is on a different league of his own. Whatever role he assumes in the team he becomes the best. It’s not about the goals scored (which have been crucial) but the fact that he makes his teammates even better.

My parents always said with pride that they watched Maradona in his prime and for the longest time I felt jealousy. Not anymore, I can say that I watched Lionel Messi; the player that changed the balance of Spanish football in a way that will be talked about for ages to come. Oh, and he’s only 27 years old. The future is now.

Messi, Barça & La Liga: A Matter of Consistency

Messi Leads The Way

Messi’s dynasty in the Spanish league continues as he led the team to its 5^th league title in the last 7 years. It seems rather unfair to single the Argentinian out as the main responsible for the team’s success; especially when considering other important players like Xavi, Iniesta, Pique, Neymar, Suarez, Alba, Bravo and more.

But this is Messi’s team. When the genius who wears the number 10 on his back is in top form he takes things to a different level no other player in the world can. Whether it is by dribbling his way to the net, or by imagining the pass mortals will take two extra seconds to even think about, Messi leads the way. He’s the differentiator and the main responsible for the club’s success in recent years.

La Liga: a tribute to consistency

La Liga 14-15 Champions. Photo by David Ramos

I love league tournaments, and to me they are the most important title of the year. League competitions reward consistency while minimizing chance as much as possible. Yes, luck is still an important element of the game but throughout 38 rounds it goes both ways. One day you hit the post, the other your rival does. La Liga is less likely to be decided by a last minute goal in added time.

F.C Barcelona won La Liga by doing two things right. First, they made sure to face the last 10 matches with enough points to be in the contention for title. I’ve said before that La Liga is truly disputed in the last 10 matches of the season but teams must be consistent during those prior 28 games as well. Second, they defeated every direct competitor; at the moments that it matters the most, this team counted games by victories. Real Madrid, Atletico, Valencia & Sevilla can look at the new champions and say there were bested.

The Barcelona Era

When you look at the 23 league trophies Barcelona has in their museum, it is easy to overlook this interesting fact: 13 of those came after 1990. That means that 52% of the league titles disputed over the last 25 years have gone to the Catalan team. Yes, we are lucky to live in the Messi dynasty. But this more than Messi, this is F.C Barcelona time.

This is no coincidence. These are the results of a club that established and committed to one idea brought to them by Johan Cruyff back 1990. Every coach that has trained the team for the past 25 years had his own flair but the core idea stayed the same. This has provided the club not only competitive success shown by the 13 league titles and 3 champions league, and 5 Copas del Rey won; but also institutional direction at the moments of trouble when not everything is clear.

In short, the most consistent player named Messi, has lead a consistent club named F.C Barcelona to yet another league title that rewards precisely that: consistency. Chapeau!

Mathieu & Vermaelen: Barcelona’s Bet

To say that Barcelona needed to sign defenders this summer would be a bit of an understatement. In fact, they should have done so two years ago after those embarrassing defeats in the Champions League semi final against Bayern Munich. At last, the new defenders are no longer a rumour but actual players: Jeremy Mathieu and Thomas Vermaelen.

I don’t believe that these are the signings that will spark hope amongst fans; but then again, players are signed to improve the team not win a popularity contest. In this sport, the difference between a season to remember and one to forget can be something that happens in one crucial match. Therefore, I don’t think we can judge whether these players are going to be good or not just yet.

I will say, though, that I expect Mathieu to do better out of the two. He already knows culture, the league, and he has been playing great defense for Valencia for the past few seasons. Vermaelen, on the other hand, has the ghosts of injuries following him. While he has the skills and the talent, having played 17 games only last season is something to be worried about. This is a big risk that Zubizarreta is taking.

Regardless of first impressions, the team certainly needed these players. At this point, it was better to bring just about anybody for these positions. Why? Because a team cannot simply go through a 60+ game season with just 3 center back. It seems Barcelona fell in the same trap A.C Milan did after 2005 where they failed to rejuvenate the team in time. The lesson here is that tough decisions must be made in order to keep teams competitive and healthy. To delay rejuvenation is to end up attending the transfer market with a “desperate” sign around your neck.

Jeremy Mathieu, and Thomas Vermealen may not be the defenders that Barcelona deserved, but at this point they are the ones that we needed.

Midfield, Mourinho, and Juan Mata

Football is a game of midfielders. That’s no disregard whatsoever to strikers, defenders, and goalies; but teams with great midfielders control the match, they have better ideas, they lose fewer balls, and they generate more chances. This is the reason why Spain, Barcelona Manchester United, and Bayer Munich have dominated the European scene for the past 7 years. They all have had a phenomenal midfield.

