Left field

Barca end a terrible week on a high as Pep tutors Tito

By Phil O’Connor

Barcelona rounded off a rollercoaster week with a 7-0 drubbing of Rayo Vallecano – out of Europe and with the league already conceded by Pep Guardiola, the pressure lifted and Barcelona were able to enjoy themselves once again.

Inspirational Guardiola leaves powerful legacy

The inspiration for a team widely considered one of the best to grace the game, a thorn in the side of bitter rivals Real Madrid and a symbol of Catalan nationalism, Pep Guardiola has been all these things and more as a player and coach for Barcelona.

The spectacularly successful 41-year-old, who announced on Friday he was quitting at the end of the season, led Barca to a club-record 13 trophies in his four seasons in charge including two Champions League crowns and three straight La Liga titles.

He took over from Dutchman Frank Rijkaard in 2008 with the team in disarray after a second-straight trophyless campaign, ditching high-profile players including an underperforming Ronaldinho and making some astute signings that helped set Barca on their way to an unprecedented haul of silverware.

Imbued from an early age with Barca’s unique brand of football based on relentless possession and rapid passing, he has taken it to new heights and won plaudits from such heavyweights of the game as Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson and Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger.

However, his attritional battle with combative Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho, who was an assistant coach at Barca when Guardiola was a player, appeared to take away some of the joy he felt for his work and may have contributed to his decision to quit and take a rest.

His sudden departure after months of speculation is a fresh blow for a club still reeling from Tuesday’s Champions League last-four elimination at the hands of Chelsea. They are also poised to lose their La Liga title to Real.

However, the board’s decision to promote his long-term assistant and close friend Tito Vilanova to replace him suggests his legacy will be in safe hands.

Barca tired? Not on this evidence

Men tuning in for lots of action in Tuesday’s Champions League last 16 first leg ties would have rued the decision to stay in front of the TV on Valentines’ Night when Barcelona v Bayer Leverkusen and Olympique Lyon against APOEL Nicosia reached the 40-minute mark.

Both were 0-0. APOEL had not registered a shot on goal. Barcelona had dominated their German opposition with 78 per cent of possession, yet no opening score.

There have been reports of a tired Barcelona recently, justifiably. The La Liga and Champions League holders have slipped to 10 points behind arch rivals Real Madrid, who are about the strongest outfit left in Europe’s premier competition on current form.

Perhaps this woke Barcelona up as Alexis Sanchez netted a 41st-minute opener.  Coach Pep Guardiola said afterwards: “I think for the spectators the second half was more fun to watch than the first.”

Barcelona scored two more goals, Lionel Messi came alive, and the Catalans conceded just one in a hugely improved second-half display, that led Leverkusen defender Vedran Corluka to say the tie was over. Few would argue with him.

More in the balance is Lyon’s tie with unheralded APOEL, who will head back to Cyprus with just a one-goal deficit. Can the Nicosia side make more history and reach the quarters?

In action on Wednesday will be Arsenal’s record goalscorer Thierry Henry when the London-club travel to the San Siro for their AC Milan clash, while Zenit St Petersburg host Benfica. Valentine’s Day will be over so let’s hope for romance on the pitch in the first halves.

from Reuters Soccer Blog:

Relief in Barcelona as Guardiola extends contract

During Barcelona’s 3-0 win over Atletico Madrid at the Nou Camp last Saturday, which set a Spanish record of 16 straight La Liga victories, there was one thrilling passage of play which perfectly illustrated the work ethic Pep Guardiola has instilled among his squad of wonderfully gifted players.

The ball was played into space for Atletico forward Sergio Aguero. Lionel Messi suddenly appeared, sprinting back into defence. The World Player of the Year ran shoulder to shoulder with his Argentina team mate, stole the ball, beat Felipe Luis with an audacious piece of skill and started yet another assault on the visitors’ goal.

Atletico coach Quique Sanchez Flores said after the match it was that commitment to the team that showed why Messi is the world’s best player and why Barca have been destroying decades-old records over the past two and a half seasons.

The 23-year-old Messi was an Alfredo Di Stefano for the 21st century, added Sanchez Flores, like Di Stefano a former Real Madrid player.

