Billed as the greatest derby in the world, Barcelona made Real Madrid look like amateurs of the Beautiful Game in Monday night's 5-0 thumping by the Catalan giants. Fans were split as to who would come out victorious in El Clásico but in hindsight, the game wasn't split down the middle. Far from it in fact as Barcelona passed and moved around their rivals as if they weren't even there. Goals from Xavi, Pedro, Villa (2) and Jeffren compounded a miserable evening for Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid made all the worse by the 90th minute sending off of Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos following an on-pitch scuffle with Barcelona captain Carles Puyol. But has Monday's nights showcase confirmed a fact most of us knew months ago? Are Barcelona the best team in the world right now?
To be honest with you my answer is a short and, frankly, to the point yes. In manager Guardiola they have a man who has played for the great Barcelona side of the 1990's under both Johan Cruyff and the late, great Sir Bobby Robson so knows what it takes to manage a team of Barcelona's stature. The experience of Sir Bobby Robson coupled with Cruyff's footballing philosophy has given Guardiola the opportunity to shape a team his way that plays beautiful football to the absolute maximum and making it effective in the process (Barcelona have won La Liga twice, the Champions League, the Copa Del Rey, the Spanish Super Cup, the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup in the two years Guardiola has been in charge). Yet a world class manager is nothing without world class players to follow his orders on and off the pitch and believe me, Barcelona are bursting at the seams with talent.
The names Lionel Messi, David Villa, Xavi, Andres Iniesta - I could easily go on but with these four to name a few shows the sheer quality of the players available at the disposal of Guardiola. These are a few of the players that were present on Monday night against a team managed by Jose Mourinho (a manager I consider to be one of the top three in the world) and a team containing Cristiano Ronaldo, Ozil, Higuain and Casillas all of which aren't exactly bad players. Yet, the Barcelona team on Monday night made these and the rest of the Madrid squad look like players brand new to the game. This was also the same team that was, pre-El Clásico, unbeaten in La Liga and sitting top ahead of Barcelona albeit by a solitary point. Monday's 5-0 victory by the Catalan giants has since moved l’equip Blaugrana two points ahead of Madrid and leap-frogged their rivals in white to the summit of La Liga.
Monday's El Clásico showed the world just how football should be played. Guardiola has successfully instilled his vision for beautiful football and with the players he has to utilise, his vision is reaping rewards. The Barcelona trophy cabinet has begun to fill up again since the former Barcelona midfielder and it is no coincidence if Monday's result is to be taken into account. The UEFA club rankings currently see Barcelona sitting at the summit with second placed Manchester United over ten points behind the defending La Liga Champions. Yet, throughout the world I seriously doubt there are any teams that come close to matching Barcelona on the pitch. The records speak for themselves and I am not surprised football fans are calling this Barcelona team one of history's finest.
So, as I already pointed out, I firmly believe Barcelona are the world’s best football team at the moment and I can't see any team in the foreseeable future knocking the Catalan giants of the podium anytime soon.
Anyway, I have got to go. Hope you enjoyed my latest piece.
I will write again soon
Laters,
Macca
No comments:
Post a Comment