“Some people think that if their opponent plays a beautiful game, it’s OK to lose,” Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen once said.
“I don’t. You have to be merciless.”
Carlo Ancelotti, one would think, would be inclined to agree. “We just think about winning matches, not thrashing teams,” the Real Madrid manager said in the aftermath of his side’s 3-1 win over Barcelona on Sunday. Ancelotti had been asked if his team had taken it easy in the second half of the match and thereby missed a chance to properly avenge the 0-4 defeat suffered at the hands of Barca in March this year.
“We’ve taken three points for us and also three points off our main title rival this season. It’s a long season with a lot of matches. We’re obviously happy with the performance,” he said.
Xavi Hernández took responsibility for the defeat and in the process, showed his pedigree as a leader. “I won’t blame the players,” he said. “I’m responsible. I’ll explain what happened. It’s my mistake, specific errors.”
The Barcelona manager said his team is currently stuck in a “negative dynamic.” “We have to change it now. We have to be more mature and compete much better. We have to learn the hard way.”
BARCA’S FAILINGS
Barca’s recent performances bear out the truth in Xavi’s comments. Broadly speaking, the Blaugrana are being troubled by three chief issues this season:
- Struggling to break down well-organised defences
- Failing to create enough chances to kill off matches and
- A tendency to get exposed against top-class opposition
Just seven months ago, however, Barca were hailed as being ‘back’ after an exhilarating 4-0 win over Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu, the same venue where Xavi’s men lost 1-3 on Sunday.
“This is the path to follow,” Xavi had said after the 4-0 win in March. “This is the way we want to play. It was a complete performance.”
Barca’s El Clásico win in March did not help them win La Liga – they finished 13 points behind Madrid in second place, got knocked out of the Europa League in the quarter-finals and finished the season trophyless. But they had what looked like the beginning of a team. Now, after spending a fortune in the summer transfer window and bringing in 7 new players, they seem to have regressed as a unit.
“Last season we didn’t have enough to compete, but this season we did,” conceded Xavi after Barca drew 3-3 with Inter Milan in the Champions League last week. “This time it was our mistakes,” said the Barcelona boss after the result all but guaranteed a group stage exit from the competition for the second year in a row.
Until we reach excellence, we will have to grind results like these.
Xavi Hernández after Barcelona’s 1-0 win over Celta Vigo
Barca are scheduled to play 7 matches in 24 days after their El Clásico defeat on October 16, before La Liga is suspended to make way for the Qatar World Cup. That’s just over one match every 3 days. In middling form and amidst an injury crisis that will test his squad strength, Xavi believes the situation is unlikely to improve rapidly.
“Until we reach excellence, we will have to grind results like these,” said Xavi after his side’s laboured 1-0 win over Celta Vigo on Matchday 9. Barcelona had dominated the first half against Celta, securing a 1-0 lead, before the tables were turned in the second half and Celta created a surfeit of chances but could not convert any of them.
RETREAT IS NOT AN OPTION
In 1519, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés arrived in Mexico with 11 ships and 600 men. The goal was to conquer Mexico. One of Cortés’ first acts upon his arrival was to sink his ships, in order to banish any thought of retreat among his men. Within 2 years, Cortés had succeeded in defeating the Aztec Empire, which had been ruling Mexico during his arrival, and bringing Mexico under the Spanish Empire.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta, in his second term as Barcelona president, is also planning a similar empire for his club – and has taken risks with the club’s future that are the equivalent of scuttling his own ships. Barcelona’s debilitating debt of around $1.4 billion has seen Laporta sell off 25% of Barca’s La Liga television rights for the next 25 years to an American investment group for around €587 million. The club has also offloaded 49% of Barca Studios, the club’s audiovisual studio, to two different organisations for a combined €200 million.
Then Laporta authorised a €158 million splurge on transfers in the summer that saw 7 new players being signed and 2 existing players having their contracts renewed.
After all this, failure on the pitch will be catastrophic.
While Barcelona’s results aren’t dire so far, their football lacks a cutting edge. They enjoy plenty of possession, but do not create enough goal scoring chances that usually follows such dominance on the ball.
And against top-class opposition such as Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Internazionale, they have dazzled in patches but have struggled to compete for 90 minutes.
HOW A TEAM IS FORGED
When Gary Neville was a first-year apprentice in the Manchester United youth team, as part of their warm-up, the players ran around the pitches located near the Cliff, which was the club’s primary training ground till 1999.
One day, writes Neville in his autobiography ‘Red,’ as they thought things felt a bit “sluggish,” Gary along with fellow first-years David Beckham, Robbie Savage and Chris Casper started running off ahead of the pack.
“The next day we sprinted off again, but this time six or seven of the other first-years followed,” writes Neville. “Soon it was all of our year….The second-years thought we were being busy but, in every sense, we were leaving them behind. When the youth team was picked, there would be only 3 of them to 8 of us.”
“People say that Eric Cantona taught the United players about staying behind for extra training, that he changed the culture of the club on the practice ground,” writes Neville. “Among the first team that was true, but, as a group, we were doing this religiously at 16.”
Barcelona, despite bringing in established players to shore up their fortunes this season, now have a competitive squad but not yet a team. “Winning is not easy,” said Xavi after his side’s hard-fought 1-0 win over Celta Vigo. “These are golden points. We had to suffer in the end. And the fatigue of playing matches every 3 days is visible.”
A CHALLENGING SCHEDULE
Barcelona’s diary till La Liga is suspended for the World Cup is not kind to them. Of the 7 matches they are scheduled to play in this period, 4 are teams currently in the top half of the La Liga table – Athletic Club, Villarreal, Valencia and Osasuna. They will also play 2 Champions League matches. One of these will be at the Camp Nou against Bayern Munich, who Barca threatened to blow away in an impressive first-half display during their tie in Germany in September, but did not. Xavi’s men failed to convert the chances they created in Munich, and eventually lost 0-2.
Only 2 of Barca’s upcoming 7 matches can be classified as against relative minnows – UD Almería in La Liga and Viktoria Plzeň in the Champions League.
If Xavi remains in charge of Barcelona on November 10, the day after his side’s last match before the World Cup, it could mean his team’s results had improved by then.
“With the effort made by the club (in the transfer market) and the squad we have, we have to compete for trophies,” said Xavi ahead of his side’s league match against Villarreal on Friday.
“And if we don’t win, as the president said, there will be consequences, starting with me.”
Barcelona fans will hope the club legend gets the time he deserves at the top to lead them to the promised land. But with Barca’s finances now akin to a candle burning at both ends, that is the one thing Xavi may not get.