Luis Enrique responsible for Barcelona’s April slip up
9.45 pm 02 April 2016, when Gerard Pique headed FC Barcelona to a 1-0 lead in the El Clasico derby, the Catalans went 13 points ahead of Real Madrid and 9 points ahead of Atletico Madrid. I was there chanting “Pique Pique” from the stands. The world seemed so beautiful.
15 days and 30 minutes later, i.e. 10.15 pm, 17 April 2016, Gerard Pique missed an open goal (ironically the same end goal post) as the domestic league race now has been almost reset to that state as at the start of the season. Even after two rounds of games since, where Barcelona won both games, only one point and head-to-head results separate the top three teams of Spain – did anyone say boring League?
La Liga now has four teams in line for doing the double – a richness that is unparalleled by the league for a long time. Sevilla are in line for the Copa del Rey and the Europa League, the Madrid twins are in for Champions League and domestic race while Barcelona sit and wonder.
What looked like an easy double and a possible consecutive treble for them is now washed away. The 39-match unbeaten streak saga is on the verge of becoming just a footnote now, more so if they don’t finish with the league title.
Barcelona have everything to lose
This means the double is now obligatory. Anything less will be considered a failure by the Blaugrana’s seeming potential a month ago. All debates around superiority of Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona of 2011 vs. Luis Enrique’s team of 2015 will subside for now.
In between, as it happens when results go awry, whispers of a Messi thigh injury, Neymar throwing a bottle and Dani Alves' hairdo were doing the rounds and it could have been worse.
Luis Suarez should have been sent off in both Champions League encounters vs. Atletico; Iniesta too in one of them; Neymar as well in the game vs Valencia.
Last week, Deportivo should have gone 2-1 up in the 22nd min and over the weekend, Barcelona beat Sporting Gijon, thanks largely to some poor refereeing decisions. A look back at both these games and the score lines seem flattering.
In November 2015, Luis Enrique had said “Barcelona’s best is yet to come”. Why did it not come when needed most? Instead, why did an unexplained catastrophe come over? Is the March international break the only responsible factor?
The blips unseen
Last week they trounced Deportivo La Coruna 8-0 and Sporting Gijon 6-0 to provide some relief to fans. But, that can only be a temporary respite. Irrespective, the tight league race to the finish is on. There is no scope for dropping points now. Who blinks first, loses.
Deportivo is the same team who, earlier this season, managed to get points at the Nou Camp despite being 0-2 down with less than thirty minutes to go.
Actually, the 39th unbeaten game in Barcelona’s repertoire also had a similar pattern. Barcelona were 2-0 up with just over thirty minutes to go but had to share the points against Villarreal.
These two games would mean four easy points blown up. Champion teams never let go of 2-0 leads.
Normally when teams like Bayern Munich, Paris St-Germain, Real or Atletico Madrid go 2-0 up against an unfancied opponent, the odds of an upset would drop rapidly.
Winning ugly
Great teams win even when playing bad. Barcelona during the run didn’t seem to have that quality – the tenacity of Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United or the solidity of Arrigo Sacchi’s AC Milan sides when things aren’t going well is something they can only aspire to. It wasn't there under Pep nor under Lucho this season.
Barcelona have always given the impression that any decent team can hit back two goals if they have half an hour in hand. They experienced that on 2 April and again 15 days later.
The Blaugrana essentially need to create double digit chances to win an average game, assuming their backline will concede one. Against Valencia, even after creating 22 chances, they couldn’t get any points. When you are in a rut and can’t win ugly, winning beautifully becomes tough too.
Invisible bench strength
The Villarreal game turnaround (from 2-0 to 2-2), on 20 March, was courtesy Jeremy Mathieu (directly responsible for both Villarreal goals) who came in as a substitute to give Gerard Pique some rest.
Meanwhile, Luis Enrique didn’t use any substitute in the Valencia game. The Valencia bench with Negredo, Alcacer and Cancelo was looking more menacing that their illustrious counterpart’s bench – Munir, Ter Stegen, and five defenders.
Barcelona, as I write have played 58 competitive games this season – 11 more than Real Madrid, 10 more than Bayern Munich, 6 more than Atletico Madrid. But strangely after so many games, Barcelona didn’t have a bench which the fans or the manager could seemingly have faith upon.