Bayern Munich vs Barcelona: The match of the Champions League
The semi finals of the Champions League this season will pit two stalwarts against each other which according to me, is a better match up than what we will see in the finals. Bayern Munich under former Catalan manager and player, Pep Guardiola will be up against a new and revamped Barcelona side led by one of their former players, Luis Enrique.
Bayern Munich has been one of the most in form teams in Bundesliga, and will be reclaiming the German League title by a wide margin. In Europe, they are equally dominant where they dismantled a Porto side who were winning the tie 3-1, by annihilating them at the Allianz Arena 6-1. Many thought Porto got the better of Guardiola’s Munich by their pace which was true, but they also assumed that Pep’s tactics had stagnated a bit.
But, he proved his critics wrong with a brilliant performance where Bayern were at their offensive best and that too without their important players like Robben and Ribery. One can only imagine what they have to offer when at full strength.
On the other hand we have the resurgent Barcelona. When Enrique took over the managerial responsibilities at Barcelona, the Catalan giants were not in good shape. Tito Vilanova took care of Barcelona after Tata Martino left the club in somewhat tatters, but Tito too had to resign due to his medical conditions.
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Under Tata Martino, Barcelona had a turbulent season. Although they were getting positive results, Messi and Co. did not have a fluency in their play which has been a characteristic of Catalan football for a long time. They were stuttering against high profile opponents and sometimes the players seemed to be unsure of Martino’s tactics and philosophy.
After Vilanova’s death, the whole club suffered a shock and everyone related to the club seemed to be drained of motivation and positivity.
Enrique’s job was not only to take Barcelona back to their golden days, but also had to motivate the personalities in the dressing room amidst a very gloomy and negative atmosphere. In his initial months, Enrique had a tumultuous period where he failed to impact in any sort of way. His fall out with Lionel Messi resulted in innumerable rumors of the Argentinean leaving the club in the summer. It seemed destined that Enrique’s tenure at Camp Nou wasn’t going to be a fruitful one.
But, somehow, post 2015, Barcelona has been in staggering form. They seemed to have found their lost mojo and confidence, playing in the usual Barcelona swagger and blowing teams apart. The front three of Neymar, Luis Suarez and Messi are in frightening form. They seem to have developed a connection where they can easily drift into each other’s position and score goals and set up goals for the other.
Bayern and Barcelona are in the form of their lives which makes this fixture very hard to predict. Both are strong when playing away from home and are even stronger at home. It will be interesting to see the fans reaction of Pep returning to his own hunting ground, where he will be up against one of his colleagues from his earlier days in Barcelona. It will be more exciting to watch Pep’s Bayern replicate a style of football through which Barcelona defined an era. Will Pep get the better of his former team, or will a redeveloped and redesigned Barcelona upset his homecoming?
It is surely the best fixture of this year’s Champions League.