Spanish La Liga: Is Barcelona’s empire crumbling?

Abu Dhabi

Who could have predicted that the irresistible footballing force of 2014/15 would look so perplexingly vulnerable two-and-a-half months after securing the second treble in their history?

Barcelona’s bewildering 5-1 aggregate defeat to Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Super Cup has raised unexpected question marks over the Spanish side’s prospects in the new La Liga season, which begins on Friday.

Most worryingly, the shock defeat exemplified Barcelona’s age-old failing, a porous rearguard.

The week before, fellow La Liga side Sevilla had exposed this by scoring four times in a 5-4 defeat in the Uefa Super Cup.

It is a weakness that appeared to have been addressed by coach Luis Enrique last season, when the Catalan side conceded only 21 goals in 38 league games.

In mitigation, Barcelona played a weakened side in the first leg against Bilbao, who took advantage of this quite brilliantly with a brutal display of relentless hustling and harrying in a 4-0 rout.

They were also missing one third of their formidable forward triumvirate, Neymar, who will miss the start of the season with mumps, and were undeniably fatigued by their extra-time exertions against Sevilla three days previously.

The all-action left-back, Jordi Alba, was also sidelined by injury and badly missed, as the cumbersome Frenchman Jeremy Mathieu was a liability in his place.

But with their central defensive lynchpin Gerard Pique facing a four-match ban for being sent off for allegedly abusing an assistant referee on Monday, Barcelona will head to Bilbao again for Sunday’s La Liga opener with uncommon trepidation.

Barcelona have also faced the impediment of a transfer ban, imposed by Fifa for the duration of 2015 after the governing body found the club had infringed regulations on the recruitment of players under the age of 18.

That has not stopped them from making two fine acquisitions in the form of Atletico Madrid attacking midfielder Arda Turan, who replaces club legend Xavi Hernandez, and the right full-back-cum-winger Aleix Vidal from Sevilla.

Due to the ban, however, the pair will not be able to make their competitive bows until January, so Barcelona will be desperate to avoid a slow start in the title race.

With striker Pedro Rodriguez finalising a £21 million (Dhs 121m) move to Chelsea yesterday, Barcelona will hope their ‘MSN’ strikeforce (change to ‘forward line’) can be as potent as last season, when they plundered an incredible 122 goals.

An injury to Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez or Neymar — who were consistently fit last season — could prove fatal to Barcelona’s title defence, with their back-ups Sandro Ramirez and Munir Al Haddadi lacking experience and quality at the highest level.

Boss Enrique is confident his side will deliver as spectacularly as last season, however, saying: “The team is united and competitive. There is a very tough league campaign ahead of us.

“We want to keep bringing joy to the fans and we want to carry on being a team that sets standards around the world.”

Barcelona’s travails will, however, have given their fiercest rivals Real Madrid a significant fillip. Los Blancos enter the new campaign with burgeoning confidence following the appointment of a new manager in Rafa Benitez and a string of shrewd signings.

As has been the case in recent years, Real undeniably possess superior squad strength to Barcelona, galvanising their ranks with the addition of players such as right-back Danilo from Porto and the prodigious Croatian midfielder Mateo Kovacic from Inter Milan.

Then there is the tantalising prospect of Gareth Bale being granted his favoured central striker role by Benitez, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema supporting the Welshman in a front three as lethal as Barcelona’s.

However, Real’s shimmering menace in attack will be counterbalanced by a greater emphasis on defence under arch pragmatist Benitez, who said: “An idea has been created that I am a defensive coach. Napoli scored 104 goals [last season]. If I have an attacking team, I play to attack, and if I have to adjust things, I adjust them. But what Madrid must do is score more goals than the opponent, and make an effort so they concede none.”

As such, a successful swoop for Manchester United’s Madrid-born goalkeeper, David de Gea, before the end of the transfer window on September 1 would delight Benitez.

Meanwhile, Real’s city rivals Atletico also look in good shape for another assault on the title, which they won in pugnacious style in 2014.

Their new striker, Jackson Martinez, is undoubtedly one of the buys of the summer, having netted 67 times in 90 games for Porto. He has been joined at the club by another gifted forward, the young Italian Luciano Vietto, who moved from Villareal.

Elsewhere, Sevilla and Athletic Bilbao’s rousing performances against Barcelona will imbue them with optimism that they can challenge the top three.

Valencia, omnipresent in the league’s upper echelons, will also be dangerous, having made striker Alvaro Negredo’s move permanent from Manchester City.

It will also be interesting to see how David Moyes fares in his second season at Real Sociedad, where tall target man Jonathas could be one to watch after the Brazilian impressed at Elche last season with 14 goals.

But, as ever, most people’s interest in La Liga centres on Barcelona and Real Madrid’s perennial tussle for supremacy, with the capital side looking well primed to capitalise on the Catalans’ depleted squad and defensive fragility.