The Phenomenon that is BARCELONA

The team that Europe is scared of at the moment!!!

Barcelona sit 6 points clear at the top of the spanish league table and are comfortably through to the quarter finals of the Champions league. They are hot favourites to win this seasons European tournament.

The team has thrived under the leadership of Pep Guardiola. Guardiola took over the reins from Rijkaard in the summer and re-organised the squad to create one of the most beautiful attacking team in Europe. Only Manchester United might come close to Barcelona in the amount of Matches won and goals scored and conceded and more prolifically for the amount of dominance in the league.

Guardiola spent around 90 Million to rebuild the squads buying the likes of Daniel Alves, Seydou Keita, Caceres, Pique, Hleb etc…

Barca play the 4-3-3 formation and they play it without any disguise as done by the likes of Chelsea who indeed play 4-3-2-1. the front 3 of Barca are out and out forwards and can in no way be classified as wingers. Eto leads the front 3 through the centre. Bojan is used in rotation or as a substitute and is definitely capable of reaching the high standards as set by the front 3 playing for Barca.

The Barca trinity: - Attack any defense would be terrorised of

In the midfield Barca either play the young but highly promising Sergio Busquets, or Yaya Toure or Seydou Keita in the holding Midfield position. Then they have the ever dependable Xavi and highly creative Iniesta leading the midfield in attacking positions. Hleb and Gudjohnson are also available as options to the coach.

Iniesta & Xavi: - The creativity behind the team

2 dependable centre backs

 Puyol and Marquez are the centre halfs where Pique or Caceres or Gabriel Milito also play under rotation. Daniel Alves has been a revelation and he and Messi create a hovoc down the right hand side. On the left the french duo of Abidal and Henry are no less and Henry especially seems to be finding his form and is as lethal as Eto or Messi if not more.

2 explosive full backs

The defense has seen many a rotations and thats the only thing where Pep Guardiola havent been able to find his best 4 which has led to a lot of goals being conceded by Barcelona.

Going forward the team has scored a phenomenal 76 goals in 26 matches averaging almost 3 goals a game. they have conceded 24 in the league too, which at 1 goal a match for a team like Barcelona is a bit of a worry. The fact that they score so many up front almost always overshadows the fact that they leak quite a few at the back.

the front 3 alone have scored almost 55 goals in the league alone this season and there are still 12 matches to go. which goes to show the sheer terror they might be causing to the opposition defenders. Henry as i mentioned earlier is finding his groove as at Arsenal and Messi is turning into the Best player in the world that everyone debates he is. And although Eto is scoring goals for fun in the Spanish league, question remains open about his future at the camp nou.

The success should also be attributed to the abundance of talented home grown players Barca has been able to produce. With the likes of Puyol, Xavi, Victor Valdes, Iniesta, Messi, Bojan all coming through the ranks from the Barcelona youth setup one can just imagine how much talent the youth setup at Barca has been able to produce over the years. 

The academy at Barcelona has been able to produce stars over the years

There is also the right mix of youth and old at the club. The clubs have experienced players like Puyol, Henry, Marquez, Xavi, Abidal, Valdes and Sylvinho and at the same time budding stars in the form of Messi, Bojan, Pique, Caceres, Busquets.

Young players en route to develop into stars at Barca

With the guidance of Puyol and Xavi, surely we can imagine Pique & Busquets to be the next big names at Barca.

Surely a superstar in the making!!Another Raul Gonzalez for Spain?

And Bojan has been a revelation since a very young age. He has been a breeze of fresh air when the old legs look tired. He has lot to learn and I am sure with the right guidance from Henry and Eto he will be one of the best players in the world in the years to come. Then there are other youngsters like Caceres and Sanchez who have shown potential and with time will surely earn a place in the starting 11. Messi though young is a star as it is now and could only bring more fame and awards to the club.

With the current future in the hands of dependable stars like Puyol, Valdes, Henry, Eto, Xavi , Iniesta and of course Messi and the future in the hands of promising youngsters like Pique, Busquets and Bojan it is all but certain that the club is in the right hands and going in the right direction.

All that remains to be seen is how well the team fares this season and how they take it from there. As of now the treble is on for Barca and my money is for them to at leats win 2 of the 3 competions they are competing in. Who knows they may win all 3 too. Real Madrid sure has some catching up to do. If i was the president of Madrid, I’d be lining up bids for the likes of Vidic, Villa, Ronaldo and the likes to be anywhere close to where Barca are right now.

Watch out Madrid and Europe the Barca juggernaut is not to be stopped anytime soon…