He always talks about football and Barça with passion. Although saddened by the death of Gérard Houllier, his first coach at PSG, Omar da Fonseca dissects the future opponent of the capital club in the round of 16 of the Champions League. For the consultant beIN Sport, one thing is clear: if the match took place today, PSG would be clearly favorites.
How do you judge the current Barça?
OMAR DA FONSECA. We are living through the worst of times. The good players exist but the team does not manage to make them evolve together. The worst thing is that we have no rational explanations… Barça plays badly, Barça is no longer scary, Barça bores, Barça does not score… All the deficiencies are amplified. Everyone is below. Normally, there are bases that allow you to develop inspiration, intuition. Today, when you see Griezmann, Messi, Busquets, Lenglet, Alba… How did these players get there? Yesterday (Sunday) again, the match against Levante was a disaster.
What surprises you the most?
Realize, Levante is 18th in La Liga. Barça leads 1-0 and we see Griezmann leave at the end of the match for an entry from Umtiti! They finished the game with three center-backs. In added time, you see Ter Stegen catching a fairly easy ball and kissing it like it’s amazing! We notice little signs like that. Even they are in a situation of panic, of suffering. Barça today is not that he is in the shadows, it is that he no longer finds the light.
Do you consider the club capable of recovering for the round of 16 against PSG?
No one knows what will happen in February. But in the current state of things, if you tell me that they will be the same players, under the same conditions, I do not want to talk about a false clash between PSG and Barça but if we have to leave a favorite, it is is Paris.
Are the people of Barcelona no longer scary?
Before, there was this kind of superiority imposed on the opponent from the start of a match. Control, possession, an unbalancing side. Today, there is passivity, everything is predictable, we fall asleep. Griezmann, Messi, Coutinho… No one can say that these three players are bad. But I think, and I’m not the only one, that the three are incompatible. Griezmann again on Sunday, he doesn’t have a bad game. But it does not destabilize, it does not eliminate anyone. Messi is below too. He still wants to try to get away, to eliminate. But he can no longer and we continue to persevere in wanting to install him in this way of playing. Cristiano Ronaldo, he understood that he had to stick to the goal.
Newsletter PSG express
Our information on the capital club
Is the link cut between coach Ronald Koeman and his squad?
He is not responsible for everything. But he does not or does not have the reading to bring added value. The job of a coach is to improve good players into very good players and then into indispensable, untouchable players. Barça has 20 regular, medium players today. Sunday, in the first half, Martin Braithwaite, the only real center-forward of the club, finds himself playing left midfielder. It’s not Lewandowski or Benzema, everyone knows that, but he has proven a few times his ability to play like a point, to weigh on the defenses. Sometimes, coaches want to install a scientific side from their tablet or computer that we ordinary spectators cannot understand.
Can the players be disturbed by the January elections for the club presidency?
I do not believe it. It is an element that feeds the environment, the media, television, editorial writers. But I think the player doesn’t care who will be president. Above all, he wants to play well, to be competitive. Coming back to Sunday’s game, it doesn’t matter your name and surname, you can’t go home thinking you played well. Barça borders on the ridiculous this season. Against Getafe, Cadiz… There is a total drought and it is time to take out the watering cans.
