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Everyone needs a calm and mediating ecosystem to survive. Like other performing artists, football players also need a system, which provides enough breathing space to perform at their best. But in football, literally, that space is more to do with the real dimensions of the field – of length and width. Once you suffocate the players, they too crumble like mere mortals.
When Luis Suarez was roped in to join an already crowded Barcelona attacking line, many denounced the Uruguayan’s move to Camp Nou as a short-sighted one, and the club’s detractors labeled his induction to the line-up as a futile attempt to match that of their eternal rivals – Real Madrid’s front-line of Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema.
Whatever prospect or wisdom laid the foundation for that move, the Uruguayan has already celebrated his first season in Spain with a rare continental treble – lifting La Liga, Copa del Rey and UEFA Champions League trophies. But the narrative doesn’t stop there.
Looking back, by the second half of the 2013-14 season, Barcelona already had several attacking players in Lionel Messi, Alexis Sanchez, Neymar and Pedro Rodriguez. Barcelona’s free-flowing attacking game was perfectly represented by their on-field camaraderie and also by their individual skills. However, they failed as a team, by failing to win titles.
Despite the team’s fluidity in the midfield, and hitting that magical 100-goal mark in the league last season, Barca were blamed for not winning titles. The blame though were mainly directed towards Gerardo Martino, their Argentine manager who arrived in Camp Nou in the wake of Tito Vilanova’s deteriorating health. Aggravating the situation was his close proximity to compatriot Messi, and a perceived lack of vision.
Then, the title drought had worked its way into the club management and a shake-up in the back-room staff followed, along with a quite departure of Martino. By finishing runners-up in La Liga and Copa del Rey, and losing to Spanish champions Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final, Barca endured one of their worst seasons in recent times.
And specially given all the noises emanating from Santiago Bernabeu, where the so-called ‘BBC’ was ruling the roost, winning an unprecedented Decima of European titles, Barca needed their own trident of attacking stars. That’s when troubled Suarez hit the radar despite serving a protracted ban for biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini during the summer’s World Cup in Brazil.
Suarez had already established himself as one of the best finishers of the game, and his Anfield exploits just did enough to keep that credential intact. Despite all the bad press about his on-field notoriety, Liverpool’s talismanic striker joined one of the best brands of sporting propriety in a long-term contract on July 11.
Interestingly, Barcelona’s second-most influential player from the last season, Alexis Sanchez had only signed for English club Arsenal a day earlier.
Suarez’s impending arrival was often cited as the reason for Sanchez’s exit, but in reality, it wasn’t the case. The arrival of Neymar in 2013 had already rendered Sanchez’s position in Barca line-up untenable. Here, it could also be stated that hugely impressive David Villa was allowed to leave at the start of the previous season, just one month after Neymar’s arrival from Santos in Brazil.
Both the South American wingers, despite claims of their evolution as more concrete players, remained primarily left-footed flankers who are more adept in cutting inside rather than playing central roles. And the Chilean found himself reduced to playing bit-part roles.
The comings and goings of world-class players are routine in clubs like Barcelona, and in Suarez and Sanchez’s cases, the deals went just about routine. After successfully roping in one of the world’s best strikers, Barcelona – as a club – was primed to resurrect their title claims, like good old days. A club which possessed Messi, Suarez and Neymar was expected to fight for titles.
Fast forward, Barcelona have won an unprecedented second continental treble. They have won La Liga by two points from Real Madrid with an unrivaled goal scoring equation of 110:21 in 38 games. A fortnight after winning the league title, they beat Athletic Bilbao 3-1 to complete a record sixth domestic double. To complete a continental treble, they humbled Juventus – who got the better of defending champions Real Madrid in one of the semi-finals – in the UEFA Champions League final in Berlin on June 6.
Beyond the count of trophies, what’s important for Barca was the manner in which they were won. Their 3-0 win over Bayern Munich in the semis first-leg at home has already been hailed one of the best in the game. By beating Pep Guardiola’s German champions 5-3 on aggregate, they have restored the Catalan pride at Camp Nou. In both the legs, Messi, Neymar and Suarez proved why they are collectively hailed as the best attacking trio.
After a season in wilderness, Barca are once again back, talking and chasing titles. And spurring their challenge is this attacking trident, which has amassed 122 goals combined this season, which is four more than the previous record set by Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain in 2011-12.
But, the real seed of Barcelona’s revival was sowed a couple of months before the arrival of Suarez in Barcelona. A certain Luis Enrique was roped in to manage a team, which was looking for new answers. And everybody knew, it’s never going to be easy for anyone who was asked to task a team involving Messi and Neymar and some of Spain’s own World Cup winners.
As expected, Luis Enrique was soon forced to adopt a tacit line while also keeping his faith on the pressing game, instead of waiting as witnessed during Pep Guardiola’s reign. At one point of time, a fall-out with Messi forced everyone to question if Enrique will last the season itself.
However, by the end of the regular European season, Barca had the last laugh. It will not be an overstatement to say that Barca, under Enrique, have become tactically more complete and ruthless outfit. A different beast altogether. Of course, every successful club side will be compared to Guardiola’s Barcelona of 2008-2012. And Enrique seemed to have redefined that base.
What made Enrique’s Barca different from Pep’s was a certain ruthlessness in purpose. There’s no denying the fact that both of them employ a similar brand of football, that’s killing opponents through possession. Thanks to that proficient tiki-taka, Pep ruled the world, winning everything that was there to be won.
But with time, Pep’s model of synchronization which is best described as another form of totemism, failed to weave its magic with teams resorting to parking buses and what not. Then, as the necessity arose, arrived an evolution. Bringing that much-needed change was Enrique, with a certain degree of tweaking in tactics – in attacking formation, taking set-pieces, counter-attacks and that all-defining part, where and how to use Messi.
The former AS Roma manager forced a change in the collective attitude of the team. Earlier, they were a soft team. But now, they are considered one of the meanest sides when in possession. And despite a period of uncertainty arising from an unsettled relationship between the manager and senior players, specifically Messi, the Catalans, collectively, had the last laugh.
Besides, Enrique continued to make bold decisions when fielding players and applying tactics, especially pertaining to the champion trio. The tactical game he employed against proficient teams like Bayern Munich and Juventus showed the depth in his game, which is expected to serve as a new benchmark in football.
