Brilliant Barca Prove They are Far From Done

The parallels between the Spanish national football team & Barcelona FC are obvious. Barca's midfield is the Spanish squad's nucleus. Iniesta, Busquets, Xavi & Fabregas control the centre of the pitch, suffocating opposing midfielders. But, the similarities do not end there. Euro 2012 proved that despite not being at their best, the Spaniards are still the creme de la creme of Europe. Playing without an out & out striker, and out of form players, they still triumphed in the final over Italy in Kiev.

So how is Barca similar you say? But, they have Lionel Messi. Of course they do, but today's Champion's League match against Paris Saint Germain hinted at Barcelona's greatness. Amidst rumblings of how Barca has fallen off or that their core players are getting old, one thing is being ignored: they continue to win. Even with Real Madrid currently on an amazing stretch winning 8, losing 1, and tying 1 in their last 10 games, the Catalans are 13 points clear of the Madridistas for the La Liga title. Messi & the boys have 7 wins, 1 loss & 2 draws in their last 10. Not too bad at all.

Today's match also showed that even with a hobbled Lionel Messi & a sub-par performance by most of the team (minus Xavi & Iniesta), Barcelona are still head and shoulders above the rest of Europe's heavyweights. PSG probably played the best match they could have. Lucas Moura terrorized Jordi Alba on the flank for the entire 1st half and some of the 2nd half, Javier Pastore found space in the centre of the midfield & scored a goal on the counter, played in passes for Moura, Ibrahimovic & Lavezzi, & the Parisian back line performed solidly. Yet, it still was not enough to beat Barca & advance to the the semis.

Barcelona found a way to come back & equalize. Despite looking flat for much of the match, Pedro Rodriguez slammed one behind Salvatore Sirigu & injected life back into the Nou Camp. So how does Barca still pull it out when they looked like the 2nd best team on the pitch? Some will point to the insertion of Lionel Messi into the match. The 62nd substitution of Messi for Cesc Fabregas undoubtedly had an effect on the team's psyche. While Messi is usually the most important player on the pitch for Barca, was he this time? I think not.

Barcelona's Scottie Pippen?

The key to Barca's composure today (& most of the time) lies at the feet Xavi Hernandez. Quite possibly the most under-rated player of this generation, Xavi completed 96 out of 96 passes in today's match against PSG. Think about that: not a single pass from Mr. Hernandez went astray. It is no coincidence that at the end of 90 minutes Barcelona held a 63% to 37% possession advantage. If you are patient (as both Spain & Barcelona teams have proven to be), Xavi will find you. Now add Andres Iniesta to the mix, and you are really in trouble if you are a defender. If you thought Barca was getting old, dream on, the Golden Generation is alive & well.

On to the semi-finals!

Adios until next time.