Looking back at Barcelona’s 2011/2012 Season. Part 1: Backstory, Transfers, and Tactics

At the time of writing, Barcelona just concluded their final match of the 2019/20 La Liga season and defeated Alavés 5–0. Unfortunately for them, they finished in second 5 points behind a defensively-sound but by no means stellar Real Madrid. The team seems to be in a state of turmoil as an incohesive and aging squad seems to be getting even older, instead of getting younger in order to better prepare for a post-Lionel Messi era as the greatest footballer of all time is in the twilight years of his magnificent career. Meanwhile, over in Manchester Pep Guardiola is finishing up a domestic campaign where Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool team flew out of the blocks and never looked back in what could still be an all-time Premier League season despite their poor results since returning from the enforced break. His City team was also knocked out of the FA Cup by Arsenal led by Mikel Arteta, Pep’s assistant up until this past December. Although Barcelona and Pep can both salvage this relatively disappointing season by winning next month’s knockout version of the Champions League in August, they both seem to be in an uncomfortable spot. For a club and a manager who are always held to the utmost standard, a season without total domination is almost seen as a failure, similar to when these two broke up back in 2012. <a href="https://medium.com/@UmarAli_28/looking-back-at-barcelonas-2011-2012-season-part-1-backstory-transfers-and-tactics-60d2c7e36950">Visit Now</a>