Real Madrid has shown Barça up once again and the shame has once again left its supporters angry. Barcelona's supremacy has vanished and the team's famous model has been distorted into something unrecognisable. It's not playing its home-grown talent, it's not following the strategy that made it the best club in history, its fans don't believe in it.
The latest humiliation in a Camp Nou that seemed to be the capital of football has led to a new warning cry. Who knows if it will be the last with this board of directors. Josep Maria Bartomeu, the club's president, stayed in the box, downcast, after the match, remembering that image of Joan Gaspart from 2002, two months before he handed in his resignation. Now, worries are normal, it's understandable after such a debacle, but this is not a complication that has appeared suddenly, rather, things have already been running less than smoothly for some time.
The fans also see problems
Last Saturday, people on social networks were already asking for the resignation of the current board, former candidate for president of the club, Agustí Benedito will bring a motion of no-confidence, the press is attacking mistaken signings criteria and policies, but it seems that without a good shake-up there will be no solution. And now a large proportion of the supporters who have been blinded by the "trident" of Messi, Suárez and Neymar and by the titles of recent seasons have finally opened their eyes.
The latest humiliation in el Clásico has awakened a crowd infuriated by a club heading straight into decline. A drastic change is needed to return to the glory days. And even if they weren't half as glorious it would already be a success seeing the growth of Madrid.
Barça is beset by problems and doubts, and it can't find which way to go. Worst of all seems to be that those leading the club don't see or don't want to admit the truth. Their eternal rival plays better, has changed the way it looks at football to try to adopt Barça's own model, and above all wins the titles that the Barcelona of recent years regularly collected.
Total devastation of the model
If the model of some years ago, started by Laporta's board and continued under the direction of Pep Guardiola was that of trusting in a very specific style of play, to bet on home-grown talent and building the ecosystem so that a unique player like Leo Messi could create their own technique, now it seems to be only papering over the cracks. It's as if they were wanting to solve the serious structural problems by patching up the surface.
Busquets, Pedro, Valdés, Puyol, Iniesta, Xavi and Messi made Barça the best club in the world. Their quality was managed effectively and slowly the trading stickers were exchanged for respected players. It's not the same any more. The essence has been lost and instead of trusting in footballers with an idea of a fully integrated model, they're betting on promising names, others with reputations and others who are illogical but useful as patches and to attempt to continue being the best.
But this does not work any more and everything that Barça was before has been lost. Whether it's Paulinho, Dembélé, Coutinho or any other player, the model Cruyff taught us is no longer essential. Bartra and Thiago have been allowed to leave, and the possible roles of Samper and Deulofeu are being undervalued. Having known for months that the best football team needs a headline winger on the right and a strong midfielder, it is not acceptable for players to arrive without solving the main lacks.
Total revolution
After the defeat against Madrid, the current sports director of Barça, Pep Segura, said that "the match was set up by Madrid's goal, Piqué's error was decisive". Negative statements made without knowing how to reflect on the consequences. They might have been made off-the-cuff, in the heat of the moment, but they shouldn't have been negative.
Bartomeu's slogan in the last presidential elections was 'Bo per al Barça' (Good for Barça); it could be said that the decisions taken haven't met this promise. In statements last July in The New York Times the Barça president affirmed that "The problem is Xavi, and Iniesta, Leo Messi, and those players. It is very difficult to be a player, and when you have in front of you Leo Messi, or you have Neymar, or Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets or Piqué. It's very difficult to be there." The aim is to say something positive, but the ways chosen are not the right ones. Remember that club members have had to leave or have been made to leave for less meaningful statements.
They are mistaken about errors, things that the supporters already see as severe problems and which now have to be acted on as soon as possible. As Piqué said before the match, the players have known for certain that Neymar was leaving since 30th June, but the board only realised some time later. Another sign of the little control which it has over a club that looks like the Titanic heading straight for an iceberg and that will leave problems for the club for many years. A total revolution, a change of mentality and a rethinking of the situation is needed. However, nor will everything be suddenly solved by spending 200 million on three seemingly dispensable footballers in the coming weeks.