Start of decline or is it time to adapt for Barcelona?

At 4-0, as the final whistle blew, most pundits of the game, journalists, former players and fans of the game and most of all Barcelona, must have felt the end of an era. Bayern on the night were highly efficient, ruthless and made use of spaces in a manner which Barcelona itself have built their reputation on.

The other week I was discussing with a friend of mine, an avid Barcelona fan, that Barca as a team are on the decline. He refused to accept it and pointed out the AC Milan return leg, where Barcelona thrashed them. Once the semifinal draw was made, I was making a point that Bayern at this moment of time are the most efficient team in Europe. Statistically speaking, they have been no doubt the better team in Bundesliga, and their performance against Juventus must have frightened other teams more, where they bid their time and struck whenever they felt a shift in momentum in favour of Juventus. The players and team functioned in a manner where a every move was threatening.

It’s unfortunate that Barcelona were on the receiving end, but going by Barcelona’s stubborn resistance to change the old guard, especially in defence, has what has cost them. For all his ball playing abilities, Pique looked like a deer caught in the headlights, when entrusted with the responsibility of organising the defence. And against a team as ruthless as Bayern, it was only a matter of time before they crumpled.

5 minutes into the game, and we could already see the difficulties. Some may call me a conspiracy theorist, but the excessive wetting of the centre of the pitch also did affect Barcelona’s ability to move the ball more swiftly around. Xavi, Iniseta and Messi orchestrate the Barcelona style of play from that same zone, where with the ball being stuck beneath their feet at a constant basis gave Bayern players the time to take up better positions whenever Barcelona looked to attack. Martinez and Schweinsteiger, are not the swiftest movers and it gave them ample time to break down attacks.

Messi may have looked out of sorts from time to time, but the slowing down of the ball affected his movement to a large extent. Pedro and Sanchez on the flanks and contributions from Alba and Alves were very much peripheral, but they did keep on running till the end. As was illustrated by Mueller, it was his economy of movement, which paid of the most, although he is capable of running more than he did. Bayern did allow Barcelona to play and pass, but in parts of the pitch where the threat to the goal was minimal. Instead what Bayern did was conserve their energy and pressed only at times, which kept the Barcelona players guessing which resulted in their misplaced passes and losing of possession.

Barcelona pass the ball around a lot, but as Bayern showed, incisive passes are more effective. Bayern’s tactics of exploiting the height factor at set pieces paid dividends and by the time Mueller struck team’s fourth goal, the tiredness was starting to show on the Barcelona players. For all the ingenuity and inventiveness that lies within the team, the lack of bench strength is starting to show. The signings haven’t exactly paid off and the injuries to Mascherano and most obvious of all Puyol, whose lack of leadership and the ability to motivate is a driving factor in this Barcelona team.

The Bayern team played in a manner that crushed the spirit of the Barcelona team. Harsh words which I am using in context of such a great team which has dominated Europe for the past few years, but a tinkering of the midfield and a fresher Xavi and Iniesta will probably give them a more fighting chance to reinvent themselves in Europe.

As for the second leg, let’s not write off Barcelona yet. Although it would require a miracle of sorts, Barcelona are well capable of putting four goals past Bayern. And given that Arsenal in the earlier knockout stages did that at the Allianz arena, it shows that even the best of teams can have a bad day. After all, isn’t that what football is all about?