Bullseye on Barça’s Back Returns.

Barça are about to kick off a new season as Champions of Europe. Their return to the top guarantees that every club will be gunning for them. Can they maintain being the hunters or will they become the hunted?

As the old saying goes, “it’s good to be the king.” Barça are the kings again and today, they kick off the new season by facing Sevilla for the UEFA Super Cup. Last time these two clubs in this Final marked the beginning of the end for Rijkaard’s Barça era. Luis Enrique will now get to experience what Cruyff, Rijkaard, and Guardiola had to face after winning the Champions League as Barça managers.

The pressure is already on to win the remaining three cups for the sextuple; UEFA Super Cup, Super Copa, and the FIFA Club World Cup. However, the bigger challenge is trying to repeat as Champions League winners. The more demanding challenge would be trying to win back to back trebles. The club has the players to pull this feat but will it happen is another question.

Since Euro 2016 will take place this summer, the domestic fixtures will see the club play twice a week quite often unlike last season where sometimes Barça enjoyed 6 or 7 days of rest between matches. This season will take a toll on the players so rotation will be a must to keep players healthy for all three competitions again. Abidal’s battles with cancer and Neymar’s recent mumps situation should also serve a caution that anything is possible when it comes to player’s health. Coaching staff and players have to watch out for themselves on and off the pitch.

When you’re on the top, everyone wants to take you down. Barça will have many clubs gunning for them and the coaching staff and players will have to try their best to thwart their efforts. Today will be the first step in a long journey of playing football with the bullseye on their backs. They have surprised us before so they deserve our faith and hopefully they reward our faith with more titles by taking it one game at a time. 

Treblelicious Barça Conquer All.

What a way to bring down the curtains on FC Barcelona’s career. Chaos and confusion in January had us all thinking that this season was going down the drain. Yet, here we are celebrating an unprecedented second treble by Barça. Credit goes to the manager, his staff and the players for regrouping and working together to find glory.

Barça were the phoenix this season after arising from the ashes and sitting atop of the world. It seemed that this season was heading to a disappointing end and now, Barça won the treble for the second time in history. With the exception of Barça, no other team in Spain has won the treble and now, they have accomplished that feat twice.  

2014 was an ugly year for the players and the club. They lost Tito Vilanova to cancer and went trophyless for the first time since Rijkaard’s final year. The World Cup was painful for both Spain and Argentina. Real Madrid seemed like an unstoppable force at the end of December but in 2015, Barça found their mojo and ended up winning it all while Madrid lost theirs and never recovered.

Like I have mentioned on here over the years, “it’s not how you start; but how you finish.” Well, the Blaugrana and Madrid proved that was the case this season. While the Blaugrana aired out their differences in January and worked as a team for the same goal, Madrid seemed to be tired, injured and not hitting all cylinders with some unhappy players. The end result was the Blaugrana hoisting the cups while Madrid went home empty handed.

So credit goes out to Luis Enrique and his staff for having the team in shape, which was a concern last season. Furthermore, Luis Enrique knowing that this is a partnership, and not a dictatorship, was also key for this team’s success. He could have ignored the players’ demands but instead, they worked together and the rest is history. Football history!

Next season will be tougher for the Blaugrana with the target back on their backs. However, it’s too early to think about next season. Enjoy the titles, the upcoming elections and Copa America action. Congratulations fans. Visca Barça!

Barça Treble Talk Is Premature.

Things are still going well for Barça. They qualified for the Copa del Rey Final, are in the driver’s seat in their Champions League tie against Manchester City, and currently are league leaders. However, all this talk about another Barça treble is premature at this moment.

Barça’s disappointing loss to Malaga has become nothing but a distant memory. Barça seemed to struggle with taking advantage of opportunities to breathe down Real Madrid’s necks. Now, they are the ones breathing the fresh air atop of the league summit after finally capturing it. The mood is better at the Camp Nou regarding the manager and players; but not the club administration though. They qualified for their 37th Copa del Rey final where they will face Athletic Club at a yet to be determined venue and enjoy a 2-1 aggregate lead against Manchester City in the first leg of the knock out stage of their UEFA Champions League tie.

