Are Manchester United finally on the verge of cracking the Barca Code?

‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do’, never has a saying being so apt, albeit with slight tweaking – ‘Want to beat Barcelona, do as the Catalans do’, that is how the solution to the mystery that is; FC Barcelona can be described. But can it actually be solved?

Football Club De Barcelona’s vice like dominance and magical hoodoo over European club and Spanish national football is built on a strong foundation and well infused philosophies of the sport that has been passed from Johann Cryuff through to Pep Guardiola down the generations, in perfect harmonic transition. And the only way to top that is to clone the philosophy perfectly and make upgrades to it.

But even though Barcelona and their fans are confident of another five years or more of staying at the pinnacle of the beautiful game, with the team they have and with the quality players they have coming through their system, they must still be wary of a certain club with great history of its own, who in the last four years have thrice been there at the final hurdle or thereabouts in Europe’s elite competition, the UEFA Champions League.

It is a near impossible task to beat Barcelona and match up to their range and accuracy of passing and quality in ball possession, but they were twice rendered vulnerable over two-legged ties. Once in 2008, when Manchester United beat them en-route to cup glory and once more in 2010 when Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan used strong defensive tactics to counter the Messis and Iniestas to beat the Catalan giants. But those are few and far between, as the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal have been brushed aside like small teams and Real Madrid’s multi-million dollar team was washed away in two-legs. So it’s a certainty that big spending is not the solution to crack the ‘Barca Code’.

The key to unlock Barcelona’s philosophy is very simple, but requires immense patience, hardwork, talent of course and a strong footballing culture. La Masia (FC Barcelona’s academy) to FC Barcelona first team and onto the Spanish National squad and it keeps working in a cohesive cycle. Real Madrid lost the plot the day they stopped building a team through their own ranks. Chelsea has tried and failed by jumping the gun based on Roman Abramovich’s cheque book and short fused patience with managers. But where all else have failed, the only manager who is seemingly on the right path is Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson. Undoubtedly the World’s greatest manager and football mastermind, the proud Scotsman has been hurting after being tormented by FC Barcelona in two Champions League finals. Hurting enough to take up the challenge of dethroning the Catalans at the age of 70.

It is now a known fact, that the Spanish team which won the 2010 World Cup in South Africa was almost a FC Barcelona team playing in Spanish colors. Most of the National team’s, National Under-21’s and Club’s success can be attributed to players who come through the Catalan production line. The key to Tiki-Taka football is precision passing, mostly short as well as some long if need be and keeping long periods of possession of the football. If your opponents can’t have the ball, they can’t play their football. But these attributes work if the understanding of the players is flawless. If a back heel can be read without looking at the origin and can be picked up to run through and score then there’s no greater beauty. That is what La Masia academy products like Messi, Xavi, Puyol, Busquets, Iniesta and the lot are tutored to do from a very tender age. So are the new line of players like Pedro, Thiago Alacantara and Jeffren, probable flag bearers of Barca’s future. Some of these talented young Spaniards make the cut and some don’t, but the transition is seamless. Those who didn’t make the Barca cut are called Mikel Arteta, Luis Garcia and Pepe Reina, so the quality is evident.

Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Tom Cleverley, Fabio, Rafael, De Gea, Javier Hernandez, Danny Welbeck, these names may not sound impressive on a Manchester United first team sheet as did the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez, David Beckham, Van Der Sar and other big names, but these youngsters alongside Rooney, Nani, Anderson and Ashley Young, who themselves are just in their mid -20’s are responsible for showing some fearless, free flowing, attacking football, that took out Arsenal mercilessly. Here in lies the evidence of cloning the FC Barcelona philosophy by Sir Alex Ferguson – Manchester United’s Academy to the Manchester United first team and through to the England National team. Rooney, Young, Cleverly and Welbeck have earned their England Caps. Whereas Phil Jones and Chris Smalling are talented starlets in the England Under-21 themselves. So Sir Alex Ferguson has a structure similar to that of the Catalans in place. Of course some players have been bought, but at a very young age, where the mind adapts faster and picks up the United style without a waste. The Red Devils have upgrades of their own, they build up attacks faster than Barcelona’s fluid but time consuming build up and also the strongest United weapon down the years have been fast and precise counter attacking football.

It may be premature to liken the procedure to FC Barcelona’s and without consistent results it would remain a theory. But the success in the blooding in process is showing as the goals keep flowing, but will it be enough when the ‘Red Devils’ face the ‘Blaugrana’ next?