Messi’s brilliant rearguard action also partly explains why under Guardiola, who extended his contract with the La Liga champions until the end of next season on Tuesday, Barca have won eight of the 10 trophies they have contested since he succeeded Frank Rijkaard at the end of the 2007-08 season.

The softly-spoken and respectful former Barca and Spain midfielder has lived and breathed the Catalan club since he joined their youth school in 1984 at the age of 13.

His success as a coach has brought praise from all sides for his refusal to compromise on Barca’s deeply-rooted style of entertaining, attacking football.

from Reuters Soccer Blog:

Five things we learned, or had confirmed, in Monday’s “Clasico”

1. Lionel Messi is a more effective “big game player” than Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Portuguese may be the world’s most expensive player but Argentina forward Messi has got the better of the man whom he succeeded as World Player of the Year on their last four meetings.

Starting with the 2009 Champions League final in Rome, when Messi scored Barca’s second in a 2-0 success, and continuing through the last three La Liga “Clasicos”, the 23-year-old from Santa Fe has produced the goods when it counted.

Although he did not score himself on Monday at the Nou Camp, his two assists for David Villa early in the second half made it 4-0 to the hosts and effectively killed off the game.

Madeira-born Ronaldo, 25, was largely anonymous after the break and made a poor impression with a needless shove on Barca coach Pep Guardiola that sparked a brief pitchside fracas and earned him a yellow card.

2. It may take longer than we thought for Jose Mourinho to mould Real’s expensively-assembled squad into an effective team capable of ending Barca’s two-year reign as Spanish champions and restoring the Madrid club’s fortunes in Europe.

The self-styled “Special One” has repeatedly said it himself but Real remain a work in progress while Barca are the finished article. They were superior in almost every department on Monday. Real’s Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira and Angel Di Maria were totally outplayed and fellow new signings Pedro Leon and Sergio Canales did not feature.

from Reuters Soccer Blog:

The strange story of Ibra and Pep

As Barcelona close in on the signing of Javier Mascherano from Liverpool, Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s future at the club seems to becoming ever more complicated.

Coach Pep Guardiola’s decision to move for the combative Mascherano is understandable after Yaya Toure’s departure to Manchester City.

Added to the signings of David Villa, a proven goalscorer already familiar with half the squad from Spanish international duty, and the versatile Adriano Correia, who can cover Dani Alves at right back or play in midfield, they look like sensible choices.

But can Guardiola’s judgement be questioned is in his handling of the Ibrahimovic conundrum?

The hefty Swede was Guardiola’s choice to replace the prolific but problematic Samuel Eto’o a year ago and set Barca back serious cash in an eye-watering swap deal with Inter Milan.

Ibra responded by scoring 21 goals in all competitions, a tally not to be sniffed at, yet he clearly slipped to second choice at number nine during the title run in last May behind teenager Bojan Krkic.

from Reuters Soccer Blog:

Is Guardiola losing his Midas Touch?

It was always going to be difficult for Pep Guardiola to repeat last year's astonishing achievements when Barcelona swept up six trophies.

Since adding the Club World Cup to their haul in December, they have started to look vulnerable, and, more recently, jaded.

Their exit from the King’s Cup in January was considered a blessing in disguise, allowing them to focus on the main prizes of La Liga and Europe, but February and March have not gone to plan.

They are still a massive 15 points ahead of third-placed Valencia, having only lost once all season, but they were knocked off the top of the standings on goal difference by their arch-rivals Real Madrid on Saturday.

While Real look to have the wind in their sails, Barca have at times appeared slow and predictable in their last few games with the 2-2 draw in Almeria the most recent slip-up. They have only won two of their last five matches in all competitions.

The godfather of Catalan football, Johan Cruyff, blasted from his weekly column in El Periodico on Monday: “Some members of the squad still aren’t pulling their weight.”

