An article which quoted Flumenense's ex-Barcelona midfielder Deco admitting he felt his Barcelona class of 2004-2008 had more individual class than Pep Guardiola's current haul of stars caught my attention earlier. Brazilian born Deco believes that "although the current team is more complete, looking at individual quality - my Barca had more players who could make the difference."
This both intrigued and fascinated me, as a genuine football fan who loves to see the beautiful game played at it's jaw-dropping best - it is difficult to cast our minds back even half a decade ago and believe Barcelona have infact gone 'downhill' individually.
To settle this - in my mind anyway - I've decided on a quick comparison using ratings /10 of which I believe is Pep Guardiola's current best XI up against the UEFA Champions League winning XI of 2006, smack bang in the middle of Deco's Nou Camp stint.
I'm sure the results will provide both shocks and the obvious - but here goes.
2006 Champions League 2-1 victory v Arsenal line-up:
Gk - Victor Valdes
Rb - Oleguer
Lb - Gio van Bronckhorst
Cb - Rafael Marquez
Cb - Carlos Puyol (c)
Dm - Edmilson
Cm - Deco
Cm - Mark van Bommel
Rm - Ludovic Giuly
Lm - Ronaldinho
Cf - Samuel Eto'o
MY current Barca best XI
Gk - Victor Valdez
Rb - Dani Alves
Lb - Adriano
Cb - Gerard Pique
Cb - Carlos Puyol (c)
Dm - Sergio Busquets
Cm - Xavi
Cm - Cesc Fabregas
Am - Andres Iniesta
Am - Lionel Messi
Cf - David Villa
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Goalkeeper - Even though the keeper on both sides remains identical in Victor Valdes, it is of the universal opinion that this man has come a long, long way since his Barcelona debut and is now well worthy of that black Nou Camp #1 jersey, it wasn't a very long time ago Valdes was seen as the 'weak link' in the Barca side and that they failed to have a goalkeeper who could live up to the levels of their outfield stars. This is almost unheard of now, as Valdes is often involved in keeping that Barcelona clean sheet intact with marvelous stops - the general opinion of him coming a long way and far improving as a goalkeeper hands the Valdez of 5 years ago 8/10 with the current Victor Valdes at 9/10.
Right-Back - Arguebly one of the positions this side has most come on - one remembers Oleguer having a particularly nervous game in the aforementioned final against The Gunners - being unable to deal with Freddie Ljunberg and being at fault for Sol Campbells opener. He was usually, a solid performer who would always be reliable indefence yet offer little moving forward - this was where the big, big changes broke in 2008 when Barca signed Seville's Brazilian full-back Dani Alves, an inspired signings for The Catalonians, Alves fits right into their style of play and offers such width he is almost a right-winger. Known to be not the most solid of defenders his sheer graft and guile going forward earn him 8/10 whilst Oleguer must have a 7/10.
Left-Back - Since Gio van Brockhorst has moved on, left-back has been a notoriously tricky position for Barca to fill, of the current side Abidal, Maxwell and Adriano have all been in and out of the squad - the latter is my option as the 'best' option as of the time of writing. 'Gio' as the Dutchman was known in Spain became a bit of a fans favorite and a very decent asset to Barcelona - his very fine displays helped them to the La Liga title in his debut season whilst next term he became the only player that season to play all Champions League ties as Barca went on to win the final - no mean feat by any means. Whilst Brazilians Maxwell and Adriano can attack, they remain hugely suspect at the back and with Abidal almost the opposite in regards to being a solid defender without much forward guile the favorite here must be van Bronckhorst who picks up an 8/10 with Adriano getting a 7.
Centre-Back - Rafael Marquez v Gerard Pique? A very tricky one this time, Mexican Marquez was an essential figure inside of that Barca back-line for all of 6 or 7 years with his no nonsense defending and his serious goal threat from set-pieces he did adorn himself with the Nou Camp faithful. Once Marquez left Spain, he has the most appearances of a non-European in their history whilst a trophy haul of 7 titles tells its own story. His time was of course well documented by injury - the Mexican skipper suffered a number of very serious sidelines that required surgery, for this he was unfortunate but will doubtless remain popular in early Barcelona 21st century history. Gerard Pique on the other hand - is a world class defender - after Barca gratefully retained him from his stint in England at Old Trafford in 2008 the giant, young defender has been ever present in his partnership with skipper Puyol. Now a regular in the national team pushing on for 40 caps, it is extremely hard to put him on the losing side here but for his popularity as a foreigner Marquez wins this one by 9.5/10 to 9/10.
Centre-Back - Carlos Puyol - Barcelona legend, what can there be to do to compare such a mans career? Making his debut in 1999 Puyol is a fine defender, a model defender - loyal, committed and die-hard. Nevertheless, a comparison is a comparison and it has to be decided just whether heading towards the far end of his career Puyol's rating has fell down a notch. With now over 400 appearances for his boyhood club, Puyol is a rock and it is hard to imagine the red and blue stripes without seeing his mop of curly hair, now 33 though the time will arrive when injuries and tiredness take their toll and kick in. At the time of 2006, Puyol was 27 and in his prime, though he was never one for pace he could cover ground tremendously and make fantastic last-ditch challenges, the challenges and 'taking one for his side' have never left Puyol, obviously - yet notoriously last season he found himself out of the side a lot through injury, even permitting him playing only 5 minutes of the destruction of Manchester United at Wembley. Puyol has a good couple of years in him yet, whether he has gone down-hill since 2006 is impossible to say but the Puyol of 5 years ago was one of the best around as I'm awarding him 9/10 and the Carlos Puyol of 2011 8.5/10.
So far:
'Deco's' Barca squad = 41.5
'Our 2011 team' = 41.5
IT'S ALL TO PLAY FOR!
To be continued next time - the Midfield and attacking areas of FC Barcelona - the real area they infamously control and dictate the play. Have they come any further or is Deco correct? We'll see next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment