I feel that a dark fog has recently engulfed the sport that I enjoy most. Simply stated, I do not like the current installment of Barcelona. I dislike them not for their success as they are truly a wonderful soccer team, definitely one of the greatest of all time. What bothers me about them is the aura that surrounds the team. If something good is said about any other team, it must immediately be acknowledged that Barcelona is better. No exceptions are allowed, Barcelona has to be known as the best or else the players and fans will cry together as one tragic symphony.
Personally, I think that the Barcelona team of the mid 2000s was much more entertaining to watch. That was during the time when Ronaldinho was at his peak and he had the explosive Samuel Eto'o and a young, aspiring superstar in Lionel Messi. Today's Barcelona squad consists primarily of the Spanish national team with Messi, creating Spain on steroids. When you see the names on this Barcelona team you would think it is exciting to watch. However, I find their style of play quite boring. To me, it looks like they are just playing keep away from the other team, waiting for them to fall asleep so Messi can dribble by all of them and tuck the ball by a helpless goalkeeper. Now that's what I call entertainment! I know the statistics are staggering, Xavi and Iniesta pass the ball with a 99.99999% success rate, but is it really that hard when most of their passes are practically risk-free?
Now here's an exciting team
Barcelona's play style makes it incredibly difficult for the opposition to gain much possession. This is Barcelona playing to the strength of the players it has, which I have no problem with, but it does mean that they are going to have about 65-70% of possession in almost all of the games they have. I am always greatly disturbed every time Barcelona plays Real Madrid because of the ongoing argument about who is the best player in the world, Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. The majority of soccer fans seem to believe that Messi is currently the world's best, and with plenty of reason. However, I grow increasingly tired of using Barcelona versus Real Madrid games as a point of argument. Everyone always speaks about how Cristiano Ronaldo doesn't show up in big games, like those against Barcelona. What do you expect CR7 to do when Barcelona has the ball all the time? I guess Cristiano Ronaldo is expected to make an impact on the game when he doesn't have the ball.
Did Messi score without the ball?
Don't get me wrong, Barcelona deserved all the success they had during the 2010-2011 season. They dominated La Liga and played very well in the Champions League, capping it off with a 3-1 win over Manchester United, which was a more entertaining game than I expected. Although I'm still bothered by the way everyone is on Messi's nuts (the little genius), but I'll rant about that later. With Barcelona winning it all in the domestic league and Europe's most prized soccer tournament, Barcelona's current squad is arguably the greatest of all time. But look back only as far as last year. Inter Milan's 2009-2010 campaign resulted in more trophies as the team won the treble, bringing home the domestic league title, the domestic cup title, and the Champions League trophy. I do realize that Barcelona accomplished this feat very recently, too, but the style with which Inter won the Champions League is incredible. Inter Milan knocked out Chelsea (champions of England), Barcelona (champions of Spain), and beat Bayern Munich (champions of Germany) in the final. Inter knocked out the champions of three of the best leagues in the world and won the Italian league which is high up on the rankings as well. That is one heck of a year and maybe it should go down as one of the most historic seasons in soccer history. I do realize that in the previous season Barcelona won many trophies and capped it all off with a great Champions League triumph, but Inter's run was simply magnificent, headed by my favorite coach of all time, Jose Mourinho.
I'm the greatest of all time, and I know it
Mourinho is now part of the Barcelona and Real Madrid clash, given that he is Real Madrid's current coach. I was a little sad when Barcelona still managed to win La Liga this season ahead of Real Madrid, but I still think Mourinho's first campaign at the head in Madrid was successful. I have no doubt that the Special One can give Barcelona a good run and hopefully manage to pull ahead of the defending champions this coming season, and if we're lucky, maybe Victor Valdes will try to restrain Mourinho from celebrating again.
I'm a very strange sports fan, in that I don't necessarily have a great deal of favorite teams. I am more a fan of certain players and how they play the game and carry themselves. This is why I dislike the current Barcelona team. I used to be a Barcelona supporter back when they had Rivaldo and Patrick Kluivert. I just do not enjoy watching the current installment of Barcelona play. All the passing back and forth, sometimes with very little effort to go forward, gets dull. Even when Barcelona wins games 5-0 the play is very choppy. I don't understand how Jose Mourinho's Inter team can be criticized for playing solid defense, yet Pep Guardiola's Barcelona is praised for playing keep away.
Another thing that bothers me about Barcelona is Lionel Messi. I think he is an absolutely fantastic player and is exciting to watch. I like it when he gets the ball because he usually tries to go forward and relentlessly attack the goal. What bothers me is the media around him. The media is always hyping up how the "little genius" is the greatest. I don't doubt that he is currently the greatest player in the game, but it annoys me how he's always compared to Diego Maradona. These comparisons are only made because both are Argentinian.
I'm on drugs and I use my hands!
I think the argument is taken back too many years. We only need to look back to the late nineties and we can see that Messi isn't even the best South American to play for Barcelona. Ronaldo, Il Fenomeno, was better than Messi. Ronaldo was faster, dominated keepers, and beat entire defenses on his own in his one year at Barcelona in the 96-97 season. Ronaldo also scored a great deal of goals in the ultra defensive Italian league despite many injuries. I don't understand why the debate about the greatest soccer player of all time always starts with Pele and Maradona. Ronaldo was simply better.
Greatest of all time
Barcelona is an exceptional team and I respect what the club has done. Winning countless trophies and consideration as one of the greatest teams of all time is nothing to take lightly. I just wish the media would stop representing them as a club that can do no wrong headed by its little genius. All other clubs take a seat behind Barcelona, and if Barcelona is knocked out of a tournament, they must have been wronged. When the day comes that Barcelona does not look like the Spanish national team and they open up play more, I might once again support Barcelona.
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