The most obvious targets are Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who has scored twice in the last 11 games in all competitions, and France captain Thierry Henry, who has only managed three all season.

from Reuters Soccer Blog:

Barca blame bad luck but Rubin coach is wilier than most

Has Lady Luck deserted holders Barcelona as their players suggested or did Rubin Kazan coach Kurban Berdyev and his players pull off the tactical masterstroke that has eluded so many others since Pep Guardiola took over at the Nou Camp at the start of last season?******It was probably a bit of both that led to Barca’s 2-1 defeat on Tuesday, their first Champions League reverse in 10 matches and a first home defeat in any competition since they lost to Osasuna last May when they had already secured the La Liga title.******The match was reminiscent of last season’s semi-final first leg against Chelsea, when the visitors defended stoutly in numbers and several times came close to grabbing a goal on the break.******Rubin went one better than the London club, exploiting the indifferent form and lack of pace of Barca’s Mexican central defender Rafael Marquez for Gokdeniz Karadeniz’s excellent winner on the counter attack.******The wily Berdyev, an intensely private man, watched impassively from the sidelines fingering his prayer beads, and Barca’s rivals, both in Spain and beyond, will doubtless try to learn from his success.******Whatever the reasons for Barca’s shock defeat, the hacks at the Madrid-based sports sheets were rubbing their hands on Wednesday, gleefully pointing to last weekend’s goalless draw at Valencia in La Liga and proclaiming the demise of Guardiola’s record-breaking side.******“Russian revolution at the Nou Camp!” trumpeted Marca.******“The ‘Pep Team’ lost their identity and were unable to produce the rhythm the match required. This Barca is not the champion,” was the headline in As.******The Barcelona-based papers preferred to focus on the fact that the European champions remain top of Group F after three out of six matches and have their fate in their own hands ahead of the trips to Kazan and Dynamo Kiev and Inter Milan’s visit to the Nou Camp.******“Crisis? What crisis?” asked Gabriel Sans in El Mundo Deportivo. “Barca have lost some fluidity and tactical freshness but their fate still depends on their own results.******"The glass is half full and they’ll drain it in Russia and drink to the health of whoever wants it.”******“Damn woodwork!” wrote Sport, referring to Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s acrobatic volley that shook the crossbar in the second half and Yaya Toure’s header at the death that crashed against a post.******Guardiola seemed to take the loss in his stride, although he had a minor altercation with a Russian journalist at the post-match news conference when he was bizarrely asked if he even knew Berdyev’s name.******“This is why football is special,” he said of the match. “In any other sport, with our statistics, we would have won.”******PHOTO: Barcelona's Zlatan Ibrahimovic reacts as Rubin Kazan's Vital Kaleshin (R) gestures during their Champions League soccer match at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, October 20, 2009. REUTERS/Albert Gea

from Reuters Soccer Blog:

What price Barca retaining the trophy in the Bernabeu?

Manchester United palpably failed to become the first team to retain the European Cup in the Champions League era but few would bet against Barcelona managing the feat next season.

And where would be the perfect place for Pep Guardiola's stylish side to achieve it? The Nou Camp? No, next year's final is in Madrid and the Barca fans I spoke to in Rome after the game could not think of a better venue to show their rivals and world football that they are undisputed kings.

May 22 next year is a long time to wait for the first Saturday final but Guardiola will quickly turn his attention to that quest once he recovers from all-night revelry. (When he was hurled into the air by his players during the on-pitch celebrations, he looked a little scared their weary limbs would not support him).

What's scarier still is that Barca easily overcame United 2-0 without needing to play especially well.

Barca were definitely not at their best in the semi-final with Chelsea and yet still they went on to complete the first ever Spanish treble.

Guardiola is 38 and in his first season in charge. He must think this management game is easy, and I guess it can be when you have players of the class of Messi, Xavi and Iniesta. (Were Inieista and Henry ever really doubts for the final? They looked in fine fettle to me)

One down, two more to come for Barcelona?

There were nervous moments for Barcelona in the first half of the King’s Cup final but a three-goal nine-minute burst from Lionel Messi, Bojan Krkic and Xavi helped them to a 4-1 win over Athletic Bilbao and the first leg of a possible treble.

The league title could be their this weekend, on Saturday if Real Madrid fail to win at Villarreal or failing that on Sunday if they can manage a point at Real Mallorca.

The big one, of course, is the Champions League final against Manchester United on May 27 in Rome.

United are on the brink of their third successive Premier League title after leaving it late to beat Wigan Athletic on Wednesday.

So the two best teams in Europe kept the winning habit … and who will triumph when they meet later this month remains deliciously difficult to call.

PHOTO: Barcelona players celebrate Yaya Toure’s goal against Athletic Bilbao during their King’s Cup final at the Mestalla stadium in Valencia, May 13, 2009. REUTERS/Heino Kalis