Annus horribilis does not even start to describe how 2014 has gone for Barcelona Jersey especially after the early promise of a year ago. Just twelve months ago Barcelona beat Atletico Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup and their form though the first half of the season was impressive.
From the start of the season last August to the end of January Barca only suffered two losses in 27 La Liga and Champions League matches.
But then things started to go very wrong. After being caught in a tangled financial and legal web of his own creation, club President Sandro Rosell was forced to resign. Whether that caused a slump in form or not, the fact is that results took a turn for the worse soon after.
There were four more league defeats in the final 17 league matches and crucially the team finished the campaign with three successive draws. Going into the final match of the season a win for Barcelona at home against Atletico Madrid would have been enough to retain the league title and to record a fifth league title in six seasons. But a 1-0 half time lead was squandered and an equalizing goal gave the visitors the championship.
Atletico also knocked Barcelona out of the Champions League at the beginning of April. A week later and there was more disappointment when Barca lost to Real Madrid in the final of the Copa del Rey. A late goal from Gareth Bale proved to be the difference.
Shortly after, we were all reminded how unimportant the winning or losing of a soccer match is when former FC Barcelona Jersey Coach Tito Vilanova succumbed to cancer.
Barca’s manager of less than one year Gerardo Martino resigned shortly after the final league match of the season and within days Barcelona announced the appointment of Luis Enrique as Martino’s replacement. The appointment of Luis Enrique followed a pattern set by Pep Guardiola – former player, former captain and former coach of the Barca B team.
But while Guardiola never ventured beyond Camp Nou prior to assuming first team responsibilities Enrique had ventured further afield. He moved first to Roma and then on to Spanish club Celta Vigo. His time at Roma was unsuccessful although his one season at Celta Vigo could be regarded as a relative success.
Now Luis Enrique faces a monumental task in reviving Barcelona. Already we have seen significant player movement and there is likely to be more additions. An extended transfer ban could be imposed after this transfer window closes and so Barcelona needs to look a couple of years down the road.
Earlier this year Barcelona appealed a decision by FIFA that found the club in contravention of rules applying to the movement of young players across international borders. That appeal has yet to be adjudicated but if unsuccessful a transfer ban will almost certainly come into effect.
Luis Enrique not only faces the task of integrating new arrivals into the Barca system but he also needs to find a quick cure for the World Cup hangover afflicting so many of his squad.
Dani Alves
The good news is that Dani Alves avoided the 7-1 humiliation of Brazil by Germany. The bad news is that he wasn’t even considered good enough to start in a game that his country lost by six goals. Alves was dropped in favor of Maicon after playing poorly in the first four games of the competition.
Gerard Pique
A savaging by the Netherlands in Spain’s opening game was the last we saw of Gerard Pique in the World Cup. How bad was Pique’s positional play in that game? Well, let’s just say that during her starring role in the closing ceremony his partner Shakira covered space more effectively.