Barcelona On the Ropes

Two defeats in the last 3 games have exposed some of Barca's traditional failings and the Catalans need to rebound in the El Clasico tonight

Barcelona are top of the La Liga, a comfortable 12 points clear of second placed Atletico Madrid and a further 4 points away from arch rivals Real Madrid. But, 2 defeats in their last 3 games inflicted by AC Milan and Real Madrid have blunted the Blaugrana's season.

February has traditionally been Barca's Achilles heel every season. They lose more games in February than any other month of the season. This year's been no different. First, came the upset at the San Siro in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 when a young and athletic Milan team employed the 'Catenaccio' to such good effect to nullify the Catalans' 'tiki-taka' beating them 2-0 in the process. Then, a humiliating 3-1 loss at home to Madrid in the second leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final. In between the 2 losses, they struggled to a 2-1 victory over Sevilla.

Barca going into the game against Milan had only lost 2 games the entire season across all competitions. The only other team to boast such a record was Bayern Munich. However, it is not so much the losses, but the manner of defeats that they suffered. Chelsea, en route to winning it all last year in the Champions League, showed that Barca can be beaten if you put bodies behind the ball and snuff out their intricate passing. However, they had a huge slice of good fortune in both legs of their semi-final to progress to the final. Barcelona had plenty of chances in those games and failed to put Chelsea out due to some of their own failings.

But, in the two recent defeats, they have been completely snuffed out and their stalwarts Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Xavi have been isolated and reduced to passengers onboard a Barca ship that couldn't make any headway past some very well organized defences.

Milan had a game plan that involved stuffing the middle of the park with bodies and inviting Barcelona to attack from the flanks. No way through the middle, Barca did try bombarding forward through Dani Alves and Jordi Alba, but were stopped in their tracks as the 2 wide players of Milan also dropped back to support their full-backs. Not only was the defence organized superbly, the athleticism and pressing when Barca were on the ball was relentless. In addition, Milan looked more threatening in attack employing a very direct approach using the pace of Stephan El Shaarawy with Riccardo Montolivo directing things from midfield. The Italian Job was so perfect that the visitors only had 2 shots on goal, both of which came from outside the box.

Madrid saw what happened and went into their 2nd leg semi-final clash at the Camp Nou with the exact same tactics. Perhaps not so efficient as the Italians but boasting much more firepower with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Angel di Maria, Real tore the hosts to shreds playing on the counter with pace exploiting the gaps behind the full backs. In this game too, Barcelona had not more than 5 shots on goal while Madrid could have easily been 5-0 up instead of 3.

Barcelona got psyched out by the Milan loss and tried playing a more direct game against Madrid. But where they faltered was in failing to realize that they don't have the personnel for such a tactic and that Madrid are just brilliant on the counter. So, when Barca lost the ball, before they could count to 10, the ball had been released to Ronaldo and Di Maria up front and their centre-backs were under attack. Playing a very high line, Carles Puyol and Gerrard Pique were turned inside out and simply had no answer to Real's attacking prowess that lit up the Camp Nou.

Barcelona don't have a Plan B. They also don't have the services of their manager Tito Vilanova who is in the USA receiving treatment for cancer. With confidence low and in need of a different approach to try and change things, they travel to Madrid to face a buoyant Real in a second successive Clasico, this time in the league. Barca have taken some body blows in the last couple of weeks that have left them teetering on the ropes. They need to avoid getting completely KO'd and avoiding a second straight defeat to Madrid is a must.

Barcelona always recover and may do likewise this season and their lead in the La Liga should see them home. However, tonight's result could have a huge bearing on their chances in the Champions League. Either way, they need a different approach and it looks like the team is coming to the end of a dominant cycle and will have to find an alternate approach to winning as they are getting predictable and hence out-thought and out-manouevered by their opponents.