What is wrong with FC Barcelona?
What's the story
'For the first time in nine years, that I have been here, I feel, that we are inferior to Real Madrid.'
This, coming from the mouth of Gerard Pique, the established centre-back of FC Barcelona, famous for his acerbic quips on their hated rivals, is indicative that the glory of the Catalan club is on the decline.
We look at the reasons.
Dry Days
Failure of the famed La Masia academy
Historically, the source of the pool of talent who have worn the Blaugrana shirt has come from the La Masia Academy.
Perfected by Johann Cruyff, in the model of the famous Ajax Academy, it has produced players like Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, and others.
The academy seems to have fallen asleep with graduates preferring to move elsewhere for lack of first team action.
No able replacement
The departure of giants
With the departure of greats like Xavi, Puyol, Ronaldinho, Henry, Alves, the Barcelona team has weakened over the years.
They were not able to pick up efficient replacements of these players.
Midfield, which was once the backbone of any Barcelona squad, is now virtually barren.
Without its traditional style of play, Barcelona has become fundamentally porous.
Messi: Barca's saviour
Over dependence on the Little Flea
Messi is one of the two greatest players in this world right now.
Neither can it be ignored that he has single-handedly pulled Barca out of a tight spot, many times.
It seems that this has only made the board overlook the deep deficiencies of the team because the team relied on Messi's magic.
There's a serious dearth of quality players in the squad.
Details
The politics involved
Joan Laporta, president between 2003 and 2010, recently came out saying that the Sandro Rosell administration wrecked the club by focusing on the money-making, instead of the field.
Rosell himself was jailed for inconsistencies in the Neymar transfer from Santos.
Now his successor Bartomeu faces similar charges for the Paulinho transfer.
Lack of youthful energy
A team of goldies but oldies
Barcelona has been unable to tap into the reservoir of talented budding young Spanish players while Real has been steadily building a squad surrounding youth, that will rule the world for the next decade.
With cut-price deals for the likes of Isco, Casemiro, Asensio, Real is building the team of the future while Barcelona is left licking its paws.
The loss of Neymar
Rubbing salt on the wound
The most immediate reason that one can point to is the sale of Neymar to PSG.
It is not that they needed the money, but they simply couldn't convince Neymar to stay.
There is little you can do if a player wants to go, but for a club as big as Barcelona, there sure has to be ways to retain the player.