Ten years on from humiliating Actual Madrid 5-0, Barcelona is a membership in turmoil

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The followers responded, elevating their arms, too, and giving the now memorable five-finger gesture.

Soccer journalist Graham Hunter, writer of the award-winning “Barca: The Making of the Biggest Group within the World,” a ebook that was later used as a foundation for the feature-length documentary “Take the Ball Cross the Ball,” remembers being in awe of not solely the scoreline, however the method of the victory.

He tells CNN Sport: “The primary impression is shock. And second impression is [realizing] I’m watching one thing I do not suppose I’ve seen earlier than between two greats.
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“What hit me was a realization that Actual Madrid, even till the primary aim, could not sustain with the tempo of soccer. It wasn’t in regards to the operating, I’ve not often seen the ball fizz precisely, cleverly from foot to foot prefer it did that night time.”

Barca opened the scoring throughout that November twenty ninth match in lower than 10 minutes. Andres Iniesta threaded a go to an unmarked Xavi Hernandez, who caught the ball on his heel after which chipped it over Iker Casillas in aim.

The second got here after greater than a minute of possession and was completed by Pedro. Seventeen minutes gone and Barca was 2-0 up.

Xavi Hernandez scored the first goal for Barcelona that night.

Then got here the third, an ideal via ball from Lionel Messi to David Villa, and inside two minutes the fourth. Within the 91st minute, Barcelona made it 5 and, with it, a record-equaling scoreline — the ‘manita,’ Barcelona’s largest profitable margin over Actual Madrid since 1994, additionally a 5-0 victory, inflicted by a Johann Cruyff facet full of worldly skills reminiscent of Romario, Hristov Stoichkov and Pep Guardiola.

There was nonetheless time for Actual defender Sergio Ramos to be despatched off seconds after the ultimate restart after he hacked at Messi in frustration. It was the primary pink card of Ramos’ profession towards Barcelona, but it surely has since turn out to be considerably of a practice as he is earned one other 4 within the intervening years.

Actual Madrid did not play badly, the group from the capital was simply overwhelmed by a facet on the peak of its powers.

Sergio Ramos pushed Puyol in the face after a hacking tackle of Lionel Messi that saw him sent off.

Books have been written in regards to the 18-day interval throughout April and Could of the 2010-11 season through which the perimeters met 4 instances. There’s a case to be made that, regardless of the standard of Barcelona’s efficiency within the November El Clasico, it’s overshadowed by the significance of this quartet of clashes later that season, a time of unparalleled depth between the perimeters.

The disagreement between Guardiola and Actual boss Jose Mourinho reached its zenith. The 4 video games produced simply seven objectives, however 26 yellow playing cards and 4 pink playing cards. Former Actual Madrid and Spain captain Iker Casillas lately described the interval to the New York Occasions as “insanity.”

The ‘particular one’

Nonetheless, that November match in 2010 was Mourinho’s first El Clasico accountable for Actual Madrid, and the primary time he had confronted Barcelona since his Inter Milan facet defeated Guardiola’s facet within the semi-finals of the Champions League earlier that 12 months.

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Infamously, having knocked out Barca, Mourinho ran throughout the Camp Nou pitch celebrating, his finger pointing to the Nerazzuri trustworthy. Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes had pleaded with him to cease, however he refused.

A lot hyperbole surrounded Mourinho’s subsequent transfer to Madrid that summer season. The Portuguese was billed as the person to finish Barcelona’s dominance, and a few Barcelona gamers had been irritated by the Spanish press’ obsession along with his arrival.

Jose Mourinho ran across the Camp Nou pitch with his finger aloft after beating Barcelona in the 2009-10 Champions League semi-finals as manager of Inter Milan.

Hunter had adopted a united Spanish nationwide group in South Africa in 2010 because the nation received its first World Cup. A few months later, he interviewed Pique, who was indignant.

“Coming away from a unified triumph the place a clutch of Madrid gamers and an equally large clutch, perhaps barely larger clutch, of Barcelona gamers or ex-Barcelona gamers, had tramped throughout South Africa [with] complete unity,” he says. “And Gerard [Pique’s] level was that it p****d them off. Each press convention was Mourinho, Mourinho, Mourinho, Mourinho.

“It was getting below their pores and skin slightly bit, merely: ‘Why is the media extra fascinated with Jose Mourinho than they’re with [us]? We have returned to the coaching floor now because the dominant Spanish facet in the mean time, and we have returned as World Cup winners. And but it is the fabled one, it is the person who will convey Actual Madrid all they need.'”

When Mourinho lastly introduced Actual to the Camp Nou later that 12 months, Barcelona gave him the most effective Catalan welcome it may.

Actual tried to go toe-to-toe with Barcelona, however failed drastically. Often an animated determine on the touchline, Mourinho as a substitute sat helplessly on the bench because the latter three objectives went in.

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Barcelona followers chanted, “Come out of the dugout! Jose, come out of the dugout!” His grand Clasico debut had been ruined.

