BARCELONA DESERVE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Catalan giants are most exciting team in Europe
FC BARCELONA is THE focal point of Catalonia, the proud province which sees itself as a country within a country.
It is a club owned by its constituent member fans, not bankers.
No oligarchs from Russia, American gold diggers or wealthy Arabs will ever have enough money to bribe the people of Barcelona to allow the family silver be sold in the way it has at Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and, possibly, Arsenal.
The Nou Camp fans elect a president and expect him to deliver not just a winning team but one which does so in exotic style. In fact, style is the priority over substance.
So heads will roll if trophies are not lifted with panache.
I remember the night before Terry Venables was axed by the club. The wine flowed in a celebration of a reign that had seen him bring back La Liga for the first time in 11 years, with Steve Archibald rather than Diego Maradona leading the attack.
But a penalty shoot-out failure in the European Cup final against Steaua Bucharest after a grim goalless draw was too much to suffer and El Tel was soon history.
Barca eventually landed the big one in 1992 under the guidance of Johan Cruyff and then evolved into what Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink rates as the most beautiful team he has ever seen. Until now.
"Barcelona is a very great team at the moment," admits Hiddink. "It is meeting the demands of the club and its fans by playing beautiful football, the sort of football we should all aspire to.
"For me it is getting close to the most beautiful team I have seen, which was the Barca side of the 90s, the one with Michael Laudrup, Hristo Stoichkov, Josep Guardiola and Romario."
Even Chelsea's bold 3-1 destruction of Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday night was eclipsed by Barca's stunning 4-0 humiliation of Bayern Munich.
Classic
Now managed by Guardiola, the team is a legitimate son of that sensational Cruyff side. The pace of their passing movement and interchanges can be just jaw dropping.
Just take the front three. Leo Messi is Cristiano Ronaldo without the antics. Samuel Eto'o is Didier Drogba without the diving and Thierry Henry is, well, back to being classic Henry.
It is a mark of how wonderfully they combine that their frontline has improved since Ronaldinho left.
So far this season they have scored 113 goals in all competitions, 85 of which have been come in La Liga, many more than England's top scorers, Liverpool.
They define Hiddink's philosophy of defending from the front. The midfield rocks of Andres Iniesta and Xavi are so good that even if Cesc Febregas goes back to his roots in the summer, Arsenal's talisman would struggle to get a regular game.
That is how good this Barcelona side is.
Taking off the English blinkers, they are a cut above all our contenders at the moment. It would be damned shame if Barca don't go on to lift the Champions League trophy.
This article has 3 comments
Is that why they look so ordinary against English opposition. No sorry totally disagree Barcelona in the prem would not make it to the top four. Last year if they had played United for 2 years they would not have scored. This year exactly the same against Chelsea. In my list of top teams in the world Barcelona do not even make the top ten.
By Carl Warmington. Posted May 3 2009 at 9:05 AM.
yer right. they have not played any decent English sides yet so its easy to look good when the opersition are so weak. If Chelsea do not knock them out then United will. What happened last year to the mighty Barcelona. They couldnt score and didnt look like scoring in 180 minutes of football against United. Sorry but English football is way ahead of spanish football.
By Carl warmington. Posted April 26 2009 at 8:40 AM.
it is crystal clear that barca are the best at the moment but chelsea have the potentials of beating them to the champions league trophy. austine gideon.
By austine gideon. Posted April 18 2009 at 1:41 PM.