Optimum Sports : Bayern Have Pep in Their Stride

FC Barcelona could be entering a period of crisis this season, all highlighted this week when former manager Pep Guardiola guided his new club, the Champions League runners-up of last season, Bayern Munich to a 2 – 0 win at the Allianz Arena in a friendly. The defeat coming only days after the Barca manager Tito Villanova was forced to step down from the role he inherited after a few seasons as Guardiola's number 2. Sadly, the battle against his illness continues, despite a lengthy stay at a New York clinic earlier this year, and the on-going medical treatment will make day-to-day management of the first team impossible.

In a month too when David Villa finally made his escape to join Atletico Madrid and Cesc Fabregas remains restless in view of an opportunity to re-join former Gunners team mate, Robin van Persie, at Manchester United. None of that tension eased either by Guardiola when he secured the transfer this month of Thiago Alcantara - ahead of other bidders - to Bayern Munich for a sum of 25 million euros. A good piece of business for the Munich club as the deal also included the friendly, a four-year contract with cost only reaching €20 million in net terms, as proceeds from the friendly and an agreement by Thiago to forego personal payments, minimises the full costs.

Although born in Italy to Brazilian parents, Thiago came up through Barcelona's training academy and debuted for its first team in 2008 with Guardiola who made Thiago a full time first-team player in 2011-12. He might also have known that Thiago's contract had a buyout clause of €90 million, but included the stipulation that if he played in less than 60 percent of the games in a season the buyout price would be lowered to just €18 million. Having been injured most of last year Thiago barely played and so was available at a knock down drag out price.

All in all not a good few weeks for the Catalan Club, made even worse by the war of words in the press between Guardiola and Villanova. Both publicly disputing how much support the current Bayern boss gave his former colleague during Tito's time in a New York hospital. A matter that Guardiola brought to light, surprisingly, in one of his first press conferences in Germany. Comments tat drew an immediate and curt rebuttal from FC Barcelona club president, Sandro Rosell. All reflecting an underlying turbulence that exists at the cub that also faces a number of financial pressures that make winning La Liga - and the Champions League - all the more vital this season. As well as perhaps a real need to sell Fabregas to generate added cash.

Notwithstanding the cub have just spent up to 57 million euros it appears for Neymar, a fee reportedly to be split among Santos and three other companies that own a share of the player's rights. Perhaps close to being Barcelona's most expensive transfer which heretofore had been for Zlatan Ibrahimovic in 2009, when it gave Inter Milan 45 million euros plus forward Samuel Eto'o.

For this season the official budget has already been released by Javier Faus, Vice President of Football Club Barcelona, knowing too they are under scrutiny from UEFA Financial Fair Play rule, after spending massively on Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Alexis Sanchez, Alex Song, and Cesc Fabregas in the past two years. This year the plan is that the transfer budget will not exceed €60 million after that €105 million spent over two consecutive seasons.

Albeit the club’s debt has been reduced from €420 million Euros to €340 million, it still leaves the club in need of trophies as sole haul last year was the La Liga title. All well below the standards set by Guardiola during his four years at the helm.

With the endless pressure continuing unabated the choice of manager for the next two seasons has surprisingly been Argentinian Gerardo Martino, a 50-year-old who led Newell's Old Boys to the Argentinian Clausura title last season. Although a host of coaches were linked to the vacant position, including Luis Enrique, Andre Villas-Boas, Marcelo Bielsa, Michael Laudrup and Guus Hiddink, the cub opted for Martino. Perhaps a past knowledge of Spanish football helped as Martino played for Spanish side Tenerife. Or the four years as coach of Paraguay, from 2007 to 2011, when he led them to the quarter-final of the 2010 World Cup - the nations’s best-ever performance in the competition. Eventually losing 1-0 to eventual champions Spain.

The following year, Martino guided Paraguay to their first Copa America final since 1979 but were beaten 3-0 by Uruguay.

Regardless of that CV, the appointment has drawn surprise from a number of quarters given that “Tata”, as he is commonly known, is relatively unheard of outside South America. Not least of which came from Barcelona spiritual leader Johan Cruyff - a critic of the post Guardiola regime as in 2011 he was stripped of his honorary president’s role of Barcelona by the incoming president, Rosell.

The appointment though appears to reflect the enormous influence that Lionel Messi exerts over the club, even off the field it would seem, as both Argentinians are from Rosario. The speculation rife in the media that the appointment is a deliberate move to keep the four-time Ballon d'Or winner happy at the club.

But things at Barcelona have always been like that as Diego Armando Maradona overlapped with 1978 World Cup winning manager in 1983, Cesar Luis Menotti; Johan Neeskens and Johan Cruyff worked under their Dutch coach Rinus Michels, and Louis van Gaal did similarly. As did Cruyff indeed with Ronald Koeman when he led Barcelona to the European Cup win at Wembley

Even still the Cruyff comments perhaps reflect the thoughts of most of when he told El 9 TV this week: "El Tata? I don't know him. I know absolutely nothing about him."

The more serious question from the Dutch icon is the one that poses the biggest problem for Barcelona on the field of play. And that is how Tata will play Messi and Neymar alongside each other. The ever the pragmatic Cruyff telling Marca last month: “With Neymar on board, I would have planned for the possibility of selling Messi. Some would agree with me and others would not,” Cruyff said, “Neymar’s arrival could cause problems. Just look at free kicks for example. Neymar is very good at taking them. And Messi has already shown he is great, too. Who’s going to take them…

“Or the fact that Neymar and Barcelona are with Nike while Leo is with Adidas. These are situations that could cause problems”.

Visca El Barca? It remains to be seen.

Bayern might be a better bet for the Champions League title this season. They seem to have a real pep in their stride….