Neymar Second Half Challenge Awaits.

 Neymar’s arrival at Barça has been a positive one for the club. He has done a great job in fitting in with the team and has impressed on the pitch. His performance during Messi’s absence even gave the fans a sense of reassurance as the club entered the New Year as league leaders and still in the running for all three competitions. However, Neymar faces a difficult challenge as the second half of the season commences where most recent Barça transfers have sizzled in the first half of the season only to fizzle in the ensuing second half.

 Neymar kicked off his Barça career with the equalizer goal in the first leg of the Supercopa that turned out to be difference in a 1-1 aggregate tie against Atlético Madrid. Neymar didn’t blow us away with his performances early on but then again, it is rather difficult to shine while Messi is around. Nonetheless, Neymar has been superb in fitting in with the team and being a team player.  When Messi went down, Neymar adequately stepped up and his first half stats read as follows – 11 goals and 10 assists in all competitions in 1st half. 

 Neymar will miss this weekend’s match against Elche as her serves a ban for collecting five cautions. His return coincides with Messi’s return following a lengthy spell on the sidelines recovering from an injury. One wonders if Neymar will regress or continue to impress for the second half of the season where the competition will get tougher domestically and in Europe.  Recent history has shown us that those who have a strong start to their Barça debut reach a disappointing finale. 

 Cesc and Zlatan Ibrahimovic come to mind as those who were remarkable in their Barça debuts and then struggled down the stretch. Cesc’s first half of the season saw him mostly come off the bench and help the team. Some of his achievements consisted of scoring a great header goal in San Mames against Bilbao along with insurance goals in the UEFA Super Cup against Porto, against Real Madrid in the Bernabéu in league action and in the FIFA Club World Cup Final against Santos. Unfortunately, his form would dip following the New Year. Although he did score 17 goals in all competitions in his first season, he only managed to score four goals in the second half of the season. Those four goals were scored in January and February and Cesc would go on an absurd dry run until the rest of the season. That dry run meant he could not score for three months and resulted in him becoming an unused substitute or be substituted in the second half if he was to start. 

 Ibrahimovic also endured a similar fate during his lone season with the club. Ibra won three titles as he featured in the Supercopa, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. Unlike Cesc, he did not manage to score in either of those games but he did score the only goal at the Camp Nou against Real Madrid. Ibra’s first half with Barça saw him score 11 goals in all competitions and he and Messi seemed like the dynamic duo upfront. However, the second half was one to forget as Ibra’s form suffered immensely coupled with some injuries as he only managed to score 9 goals, two of them in a memorable encounter against Arsenal in London. His popularity nosedived after poor performances against Inter Milan and his criticism of Guardiola made him persona non-grata and was then sold to AC Milan.

It’s not easy to play for Barça. Over the years, we have seen players struggle to fit in with Barça such as Mark Hughes, Hagi, Zambrotta, and Ibrahimovic. Neymar returns to face Getafe in the cup tie and Atlético Madrid next week. He has from now to May to beat that trend. The competition will be tougher and the backlash will be fierce if Barça stumble along the way. Hopefully Neymar will be the one to buck that trend where his challenge is to continue to do well and even step it up for the second half of the season.

So Far So Good For Barça.

Barça’s first half of the season is nearly over with two league matches left to go, Elche today and Atlético Madrid next weekend, and they have to be happy thus far. After capturing the Supercopa and defeating Real Madrid, Barça are fighting neck and neck with Atlético Madrid for the league crown and are still in contention for the domestic and European cup. However, the second half of the season presents a significant challenge and hopefully Barça will be up for it. 

Tata Martino’s first season as Barça manager has been outstanding so far with the minor hiccups here and there, especially with the lengthy absence of Messi. They already captured the Supercopa and qualified to the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League. They are also still in contention for the Copa del Rey crown while enjoying being league leaders ahead of Atlético by a better goal differential for the past few weeks.

Barça are still in contention for the treble but if they are not careful, they can find themselves knocked out of the Champions League and Copa del Rey by March. Their opponents in the Champions League are none other than Manchester City. Their opponents in Copa del Rey will consist of Getafe and then the winner of the Levante/Rayo Vallecano tie if they get that far, so they cannot afford any hiccups.

However, challenges await Barça that are reminiscent of the 2006-2007 season. Furthermore, Neymar also has the tough challenge of not joining the ranks of other new Barça signings who have struggled in the second half of their debut season. Barça should hope to learn from their past mistakes or be doomed to repeat history.

The last time Barça was involved in a 3 horse race for the league title was back in 2006-2007. Back then, they battled Real Madrid and Sevilla with Los Blancos capturing the title on the final day of the season. Barça were league leaders halfway through the season through a better goal differential yet finished in second place. Will history repeat itself and Barça succumb towards the end of the finish line and allow Atlético Madrid or Real Madrid to capture the league crown?

Likewise, Barça were eliminated at the first knockout stage of the 2006-2007 Champions League. Back then, they faced an English Premier League team, Liverpool and were eliminated thanks to a careless defensive mistake. Gifting goals has been Barça’s Achilles heel this season and will Manchester City be the first English team to knock them out of this stage since Liverpool did?

Finally, it has been a struggle for players to adapt to Barça upon arrival. History has shown us that some great players struggle to after joining Barça. Notable names such as Mark Hughes, Hagi, Thuram, Baia, Petit, Litmanen, Zambrotta, and Ibrahimovic came with a great resumes and reputations and left the club without much fanfare. Cesc and Ibrahimovic are perfect examples of players who kicked off their careers with Barça with an impressive debut in the first half of the season before disappointing in the second half of the season.

Neymar has impressed many with his 11 goals and 10 assists thus far, but will he be able to duplicate or exceed those numbers in the second half of the season? History does not favor him but he controls his destiny and those pages in the history books are still blank. Tata Martino, Neymar and the club have a difficult second half ahead of them where their pursuit of the treble will be harsher with tougher opponents and less breathing room. Obviously, the backlash will be fierce if Barça stumble along the way. Hopefully everyone will avoid repeating history and rise to the occasion.