The last three European champions, Liverpool, Bayern, as well as the team that wins the final between Manchester City and Chelsea, have a lot in common, beyond very powerful budgets. In his idea of the game, although with differences, a maxim prevails: individualities are at the service of the collective.
Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool picked up top speed as soon as it was compacted, driven by footballers who were recruited separately, being little thing on the international scene: the central Van Dijk arrived from Southampton and Salah, from Roma, and yet both emerged as its two props forming part of a successful whole.
Hans Dieter Flick landed on a nondescript Bayern as interim manager. With the same players, he endowed the team with choral tools that lifted it, sweeping everything that was put in front of them, including Barça, a toy in their hands in Lisbon.
Thomas Tuchel has changed the appearance of Chelsea in record time. The team blue Today it breathes commitment, it acts as a steamroller in the pressure (everyone runs) and its transitions are so fast that Madrid, with an aging chassis, did not even intuit them. The stage of the German coach at PSG fits into the thesis of this article. His method has worked applied to a group without big stars.
At PSG, despite being a finalist, he could not complete his work, weighed down by footballers-divos little predisposed to sacrifice and to put their talent at the service of a greater goal. When Mbappé protests his replacement or when Neymar, an extraordinary soloist, does not take care of himself or haggle even in his shadow, he slows down and even torpedoes the joint work. Finally, Pep Guardiola has spent years sculpting his project, reinforcing his convictions and sublimating a way of playing studied in detail, in which each piece of gear has a specific function focused on a common plan.
La Liga retreated
The success of English clubs in European competitions is not good news for LaLiga, subject in excess to attracting stars. Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar left and the obsession, football but also commercial, was to cover their void with stickers that have not always been able to meet expectations. Coutinho, the most expensive signing in the history of FC Barcelona, is considered lost, while Hazard, the most expensive in the history of the white club, is beaten by the filomadridista press for his poor performance and little personal involvement. The most reliable leaders, lately, sit on the bench: they are the good coaches.
From Kanté to de Bruyne
In this new scenario, the most gifted footballers prevail when it comes to understanding the game, very well prepared physically, mentally and tactically and capable of achieving great consistency in the same game and throughout a season. In City, that role is played by Belgian De Bruyne, a super class little given to shrillness who pours all his talent in favor of the team. The offensive football of his team gravitates around his figure, all executed without baroque or egocentric tics. Chelsea’s N’Golo Kanté is a different but equally valid midfielder in today’s football, a highly resistant roadrunner capable of stealing and generating danger as he demonstrated against a Real Madrid that he neutralized. At Barça De Jong he would be part of this line of new footballers. Versatile, resistant, disciplined and differentiated as soon as the ball reaches their feet.
Neymar
Barcelona once again have Neymar, 29, on their agenda. The Brazilian is a tempting target, a catalyst for future business from a strictly financial point of view and a sweet tooth for the show, understood as an album to which the names of the best are added. The question is to know if Neymar will work in the framework that Ronald Koeman is trying to build in Barça, with the culture of effort back and when the demands of current football naturally marginalize the contempt for continued dedication, professionalism and the perseverance.
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