Last season, Bayern were deserving Champions League winners. They swept away the competition in an emphatic fashion and make for the loss in 2011 Champions League final to Chelsea. They destroyed Bracelona home and away in an excellent display of attacking football.
Lat season is past and new season will be upon us within next 20 days across all major football leagues in europe..
So, which major Football clubs are going to be contenders for this year's Champions league?? Lets find out...
Like it or not, La Liga has been a two hose race for last 5 seasons or so, and it will continue to be a 2 horse race this season too...
Barcelona and Real madrid will continue to dominate La Liga and the only competition they are supposed to face is from each other.. Both these clubs will also lead the charge for Spain in Champions League. Both clubs have made some changes.. Both clubs have new managers and have made some high profile signings in this transfer window.
In this part, We will discuss about the team from Spain that has been dominant for lat 5 years. Two seasons ago, Barcelona was dominating Champions League as well as La Liga and everything was looking picture perfect for them. All of a sudden, their defensive problems started to show with puyol's age catching up with him.... Xavi went the same way and their opponents also find a way to counter their possession based Tiki Taka..
Guardiola also left the team and that also affected them in a big way because he was like a father figure to them and their whole system of play was perfected by him..
Barcelona :
Barcelona :Top Contender as always
Will Barcelona prevail again in Champions League
Barcelona has been a force to reckon for years now with their unique style of play.. Their Tiki Taka and possession based game has lead them to numerous titles over the years.. Lead by a certain Lionel Messi, they are deadly in attack.. But last season they looked vulnerable. They looked out of depth against a rampaging Bayern in Champions League semifinals last season.. Problems :They are facing problems of their own.. They have aging defense with Puyol missing more matches than he play... He is already 34 and is not supposed to lead their defense this season.. But they still haven't sign a defender and that can prove to be their Achilles' heel this summer..
Xavi and Puyol : Age catching up with them??
Their midfield maestro Xavi Hernandez, is getting old and finally age is catching up with him.. He looked a shadow of his previous self in this year's Confed Cup.. He needs some careful rest and rotation to keep him going throughout this season... But the player who was supposed to be his heir has already left Barcelona because of lack of playing time.. According to me, this is a bad decision on part of Thiago Alcantara because if he had stayed for this season, he would have been a vital cog in Barcelona's system because of Xavi's age.. But he decided to join Bayern, who are akready stacked in Midfield.. and he may find it even more difficult to break into Bayer's playing eleven..They still don't have a good replacement for valdes..Improvements :
Neymar : Will make Barcelona stronger
Neymar's statistics last season :
Confederations Cup*5421-382.20.418.26
Copa America32N/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A
Brasileirão*1----6754-7.39
Total9 (0)6213.581118.12
But they have signed one of the best talent in the futball world.. Neymar may be just the player this team needs.. Barcelona has been over reliant on Messi for last 3-4 seasons... Last year, he scored 40% (46 out of 115) of his team's goals in La Liga.. Neymar will share the burden of goal-scoring with Messi nad will provide a much needed directness to their passing based game... He is also good at link up play. His partnership with Messi can terrorize the defenses in la liga as well as all over europe. He will play at his favoured LW/LF position, so he will be at home from the very start...Messi is the engine of Bracelona... as simple as that..He will be lynchpin of their system this year too and even improve over last year because of presence of Neymar ( sounds scary.. no??).. He is the best player in the world hands down...Manager :
Gerardo "Tata" Martinez : New challangers ahead
Barca suffered a major setback when news of Tito Vilanova's illness surfaced.. They decided to replace him with Gerardo "Tata" Martinez.Like Pep Guardiola, Martino is a disciple of Bielsismo. That is perhaps what tempts Director of Football Andoni Zubizarreta and Club President Sandro Rosell most.
Like Bielsa and Guardiola, Martino prefers to press high up the pitch and gain the ball back quickly. This strategy, when done correctly, is both defensive (not allowing the other team to advance) and defensive (creating quick scoring opportunities.)
He favors a shifting formation, that at its core can be described as a 4-3-3. In attack, the wingers push up to play like wing-forwards. In defense, the holding midfielder can drop in and become a third centerback while the two wingers can help form a middle four.
However, there are risks. If the opposing team can get past the first wave of pressure, they will have relatively clear sailing ahead. This has been part of Barcelona's problem for a long time now.
The other problem is fatigue. Bielsa's sides have a history of running out of steam. Athletic Bilbao played brilliantly for most of one season only to fade down the stretch. This year, they've been very disappointing.
Would a Barcelona still putting out Xavi and Carles Puyol be able to handle that type of demand? The only way is if they were rotated enough, and then, lack of rotation has been a concern of Barcelona's as well.
