two great Europeans with opposite trajectories

A nightmare not to be relived. This is surely what the FC Barcelona players present on August 14, 2020 are hoping before returning to Bayern on Tuesday. A match that still resonates in everyone’s mind. 8-2 for Bayern, an amorphous Barça represented wonderfully by Arturo Vidal completely exhausted and overwhelmed in the advertising spot. A triumphant Bayern, a Barça which continues to regress which illustrate the opposite trajectories of two monuments of European football.

FC Barcelona, ​​in free fall

The years go by and look the same for Barça on the European scene. High expectations at the start of the season with a sixth Champions League in their sights, group stages generally mastered before sinking in knockout matches. Before the monumental slap received in 2020, Barça had already fallen into the trap set in Rome (3-0) in 2018, before collapsing at Anfield a year later and recording a heavy 4-0 defeat against a Liverpool lessened. Last year, Frenkie De Jong’s teammates suffered the thunderbolt of Kylian Mbappé at Camp Nou 1-4. Barça no longer inspires fear in Europe and is experiencing the worst difficulties in the world to compete with the big cars. With only 1 King’s Cup gleaned in 2 years, Barça is also skating in the league. The result of a perpetual decline in the workforce and a disastrous recruitment, the Catalans are gradually falling into line and are struggling to hold their own against the European leaders.

A group that is not ready

After the departure of their best player this summer, Lionel Messi, Barça presents itself with an unbalanced group between a young guard full of promise embodied by Pedri and De Jong and executives (Busquets, Alba, Piqué …) in real loss of speed. In the grip of great financial difficulties, Barça could not expand its workforce during the summer transfer window. The major arrival, that of Memphis Depay, on the other hand, is a reason for satisfaction as the Dutchman is showing himself to his advantage in his new colors.

But the workforce is clearly below the expectations of the supporters. Very few world-class players, an offensive sector with absent subscribers and lacks that challenge. To make matters worse, the Catalans encounter a cascade of injuries. Dembele, Aguero, Fati, Braithwaite and Dest are set to miss the game against Bayern. A context all the more complicated to manage for Ronald Koeman, who maintains a relationship “I love you, me neither” with its president Joan Laporta. A sign of hope, however, lies in the number of young players with a bright future. Frenkie De Jong, driving force of the team, should embody the new generation of Barça with the talented Pedri, elected best hope of the Euro, but also Dest, Gavi, Riqui Puig, or Ansu Fati, the new holder of number 10, back after a very long meniscus injury.

A transitional season

FC Barcelona are not among the favorites for the final victory in the Champions League. In total reconstruction, Barça is preparing to chain one to two seasons of transition. The objective is to develop young talented people within the workforce, in order to obtain a competitive team in the medium term. This season, Barça will seek to reassure themselves, by reaching the quarter-finals, without taking a beating against the first cador encountered. Despite an obvious lack of intrinsic talent, FC Barcelona “it’s more than a club“, And will seek to be worthy of the badge throughout the competition including against Bayern.

Under the leadership of Hansi Flick, Bayern won 2 Bundesliga, 1 German Cup and 1 Champions League. After a short, but successful reign, the German coach left the Bavarian club to take over the Mannschaft. A considerable loss, immediately replaced by a young fashionable coach, Julian Nagelsmann.

Julien Nageslmann, the present and the future of Bayern

A defector from RB Leipzig, the 34-year-old coach is considered one of the best coaches of his generation. An outstanding tactician, he will try to provide added value compared to his predecessor who has already left an extremely strong imprint during his visit.

As regards the workforce, Bayern is part of a policy of continuity as the group at Nagelsmann’s disposal seems solid. The transplant takes little by little between the new coach and his team, evidenced by the recital delivered in Leipzig this weekend (1-4). A high-end result and performance, but Nagelsmann is a perfectionist. “We played forward and left a lot of space. We could have scored a lot more goals. It was a hectic game but we had a good phase after the break and we could have taken the advantage quite comfortably.»

The Jamal Musiala revelation

One of the notable changes under Nagelsmann concerns the playing time of Jamal Musiala, the little gem of the club. In the rotation under Flick, the young German of 18 years connects the tenures with the new technician and does not cease to amaze the assiduous followers of the Bundesliga.

Very fine technically, and endowed with a disconcerting maturity for his age, the winger is involved in 4 goals in 4 league matches and comes to shake up a hierarchy where figure, Kingsley Coman, Leroy Sane or Serge Gnabry …

Bayern aim for seventh coronation

Bayern are aiming for a final victory in the Champions League. In the presence of a high-quality group, coupled with the arrival of a brilliant coach, the Munich will want to erase the failure of last year against PSG. The Bavarians no longer box in the same category as Barça, and will seek to obtain 1st place in the group. However, Thomas Muller, flagship player of Bayern does not want to take this match lightly. “I can’t say much about Barcelona without Messi. It’s a different team. With Messi in the spotlight, he will always be put forward. But it’s still a game against Barcelona in Barcelona in a big stadium, so it will be a big game ”.

With an almost complete group, Bayern is the favorite of this confrontation. A shock that seems unbalanced on paper, but the Champions League symphony is always there to remind us that this competition is a spectacle filled with surprises.