Barcelona lost 2-0 last night in the champions league to an AC Milan side, who, quite frankly are not at their strongest at this point in time. They do have some talented players like El Shaarawy and Kevin-Prince Boateng, but overall the squad is not particularly strong. This has got me thinking.

If Barcelona, said to be one of the greatest sides of all time, are so dominant in La liga at the moment, (12 points above second placed Atletico Madrid says it all really), then how come they struggled last night. Is it that La liga is so weak that Barcelona have become accustomed to winning every game (apart from the top sides) so easily? Or is it that they just had a bad day at the office?

Sure, every side can have a bad game once in a while. Perhaps Milan were too fast for them yesterday and caught them off guard. A certain little Argentinian didn’t have a great game yesterday, either, which does have a great affect on the team. If Messi was playing at his best, then they would have surely scored at least one goal, which would have changed the tie completely. AC Milan also have very good and experienced defenders, which would have made it difficult for Barcelona to penetrate them as well. The other advantage that AC had was the crowd, for the San Siro can be a scary atmosphere to come to for an away side.

Never the less these things should not affect a team like Barcelona so much that they cannot get a win.

For in La liga, Barcelona have played 24 matches, won 21 of them, drawn 2 and lost only once. This is great form, and I doubt that the class of players they have would have been affected by such things as the crowd. Maybe there is something deeper to look into here. For Barcelona can win games with so much ease in La liga, it looks as thought they don’t have to come out of first gear. This is frightening really as it shows the wealth of difference between the top 3, maybe 4 teams in La liga and the rest. When teams lower down in La liga come to the Camp Nou, it looks as though they are trying to not let in as many goals as other teams, rather than actually trying to get points on the board. This is truly scary stuff, as it looks as though Barcelona and Real Madrid‘s games against other teams in Europe might be deeply affected by this, because they are used to a much harder level of competition.

However, there is another tie at the Camp Nou between Milan and Barcelona and we shall see then whether or not it was just a bad day at the office last night, or something deeper.

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About the author
Mark Smith
Writer for VAVEL USA as a NASCAR writer in the Racing section. Contact me via Twitter @Marksmiggzy17 or email: [email protected]