Why Barcelona's loss in the Copa del Rey was a blessing in disguise

After an intriguing El Clasico that saw goals raining on both sides of the pitch just a few weeks ago, the latest encounter between the Spanish giants was rather one sided and not so exciting. Real Madrid beat Barcelona 2-1 to claim the first major trophy of the season. What is more important to note is that the latest series of defeats leaves Barcelona to expect a miracle to have any chances of winning silverware this season. However, it is not too bad to lose a match of such importance considering the situation the Catalans are in.

If we closely look at the match, Barcelona were at no point of time in contention to win the game. The Catalans should consider themselves lucky to enter the last ten minutes of the game all square before being beaten by a perfectly thought out Gareth Bale goal. Real Madrid were too complacent for major parts of the game and could have wrapped up the match very soon, had they played with a little more purpose. But, Barcelona’s performance throughout the first half gave Los Bloncos enough security after taking the lead so early in the game.

It is a no-brainer to understand the poor performance of Barcelona. Los Cules dominated the possession but were toothless in attack, too lethargic to move the ball in midfield and completely uninterested to take the game on and win it, similar to most of the matches this season. The only difference is that they were even worse this time.

Real Madrid, though effective in defence, are no Atletico Madrid or Chelsea. There were enough spaces for Barcelona players to combine and create chances but it took 65 minutes on the board and a central defender to test Casillas, that too with very little danger. This explains the zeal Martino’s men possess to try and win matches and trophies.

Dani Alves was busy in crossing the ball high, expecting Messi and Neymar to magically grow half a foot and poke them into the goal. Xavi was too slow to orchestrate the play while Busquets and Fabregas never looked up to the task. Neymar was misfiring like every other game lately. This is not just about the recent Clasico, but it is the story in almost all the matches Barca played recently.

In hind sight, Pep Guardiola was perhaps very wise and left this under-motivated side before taking on a wonderful Bayern team hungry to conquer Europe. Gaurdiola openly admits that he could no longer motivate the players who won 14 trophies out of possible 19. The Bavarian boss demanded the sale of players like Alves, Cesc and Pique in order to continue at the club which has not happened yet. It ended up with most of them now being a real problem for Barcelona.

Success in football’s modern era is highly dependent on fluidity in attack, physicality, hunger to win games and a bunch of committed and highly motivated players looking for platform to perform. Incidentally, Barcelona doesn’t possess any of the above qualities. Most of the key players are either too old or have won a lot over the past few years that they are no longer motivated to perform well and Barcelona have not yet found options to replace them. The obvious reason for such a crisis is a lack of planned transfer activity over last 2-3 years.

Though the deficiencies in certain positions were clearly visible and begged for new players to replace the existing ones, Barca’s administration and coaches ignored the requirement and were too confident to go ahead very blindly. This negligence has certainly costed Barcelona in the form of very poor performances at crucial stages in the last two seasons.

Now that Barcelona looks all set to probably end the season trophyless, the management would already be in search of a manager with better ideas and more charisma to motivate the players than Martino, who was found lost in crunch stages of the season. Also, hopefully, a major reshuffle of the playing staff with a big transfer budget for the incoming manager can be expected at Camp Nou with the Catalans definitely looking to turn the tide around next season. If the transfer ban is suspended or removed. Moreover, one can expect club elections to be advanced and someone new who could give more freedom to coaches, unlike Rosell, can be appointed as President.

A win against Real Madrid last night would definitely not have created enough panic in the club authorities so as to clearly depict the shambles Barcelona is currently in. There would be a chance that the administration still holds enough belief in all the players and the coach which can potentially take the club many more steps backward in a year’s time. As they say, it is a ‘blessing in disguise’; it was not completely bad for the Cules to lose out on a big occasion like yesterday at this stage of the season.

However, if the president and board are too stubborn to be affected, fans might have to endure another disappointing season.