How It All Went Wrong For Barcelona

A few weeks ago, Barcelona  were widely regarded as the best team in Europe. They sat in a strong position, with a healthy advantage over fierce rivals Real Madrid in La Liga, while the Catalans had also advanced to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey and the last 16 of the Champions League. Fast forward to today and it all seems a life time ago. Their season has since suffered stints of disastrous proportions.

A disappointing defeat at AC Milan last Wednesday which leaves their Champions League hopes hanging on a thread, and total anihiliation at the hands of their fircest rivals (Real Madrid) at home in the Copa del Rey on Tuesday has since showed emerging cracks in a team highly favored as one of the greatest of all time.

When Pep Guardiola passed the baton over to assistant and friend Tito Vilanova on the Barcelona bench. Although he had expressed his concern at Tito taking over, citing his friend's health issues but wishing him the best. And sadly, he was right to be worried as Vilanova suffered a relapse of his cancer in December and was forced to take time out to seek treatment.

The truth is, Tactically, Barca have suffered. The Catalans were shown up by both Milan and Madrid, with Roura unable to offer any effective tactical change. Alexis Sanchez came on for Cesc Fabregas at San Siro, while David Villa replaced the midfielder on Tuesday, but it was too little, too late. 

Roura claims Vilanova is still the man in charge and says he is in constant contact with Tito, yet neither man was able to address the team's deficiencies in those two big defeats. It is a worrying trend and the players appear confused by the lack of leadership.

In five matches against Madrid this term, Barcelona have won only once, and the club are concerned at the side's inability to perform in the bigger matches - even under Vilanova. Vilanova's cool, calm approach made him the ideal sidekick to Pep, yet as the main man his motivational skills are less effective and he has yet to give his squad a serious dressing down since taking over in the summer. 

Training sessions have also altered. Under Guardiola, the last session before a match saw the starting side face a team lining up exactly like the forthcoming rival; how they played the ball out from the back, how they took free kicks, how they lined up across the pitch. No stone was left unturned.

With Tito, and now Roura, all of that has gone. Training involves much of the same work as before, with short, sharp rondos and other passing and positional drills, yet there is no clear plan like previously and players' mistakes are no longer corrected as they were with Pep. And those errors inevitably translate to the matches themselves. 

With their poor form, the world has gradually started paying attention to the emergence of a certain Bayern Munich from Germany, Manchester United from England, and of course their pacy neighbors Real Madrid.