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There were moments in Turin when you could almost glimpse the Barcelona that had been and the Barcelona they were trying to become. For a club desperate to ignore its fetid present, that must at least represent progress. Ousmane Dembélé’s early goal and Lionel Messi’s late penalty were good enough to fire Juventus. A more clinical Barcelona could even have won by more. But this was a good night for Ronald Koeman’s side; And how few times have we been able to say that lately.
Koeman will no doubt have been impressed by the immediate reaction to Saturday’s 3-1 loss in the Classic. Off the pitch, Barcelona remains a total disaster, and the resignation of President Josep Bartomeu this week only adds to the farce currently engulfing the Camp Nou. But it’s a partial credit to Koeman that on the field, they’re still just an occasional mess.
And despite all the waste and ruin, there’s a lot left to like about this team. Take Pedri, the intrepid 17-year-old attacking midfielder who casually delivered his first Champions League start, and seized the occasion entirely. Frenkie de Jong in midfield was a delight. Then there’s Messi, who even in this grumpy post-imperial phase of his career retains a basic animal magnetism: the hardwired genius who secretly hates himself for loving football so much. His glorious 60-yard assist for Dembélé’s goal had regal disdain: a pass completed almost against his will, as if through muscle memory.
Not the Barcelona of yesteryear, then, nor the Barcelona to come, but a silver amalgam of the two. Interestingly, from time to time you wonder if Andrea Pirlo, the Juventus coach, is seduced by a similar vision. Pirlo has always been a candle to the club he almost joined in 2010. In his autobiography, he writes about the fiercely contested FIFA matches between Barcelona and Barcelona that he would play with Alessandro Nesta, a teammate of Pep Guardiola.
And as a rookie coach, he’s been heavily influenced by the Cruyff-Van Gaal-Guardiola school of rotations and exchanges, of relentless breadth and a relentless press and attacking formation probably best described as a 2-3-5. His Uefa Pro License thesis is peppered with references to Guardiola’s concepts such as “the third man” and “position game.” It is, in short, a devotion that goes beyond aesthetics.
The problem comes when you have to defend as much as Barcelona did. The absences of Giorgio Chiellini and Mathias de Ligt felt crucial as Barcelona continually opened them in transition. Dembélé’s deflected goal may have had a touch of good luck, a hopeful shot that passed over Wojciech Szczesny’s head in a slow-motion comic arc. But as the game progressed, and Juventus were forced to return the numbers, their threat seemed to disappear completely.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s absence, confirmed by a third positive Covid test on Tuesday, may have offered a push up front, where Álvaro Morata had three goals ruled out for offside. But his presence wouldn’t have given Pirlo’s team what they need most, time and timing. This was the impatience and impetuousness of a team that is still learning on the job. Merih Demiral’s second yellow card and Messi’s penalty, sanctioned after a clumsy tackle by Federico Bernardeschi, confirmed Pirlo’s first loss as a Juventus coach.
Did this game change anything? Pirlo will have already known the scale of his task; Messi could have wanted Bartomeu to leave, but he also wants a squad capable of winning the Champions League. Koeman knows that his days may still be numbered if Víctor Font wins the presidential elections and replaces him with Xavi. In the long term, these broader problems remain unsolved. But perhaps this was a night to remind us that the idea of Barcelona, be it a golden past, a tantalizing future, or a flawed present, remains as seductive as ever.
