Every Reign Comes to an End

This past week and weekend have just been bad for my team Barcelona. They lost to Chelsea and arch rivals Real Madrid. Because of the El Clasico loss, the league has been given to Real Madrid (obviously), unless miraculously Madrid lose the remaining of the league games and Barcelona win theirs. We all know that's not going to happen. There is still a lot to play for, for the second-leg Champions League semi-final. Chelsea obviously have the advantage with a 1 point lead and Real Madrid have proven that it's not impossible to beat Barcelona at home. Chelsea have been standing their ground and have again proven they can be a world class team. Di Matteo has done a really good job by bringing this team up from what they began with this season. I applaud him for that.

But let's be honest here. The league is out Barcelona's hands and there is a CHANCE that they may not reach the Champions League final stage. Has Barcelona's reign come to an end? They have already won the UEFA Supercup, FIFA World Club Cup, and they are in the final of the Copa del Rey....but is that enough? If we are to compare this season to their recently previous seasons, this season was pretty "mediocre". How could I say that, this team has actually won numerous awards and accolades as a team and individual players (Lionel Messi). But their record and their current form aren't up to par. Maybe it's fatigue, older age, psychological matters, whatever it is, I believe that Barcelona are going to fall this season and start building themselves up next year.

This team has a lot of new fresh faces that still need the experience (Tello, Thiago, Montoya, Cuenca, etc). I know this may sound bad, but I think that a little dip in their success will be good for them. It relieves some pressure off of them. Everyone in the footballing world will have high expectations always, but too much pressure can really hurt people physically and mentally. At the end of this season they will be able to re-access this season and prepare for the next one. Barcelona aren't even going on a pre-season tour really, they have decided to stay in Spain. This just proves that they really are tired. Three years of success can really wear you out. From a business perspective though, you can't have failure and I don't think this is exactly failure, but just a little punch....a reminder what it's like to not succeed which gives them a larger motivation to win more next year. That's all.