However, not everybody believes or agrees with this approach. A team like the Greece National Team of 2004, was able to win the Eurocup with very little elaboration on the midfield. Di Matteo led Chelsea to claim its first Champions League title with very little creation football.  Notice that these teams had short-lived cycles (one tournament to be more specific) and they are not greatly remembered over time.

If there is one coach that doesn’t believe in the midfield theory is Jose Mourinho.  In fact, his Inter Milan team won a Champions League with deadly counter attacks and nothing more. In his tenure at Madrid, he chose to sign Fabio Coentrao for €30 million instead of signing a creative player like David Silva for a similar amount. He chose to play Pepe, a defender, on the midfield against Barcelona instead of using another creative midfield. His vision of football is that of quick transitions where most of the team defends while few quality strikers are responsible for the attack. This is a valid approach, but it’s is based on destructing the opponent’s initiatives rather than taking your own.

Mourinho has started to show his cards in his second tenure at Chelsea and it seems as though Juan Mata is not the main player he was brought out to be. Last Sunday, he said that Mata has the door open if he wants to leave. This is a clear message of intentions. If I were this player I would look for an exit strategy because I don’t think the situation will change.

As a coach, Mourinho has the right to choose which players to play. He knows better than anybody else what his team needs in order to play the way he wants. Mata is a player ideal for teams with multiple passing approach and game control. He just happens to be the right player for the wrong coach.

I’m Rooting for Atletico

There is no doubt that Atletico Madrid is the most impressive team in the Spanish League this season. Sure, Barcelona and Madrid keep dominating but when your budget is twice as much as the rest of the league you are supposed to dominate. Atletico doesn’t have the budget, nor do they have the European prestige to attract established players. What they do have is a coach with clear ideas, and a team that knows what they are playing.

It’s not easy being Atletico de Madrid, or any other Spanish team not named Barcelona or Real Madrid for that matter. The television rights money is unfairly distributed, they can’t afford to buy good players, and if they manage to grow a very talented player it only takes a season or two for a big club to buy that player. In the last years Atletico has lost Forlan, Aguero, De Gea, and Falcao among others; and yet, the team has managed to stay competitive.

However, it wasn’t until Simeone arrived  two years ago when Atletico stopped being an after-thought. Diego Simeone has done the toughest part of coaching a team, which is convincing his team that his idea is the only way to go. When you see Atletico Madrid playing, you see that each player knows exactly what to do and when to do it. They have faith in their coach.

Every week people expect Atletico to deflate and leave the battle for La Liga to the two big teams. And yet, they are still in the fight ahead of Madrid and tied with Barcelona.  In fact, this season neither of the big teams has managed to defeat Atletico. For instance, Barcelona only won the SuperCup against them on goal average.

I think their real challenge is yet to come though, when the team is playing the King’s Cup, Champions League, and the league title at the same time. I still believe that they won’t be able to stay competitive. It’s not a team problem but a squad problem. Unlike the big two, Atletico can’t afford to have world-class players on the bench.

Nevertheless, chapeau to Simeone. His work at Atletico Madrid is a monument to football. If only television rights were fairly distributed…

Jugar Bien Siempre: Tata’s Next Goal

When Josep Guardiola coached F.C Barcelona, he continuously said that Barcelona had an obligation to play good all the time –jugar bien siempre– in order to own their crowd’s admiration and support. In his mind, if the team played a good game match after match, the results would soon follow. Pep Guardiola didn’t win every single game or every single title, but his dynasty in European football came as a result of consistent good playing. Even in the times of defeats, Camp Nou would stand behind their team applauding their effort.

The reality of the current Barcelona team is the opposite. Tata Martino has made a strong impact in Barcelona as a result of final scores rather than the actual game of his team. The problem with result-driven teams is that as soon as victories stop, the built-up worries explode. Statistically, this Barcelona team is as impressive as its predecessor. But the fans can see that the game is not the same. As a result, there seems to be a mood of crisis surrounding the team.

In theory, I agree with Martino’s personal touch on the team. Barcelona’s style needed an evolution as it had become predictable, and rival teams found the right strategy to use against them. The problem is that Martino’s message is yet to become a creed for the squad. The players seem lost and incapable of understanding when to rely on the passing and possession game, and when to play the counter attack.

Tata Martino has a lot of work to do, and in his favour, it is easier to have a team crisis when you are winning. In football, love comes from goals. But long-term success must be built from the tactic board not the scoreboard. If you play well, the results will soon follow