Less than two years after Barcelona strode to a
magnificent victory in the Champions League, the side's narrow exit
at the hands of Manchester United has all but erased the memory of
that triumph. 'This team is finished,' was the banner headline
plastered on the front page of Barcelona-based daily Sport
on Wednesday. 'It's the end of an era,' said its rival El Mundo
Deportivo.
Even before the match, the volatile Catalan media had been
sharpening their knives and calling for a clear-out of the squad at
the end of the season, but the Old Trafford defeat has added a new
sense of urgency to their demands. Ronaldinho, the player largely
responsible for steering Barcelona to back-to-back league titles
and their Champions League triumph in 2006, already has one foot
out of the door.
Coach Frank Rijkaard, midfielder Deco, defenders Rafael Marquez,
Gianluca Zambrotta and Lilian Thuram and striker Thierry Henry have
all joined the Brazilian on the list of likely discards. Although
Rijkaard denied he had any plans to resign, the players admitted
that the time had come for reflection on the club's decline in form
over the past two seasons.
'Each one of us bears our part of the blame and we have to think
about what can be done so that this team can get back to winning
ways,' Deco told reporters after the game. 'A club like Barcelona
can't go two years without winning a trophy. In the league we have
slipped up at key moments and we haven't been able to reach any
final. We have to think carefully and discuss this within the
club.'
The irony of Barcelona's defeat was that although they played
the more attractive football for much of the tie against United, it
was their lack of fire-power up front that ended up sealing their
fate. At the start of the season with the arrival of Henry from
Arsenal, the talk had been of a 'fantastic four' in an attack
comprising the French striker, Samuel Eto'o, Lionel Messi and
Ronaldinho.
The reality has been very different, however, and Barca's season
has stalled because of their inability to score goals in key
matches. Unsettled by personal problems and struggling to adapt to
a new position on the left flank, Henry has failed to live up to
his billing in his first season at the Nou Camp.
Ronaldinho is a story apart. Fitness and weight problems, a
mysterious succession of injuries and an apparent lack of
motivation have meant that the former World Player of the Year has
taken almost no part in the current campaign.
The only bright note has been the emergence of Bojan Krkic, but
the 17-year-old has been used sparingly by Rijkaard and is a long
way from being the finished product. However, it is not just the
strikers that should take the blame for the blunting of the team's
attacking power.
The team lacks the intensity and pace that characterised its
play two seasons ago, new fullbacks Zambrotta and Eric Abidal do
not get forward and stretch opposition defences as much as their
predecessors, while the midfield supply lines have become too slow
and predictable.
The club will be planning a major overhaul ahead of next season,
but before that the present crop of players have some important
unfinished business to attend to. The team is four points adrift of
Villarreal in third place in the table and unless they can beat a
revived Valencia and a dominant Real Madrid in their next two games
they will almost certainly be condemned to playing in the Champions
League qualifiers at the start of next season.