However, let’s not get too carried away with any treble talk. In a quest of such magnitude, one must remain humble and focus on only the next match at hand. Pep brought that one game at a time approach and Luis Enrique repeated it today ahead of tomorrow’s second leg match against Manchester City. When asked about this weekend’s El Clásico match, the manager replied, “There is only one game for us and that’s the one tomorrow. Nothing else matters to me right now”.

Up only 2-1, the tie against Manchester City is far from over. It is true that Barça enjoy the upper hand knowing that Manchester City enter the match knowing they need to score two goals at the Camp Nou. However, crazier things have happened to Barça at the Camp Nou. Barça’s “Dream Team” were knocked out of the second round of the qualifying stage for the 92-93 Champions League by CSKA Moskva with a second leg 2-3 loss at the Camp Nou after a 1-1 away draw in Russia. At one point, Barça were leading 2-0 before the Russian side scored three unanswered goals to eliminate the Blaugrana from Europe.

Barça’s match against Manchester City cannot be taken for granted. Barça still has the tendency to give up goals and with the absence of Busquets, one wonders how the midfield will look like in his absence. Even if Barça advance, the teams awaiting them in the Quarter-Finals will not be pushovers. Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Porto and PSG will be waiting for them along with possible teams such as Dortmund or Juventus, Monaco, and Atlético. The path to the Champions League final will not be an easy path, that’s for sure.

Even this weekend’s Clásico cannot be considered that decisive. When Barça won the treble back in 2008-2009, El Clásico took place in the final month of the season, not in March. After this weekend’s clash, there will be an additional 10 league matches to be played. That’s 30 possible points. A win this weekend will give them a four point cushion with another 30 points to be contested by both sides. Clearly, having a small lead is a great boost for morale but a lot can happen over 10 matches too.

I have always been a firm believer that the league is decided in the final five league matches. So any talk of Barça winning or going for the treble by fans is very premature. The media will start talking about it because it’s their job to do so. Some were talking about Real Madrid winning all six titles this season and look how quickly that discussion ended. Only one club from Spain has ever won the treble so it’s no easy task at all. Therefore, let’s wait till May before we can utter the word “treble.” Until then, the Blaugrana faithful need to just take it one match at a time.

Merci Henry!

Former Barça player, Thierry Henry, is calling it a career after 20 years as a professional footballer. His three seasons with the club saw him score 49 goals and win 7 titles. Merci Henry for those three memorable seasons!

The 37 year old Henry announced on his Facebook page today his retirement from professional football.  

After 20 years in the game I have decided to retire from professional football. It has been an incredible journey and I would like to thank all the fans, team mates and individuals involved with AS Monaco, Juventus, Arsenal FC, FC Barcelona, the New York Red Bulls and of course the French National Team that have made my time in the game so special. 

It is now time for a different career path and I am pleased to say that I will be returning to London and joining Sky Sports. I will hopefully share some of the insights, observations and experiences I have learnt over the years with you guys. 

I have had some amazing memories (mostly good!) and a wonderful experience.

I hope you have enjoyed watching as much as I have enjoyed taking part.

See you on the other side...

Henry’s career spanned 20 years where he played for Monaco, Juventus, Arsenal, FC Barcelona, and NY Red Bulls. He came over from Arsenal to Barça in Frank Rijkaard’s last season as Barça manager. The following season, under Pep Guardiola, Barça won the treble where Henry was part of the attacking trio consisting of Messi, Henry and Eto’o. 2009 Henry also was part of the same team that won all 6 cups in one calendar year. Overall, Henry lifted the UEFA Champions League, two Spanish League titles, the Copa del Rey, the Supercopa, UEFA Super Cup, and the FIFA World Club Cup.

Henry featured in 121 matches and scores 49 times with his most memorable performance against Real Madrid in the 2-6 victory where he scored a brace during the treble season. In my opinion, he is a Barça legend and will forever be remembered for contributing to the team treble and six cups Barça team. Merci Henry!