The greatest Barcelona sides during the last decade when they have won four European Cups didn’t need to rely on successive remuntadas (comebacks) to get them there. The word has now entered the Catalans’ lexicon, with flags and hashtags on social media as Barca seek to overturn a considerable away defeat at home.
Implausibly, they did it once against Paris Saint-German in the Uefa Champions League last 16, a 6-1 game so dramatic that it provoked an outpouring of emotion across Barcelona not seen even when Barca were lifting those four cups in Paris, Rome, London and Berlin.
All four cities have lounges named after them at Camp Nou, where the wealthiest fans are met by glamorous ladies and escorted to their seats, but for a further lounge to be named ‘Cardiff’ after May’s Champions League final, Barca must first come back from a 3-0 defeat against Juventus in Turin.
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Read more
■ Gallery: Barcelona take to training ahead of vital Juventus tie
■ Five great Barca comebacks: History says not to count out Catalans
■ Diego Forlan: Juve more savvy than PSG to prevent another Barca miracle
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It’s a smaller deficit that the one in the Parc de Princes, but surely Juventus, famed for their defensive parsimony and boasting more European experience, will be a wilier opponent.
The Italians, vengeful after a 2015 final defeat to the Catalans in Berlin, have studied how Barca unpicked Paris with a determination not to make the same mistakes.
They have reason to feel optimistic. Barca have retained the front three of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar from that Berlin final, but the machine behind them isn’t quite so ruthless.
Daniel Alves is now at Juventus, Xavi Hernandez in Qatar. Their replacements, if they can be called that, have been less convincing. They have yet to settle and have been subject to an occasionally baffling squad rotation.
On Saturday at Camp Nou, Real Sociedad may have lost 2-3, but they created numerous chances against a Barca side who have conceded seven goals in their past three games.
Barcelona beat Real Sociedad on Saturday but conceded twice and offered up plenty of chances to the visitors. Lluis Gene / AFP
Luis Enrique’s team destroyed PSG on a high after he had announced his decision to step down as manager, easing tension and provoking goodwill from fans and players.
He also oversaw a switch in formation so that Barca looked like their best, but the team have been defeated twice since and the wave of enthusiasm has crashed. This doesn’t look like an all-conquering side, yet they could still win the treble.
Sunday’s clasico in Madrid means this is a huge week for Barcelona and while their fans will try and create a fevered atmosphere, plus a huge 90,000 piece collage which will read ‘More Than A Club’ in English, they are still underdogs in both matches.
Juventus players in training ahead of the Uefa Champions League quarter-final second leg. Alessandro Di Marco / AP Photo
Even after Paul Pogba and Patrice Evra left Juventus, they were convinced that they had the quality to win the Champions League this season. Under the instruction of Massimiliano Allegri, the Italians stopped Barcelona playing in the first leg.
Enrique and his team have studied Juventus since, concluding that the only way to beat them is by pressing high and robbing them quickly of the ball when the ball is in transition. It may appear over-optimistic to try to do that against a team that seldom get robbed of any ball.
As does the idea that Enrique wants to free up Messi so that he has space around him to hurt the sublime Juventus defence. But it could also be seen as common sense. Such tactics come with the risk of Barca being counter-attacked themselves.
Barcelona will be relying on the magic of Lionel Messi to overcome the first leg deficit. Manu Fernandez / AP Photo
Enrique merely stated: “Our objective is to score five goals.” When he faced the media ahead of the game, he also said: “If we score the first goal, the second will be scored by Camp Nou and the third will come by itself.”
Enrique’s star footballer Messi made his first start for Barca against Juventus in the 2005 Gamper friendly at Camp Nou, surprising and stunning the visitors then managed by Fabio Capello with Gianluigi Buffon in goal.
A decade later, after Messi had led Barca to success over his side in Berlin, Buffon said: “Messi is an alien that dedicates himself to playing with humans.”
By then, Messi was long the best player in the world, probably the best ever, and he’s said to be desperate and determined to win a fifth European Cup this season, though he played a limited part in the first.
Messi, who scored twice on Saturday to keep his side in the race for the title, has already scored more goals this season than in the whole of last term. Yet if it’s to be remembered as a legendary season, he needs to inspire his side once against in a must-win match against Juventus.
Barcelona’s other team starting to climb
Espanyol players celebrate after Leo Baptistao late winner against Leganes. Chema Moya / EPA
Such is the media dominance enjoyed by Barcelona, you could be forgiven for not knowing that the city had a second top-flight team. Monday's Catalan daily Sport dedicates it's entire first half of 20 pages to Barca. Espanyol have a single page.
You would think they were a village team, not seventh in the respected all-time Spanish league table, one spot behind Sevilla and ahead of Real Sociedad, Real Betis, Deportivo La Coruna and Celta Vigo.
Espanyol fans are used to it. When they won the Uefa Cup in 1988 their achievement still didn’t make the front pages in their home city, yet this is becoming an impressive season for Quique Sanchez Flores’ side. Sunday’s 92nd minute win at Leganes kept them ninth in the Primera Liga table and only four points off Athletic Bilbao in the final European spot.
There were high hopes among Espanyol’s 20,000 match-going hardcore following a takeover by a Chinese consortium a year ago. They were promised that they would no longer be a selling club, one where funds were so tight that emerging talents like Eric Bailly were sold when they would yet to get into double figures of first team appearances.
Yet Espanyol started this season poorly with only one win in their first nine matches — against an Osasuna side heading for the lowest points total in the league since Sporting Gijon scraped 13 points in 1998.
Gradually, Espanyol began to climb and they have won four of their last six games. They have six games left to try and reach European football for the first time since 2005/06 when they reached the final of the Uefa Cup. That didn’t make the front page in their own city either.
Starting with Saturday’s home match against Atletico Madrid, two of the games are not easy. Espanyol will entertain Barcelona on April 29, but the other four matches — at 18th-placed Sporting Gijon, 19th-placed Granada, 16th-placed Deportivo and at home to 12th-placed Valencia — are winnable.
Even if they miss out on Europe, a top eight finish will be an improvement on final placings between 10th and 14th in each of the last five seasons, while average attendances declined from 26,000 in 2009 to 16,000 last season. They are up this season, with big gates against Barcelona and Atletico to come.
Investment and Sanchez Flores have stemmed the slide. Leo Baptistao’s late goal at Leganes was his first after a long injury. Still only 24, the Brazilian who was one of the best prospects in the league three years ago when he was contracted to Atletico Madrid, has had too many injuries.
Absent from December until two weeks ago, he has featured in both Espanyol’s most recent wins, scoring the winner at Leganes.
Baptistao was one of several high profile signings for this season. While the experienced Jose Antonio Reyes, 33, has become a fringe player and Martin Demichelis didn’t even become that, winger Pablo Piatti is only second to Gerard Moreno in the goalscorers at the club.
Attacking midfielder Jose Jurado, on loan from Watford where Sanchez Flores managed last season, has become another success, as has Javi Fuego. Things are looking up at Cornella as the blue and white budgies begin to fly.
Game of the week
• There can only be one. Real Madrid against Barcelona on Sunday in the Bernabéu. Madrid lead the Catalans at the top of the league by three points and also boast a game in hand. Win and a first league title will surely be theirs. Lose and the title race goes to the wire.
Player of the week
• Backed up by midfielder Ander Iturraspe, Athletic Bilbao’s front three of Iker Munian, Inaki Williams and Aritz Aduriz excelled in a 5-1 home win against Las Palmas who’ve slipped to 13th. Munian and Aduriz scored two each. Of the Spaniards in La Liga, only Iago Aspas has scored more than Aduriz.
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