What's especially interesting about Martino is that, rather than being an idealist like Bielsa, he is in essence a pragmatist. While coaching the Paraguayan national team in World Cup 2010 and Copa America 2011, Martino opted for a defensive approach as he felt he did not have the players to play any other way. His formation was 4-4-2.
Another challenge, that Martino will face is to accommodate Messi and Neymar in the same team.. Both these players like to be the focal point of their tyeam's attack and Martino will have to find a formation and way to get the best out of them both without making the team fragile in defense..Squad :
SQUAD
1Víctor ValdésGoalkeeper20Ibrahim AfellayMidfielder
13José Pinto ColoradoGoalkeeper21AdrianoMidfielder
32Jordi MasipGoalkeeper25Alex SongMidfielder
-OierGoalkeeper38KikoMidfielder
2Daniel AlvesDefender-Javier EspinosaMidfielder
3PiquéDefender-Patricio GabarrónMidfielder
5Carles PuyolDefender-Dani NietoMidfielder
15BartraDefender-Jordi QuintillàMidfielder
18Jordi AlbaDefender-Sergi RobertoMidfielder
19MontoyaDefender9Alexis SánchezStriker
-Sergio GómezDefender10MessiStriker
-PlanasDefender11NeymarStriker
4Cesc FàbregasMidfielder17PedroStriker
6XaviMidfielder37TelloStriker
8Andrés Iniesta LujánMidfielder-CuencaStriker
12Jonathan Dos SantosMidfielder-J. DongouStriker
14Javier MascheranoMidfielder-Joan Ángel RománStriker
16BusquetsMidfielder-Gerardo Daniel MartinoManager/Coach
Formation :
Their formation will depend upon their new manager, Gerardo"Tata" Martino.. But most probably they will play the same 4-3-3 formation of last season with Neymar in Villa's position.. This will look something like this...
At Santos, Neymar usually operated in a deep forward position starting from the left flank. At Barcelona, this seems the most logical space for the Brazilian. Neymar will likely be the first-choice forward on the left, from where he can cut inside and interchange positions with Lionel Messi as well as the team's right-sided attacker, be it Pedro or Alexis Sanchez. Neymar enjoys running at opposition defences and shooting from distance, and a starting spot on the left will allow him to cut inside onto his stronger right foot, just as he has been doing to such devastating effect at Santos over the last few years.
Dream duo: Neymar and Lionel Messi will spearhead Barcelona's attack in the new season
Messi will play his usual false 9 role in the center and will drop deep sometimes to drive the ball forward from midfield..Cesc Fabregas will backup both Iniesta and Xavi... Segio Busquets will be in his usual position as holding midfielder and will shield the back 4 as well as split open opposition defenses with his pin point passing...Defense is a problem for them.. That are short in CB position and will have to buy a CB... But right now i have not considered that.. Pique is a sure starter as CB but his recent form for club as well as Spain is a reason for concern.. Alba and Alves will start as fullbacks and both are very attack minded..
Star Player :
Lionel Messi :
Messi : Ready to lead Barcelona to glory once again
Messi is the go to man for Barcelona. He is the best player in the world and will lead the Barcelona attack with support from Neymar and Iniesta.La Liga*28(4)46121-5.185.20.2208.85
UEFA Champions League*9(2)82--3.787.20.357.74
Total37 (6)541414.785.70.2258.57
The Argentine is capable of playing both creator-(dropping deep receiving the ball to feat and then unleashing his teammates with a deft pass) as well as finisher-(finishing the chances afforded to him by others). The statistics that surround him and his goal-scoring records are a testament to that. Messi is very much a team player. He is capable of making players around him play better and the team looks on a whole different level when he is on the pitch. May be thats why his absence was felt badly by the team in Champions League semifinal last season.
Player to look out for :
Andres Iniesta
Iniesta : The player that makes Barca tick
Iniesta's statistics last season :La Liga*24(7)3164-1.190.5-37.38
UEFA Champions League*9(1)111-2.291.50.117.29
Confederations Cup*4(1)-1--291-17.6
Total37 (9)41851.490.80.157.38
Iniesta is the most underrated Barcelona player. Messi may hog all the limelight, xavi may pull the strings in the middle of the pitch but it is Iniesta who make Barcelona tick.. Iniesta controls football matches with a simple economy of effort, letting the ball work for him and always in close attendance to aid his teammates. The Barcelona number 8 is an incredible hybrid of two of his more feted club colleagues; a player who can pass the ball as well as Xavi and dribble it as well as Messi. His ability to find space is remarkable and his knowledge of what to do with the space utterly exquisite. No-one has ever been more immaculate in their timing of a final ball; Iniesta always plays the right pass at the right time. His peripheral vision is surely unparalleled in the modern game, and maybe the whole history of the gameIn next part, we will talk about another spanish giant, Barcelona's fierce rival, Real Madrid...(All statistics from Whoscored.com)
Friends, share your views about Barcelona's performance this season and make my day.. :)
