Barcelona Aim To Hit Opponents For Six

When young Manchester United striker Jesse Lingard put his side 2-0 up against Barcelona in Santa Clara two weeks ago in the International Champions Cup, half the 68,414 crowd cheered. The vast screens at the stadium, which will stage the 2016 Super Bowl, filled with images of celebrating United players.

As the English journalists tapped into their computers to meet midnight deadlines in England, Catalan journalists behind in the huge glass fronted media box tutted.

“It’s a friendly! What about Rome and Wembley?!” shouted one, to approval from compatriots. He bravely spoke in Catalan so the English journalists in front were unaware.

But he was right, of course. Barcelona are the best team in the world right now. They were playing a friendly and they didn’t have any of their stars who’d been in Copa America. Lionel Messi, Neymar, Claudio Bravo, Javier Mascherano and Daniel Alves are either the best or among the best in their positions in the world. Six of their regular starting - and settled - XI are South American, the aforementioned plus Luis Suarez. Youngsters in Argentina and Brazil dream of playing in Europe for Barça and Real Madrid over any English or German side. Similarities in culture, language and weather help.

Treble winners Barça have won every competition they’ve entered this year and plan to add two more trophies in August alone, the Spanish and European Super Cups.

The Catalans would likely beat a United side in transition eight times out of 10, just like they beat English champions Manchester City comfortably last season. And just like they also knocked the champions of Italy, France and Germany out of the Champions League en route to winning it – all of them with conviction.

After his side were beaten 3-1 by Manchester United, Barça coach Luis Enrique was complimentary about the opposition and saw no reason why the English team couldn’t win the European Cup this season, but even a realistic Van Gaal said his aim wasn’t to win, but to come close. First, United need to overcome Club Brugge in a play off game.

Barça, the number one ranked team in the world, have few playing concerns. All their major stars are happy at the club. Neymar is playing well despite the off field distractions relating to his transfer. Messi looks happier (and leaner) than he’s been in years, with a positive understanding with his coach and teammates.

But it’s Suarez who has been the revelation. He made major errors for Liverpool and Uruguay for which he was rightly punished, but he also felt victimised by the British media. He’s happier living in a city where his mother tongue is spoken and where his in-laws have long resided. With better players around him than he had at Liverpool, him and Neymar have closed the gap on Messi and Ronaldo as the world’s leading two players. They’re still behind, but Suarez is becoming a major world star. Not for nothing did he enjoy walking three blocks without being recognised in San Francisco pre-season.

The Uruguayan’s success has been to the detriment of Pedro’s Barcelona career. The Canarian wants to leave for United, where he thinks he’ll get more minutes. Barça would rather he stayed, but accept his reasons – that he wants to play more football after starting in only 15 of 38 league games and just four of the 13 Champions League matches last season. He played a token minute in the final against Juventus in Berlin. Pedro’s 11 goals were another drop from the 19 the season before too.

Pedro is good enough to get in any forward line in the world except the two best ones in Spain and while Enrique wants to keep him for Barça’s three Super Cup games this month, they will be relatively powerless if United meet his €30 million buy out clause – one fifth of that if he moved to a Spanish club.

Enrique’s priorities will shift after a glorious first season. The Asturian needs to dominate Barça’s current project – that is work closely with his president and sporting director to shape Barcelona’s future. He knows more about football than they do and recent coaches including Tata Martino and Tito Vilanova had too little influence over recruitment. Sandro Rosell, the controlling president they worked under, didn’t help.

Securing the treble meant that Enrique won over Barça’s sceptical match going fans who compared everything to what Pep Guardiola did. But they’ve accepted that Enrique was right to tweak their playing style to make Barça more unpredictable. And to make them the best team in the world.

There are still clouds at the club. The new signings Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal can’t play until January as Barça are still banned from using players bought in 2015 after breaking rules regarding the recruitment of youngsters. The only surprise within football was that they’d got away with it for so long.

And if current president Josep Maria Bartomeu, the man who put his signature on the Neymar contracts which brought attention from the tax authorities, is found guilty in his court case then he’ll likely step down.

For now he retains the support of the largely conservative fans, but they’ll stick by almost anyone if their team is wining. Former president Josep Lluís Nunez, now in jail, was hardly a paragon of virtues.

They also supported Rosell.

If Barça are to stay at the top then they need more stability and fewer of the boardroom squabbles which have de-stabilised the club, fewer actions which end up in courts. They also need to remodel Camp Nou, which is showing its age, and to listen to the fans who actually attend games and are tired of the poor atmosphere. Rejuvenating the Masia youth system back to how it was when it was producing more players fit for the first-team is another priority. They’re not easy tasks, but the club are aware of everything.

After Wednesday’s 3-0 Joan Gamper Trophy victory over AS Roma in front of a 90,000 crowd, Barça go into their first competitive game, the European Super Cup, against Sevilla in Tiblisi next week in good shape. The front three ‘trident’ of Neymar, Messi and Suarez were back together against Roma and showed why they’re the best attack in football. Now they have to do it for real again as Barça seek and fourth, fifth and sixth trophies of 2015.