Barcelona: an extra bit of fantasy

There's this great statistic that I found, in Marca of all places, that in the last 166 matches no other teams has beaten Barcelona for possession. Only Ryjkaard's blaugrana (against Unai Emery's Almeria of all opponents) were held to less than 50% possession in a 2-2 draw on March 16, 2008. Three years, mostly under the watchful eye of Pep Guardiola, and Barcelona have controlled the ball and for the most part all the matches since. I understand the counter-argument that modern teams don't need the ball as much, but it is surprising that one club can dominate their opponents as much as they have over the last three seasons.

This isn't even your gag-inducing Barca love-in either. It's speaks to what Marcelo Gallardo said this week, "People are more bothered about not conceding goals these days than building an attacking approach around a classic play-maker. Football’s changed but not for the better. Players run more but play less. They even measure how far they run now, as if there was something good about it. Football should be about giving the ball to a team-mate to create chances, and that should never change. Thank God for Barcelona. They’ve shown that football is still football and that when you bring talented players together, amazing things can happen. I love watching them."

Get out from under your prejudices. No matter how hard or how fast you run, you can't outrun the ball let alone the speed of thought that even one of the minor play-makers like Gallardo can bring to the table. Yes, I know that modern tactics have made the classic number 10 all but extinct, but in a world where a Xavi is often criticized for his "non-effective, side-to-side passing, and meaningless passing statistics" I stand on the side of Gallardo.

Maybe then we might see a new generation of Roberto Baggios return to the sport. Maybe then we might reassess what the likes of Pablo Aimar or Andres Alessandro bring to modern football. It's no wonder that the likes of Neymar, Rossi, and Nilmar have called it a dream to play for a club like Barcelona. It isn't the Catalan sentiment, and certainly not just the fact that they consistently play in Europe. In the end, a great player just wants to play football and Barcelona are one of the few teams that allow players to express themselves on the pitch without the ever-tightening controls of the micro-managers that have infiltrated the sport. The sort who respond to their negative tactics with this, "There is only one Xavi. We can't play like Barcelona. They are a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon. We play with what we have." Nonsense. Zico, Platini and Maradona played in the same period. Baggio, Gheorghe Haji, and Rivaldo did as well. For god-sakes, Del Piero and Zidane played on the same team, so we are not far off from that experience.

If you value the job that the fantasisti, the enganche or the playmaker bring to the table, the brilliant pass or the thoughtful turn into space, the idea that he brings something extra that cannot be quantified, then you might see more clubs excel playing like Barcelona. It isn't Messi who stirs the straw in the Barcelona margarita, it's Xavi, and if you want to replicate what they do, then by all means make what he offers a valuable commodity again.

Until then, every Chelsea or Manchester City, AC Milan or Juventus, or any other club that professes to replicate the style of Pep Guardiola's blaugrana will fail in their attempt, because it is not just tactics or intent that distinguishes Barcelona. It isn't the close-quarter drills or the ball-control exercises they do. It isn't even their over-all talent either. It's the fact that they value players who offer something more, that little bit of spontaneity or magic, the fantasy, that players like Xavi or Iniesta bring to the table.