A powerless Mourinho and his staff stayed in the dugout for much of the second half of the game, as Barcelona took the score from 2-0 at half time to 5-0 at full time.

The price of success

When it’s stated Barcelona received that match taking part in “their manner,” it isn’t simply in regards to the model of play, it is about membership tradition, too, and central to that’s creating gamers via the membership academy, La Masia.

The group that received that night time was comprised of eight homegrown gamers, 10 if substitutes are included, and in keeping with Transfermarkt, Barcelona’s beginning eleven and substitutes had value the membership solely €95.5m ($107.8m) in switch charges.

Actual’s group value €300m ($357.3m), rising to €324m ($385.8m) with substitutes. Ronaldo alone had value greater than Barca’s group.

That 12 months, the three up for the Ballon d’Or award for the world’s greatest footballer had been Lionel Messi, Xavi and Iniesta; three Barcelona gamers who had graduated from La Masia.

On the time, the then Barcelona president Joan Laporta famously made a thinly-veiled jab at Actual, saying: “We create Ballon d’Ors, others purchase them.”

In 2010, Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi and Xavi (l-r) -- all graduate of Barcelona's La Masia academy -- were the top three candidates for the Ballon d'Or.
However Barcelona’s fortunes have since modified. The humiliating 8-2 loss within the quarterfinal of the final season’s Champions League to eventual champion Bayern Munich was a real testomony to Barcelona’s present struggles, whereas Actual Madrid received the newest Clasico 3-1.

In distinction to the group of November 2010, Barcelona used solely 4 La Masia graduates throughout that October recreation with the assembled group, together with substitutes, coming at a value of €581.9m ($694.2m).

Extra was spent on the high-profile particular person transfers of Philippe Coutinho, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele than on all the group of the 2010 classic. Three of the highest six most costly transfers transfers of all time at the moment are Barcelona signings.

Barcelona spent more on individual transfer fees for Philippe Coutinho ($173.3m), Antoine Griezmann ($143.4m) and Ousmane Dembele ($155.4m) than for the entire team which played Real Madrid in November 2010.
It’s no secret that Barcelona is in severe monetary bother and shortly after final month’s heavy defeat to Actual, Dani Alves, one of many stars of the 2010 facet, voiced his anger, saying: “The membership has misplaced its identification a bit and now has to undergo a tricky course of to recuperate it.

“I feel that Barca solely desires to be a industrial and enterprise membership … purchase and promote gamers. Once you try this, you lose your identification.”

Striving for a future up to now

Simply days after final month’s El Clasico loss, all the board of Barcelona, together with its president Josep Maria Bartomeu, resigned.

The political race to search out his successor started instantly.

Whereas frontrunner for the following Barcelona presidency, Victor Font, is in no way a populist, his need to convey Guardiola again to the membership is actually in step with followers’ craving for a return to the current previous.
Victor Font, who is the frontrunner to be elected president of Barcelona, has expressed a desire to bring Pep Guardiola back to the club.
Guardiola is not going to return to the membership as head coach, that a lot he has made clear by the person himself. In response to former Barcelona star and La Masia product Cesc Fabregas, former midfielder Xavi may very well be the person to return Barcelona to its glory years.

“Xavi will probably be a Barcelona coach it doesn’t matter what,” he advised CNN. “Perhaps quickly, perhaps in a couple of years. However he will probably be, it is only a matter of time.

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“He is preparing, teaching different different leagues or the opposite gamers to be taught as a result of he simply began on this career and he’ll be implausible. I’ve no doubts about it.”

Xavi is at present plying his commerce in Qatar. Having left for Al Sadd in 2015, he retired from taking part in and instantly took over as supervisor.

In his first season in cost, Xavi secured victory within the Qatari Tremendous Cup, Qatar Cup and Qatari Stars Cup, whereas additionally ending third within the Qatari Stars League.

Xavi, who many expect to be the next Barcelona manager, moved to Qatari side Al Sadd in 2015, and took over as manager in 2019.

This season, which solely started in September, the membership sits first and is undefeated with 5 wins and one draw.

Xavi stated in June, in an interview with Spanish day by day ‘Sport,’ that Barcelona had approached him in January, however he had advised them, “the circumstances and timing weren’t proper.”

Within the meantime, it’s one other former nice, Ronald Koeman, who has been charged with restoring Barcelona to the higher echelons of La Liga and European soccer, however early outcomes recommend the Dutchman has a lot work to do.

Although Barca has received all 4 of its Champions League group video games this season, the group is at present thirteenth in La Liga, with 11 factors from eight video games, having received solely one in all its final 5.

Fourth within the league, Actual Madrid’s kind has not been significantly better. However a win towards Inter Milan on Wednesday provides the group and its supervisor Zinedine Zidane respiration area and, extra importantly, qualification to the Champions League knockout phases.

A decade on from that by no means to be forgotten November night time, a lot has modified for each groups.

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