Pressure on the shoulders of giants

DANI ALVES was trying to sound measured.

When asked at the weekend whether tonight will be the most important game of Barcelona’s season, he responded “only because it’s the Champions League, it implicitly carries extra pressure.”

The Brazilian’s words were in harmony with manager Pep Guardiola’s media philosophy: play things down, always speak with humility.

But Alves inadvertently betrayed a deeper truth about the club’s relationship with Europe’s elite competition. For all the praise this Barcelona team receive and all the rousing spectacles they provide, three European Cups isn’t enough for a club of this stature. Especially not with nine trophies stood proudly in Real Madrid’s cabinet. In that context, the Champions League always carries implicit extra pressure for Barca.

Behind the scenes, many around Camp Nou’s corridors have expressed the giddy opinion that Guardiola’s side might finally be the team to rack up successive Champions Leagues and rival Real’s five won between 1956 and 1960. The prevailing view is that they could well be the greatest club side of all time, ahead of Ajax of the ‘70s, Bob Paisley’s Liverpool and the five-in-a-row Real.

But, as exquisite as Barcelona have been, such extraordinary claims require extraordinary feats. And the difference, so far, is that each of those historic club sides combined repeat domestic success with repeat continental success. Were Barcelona to be eliminated by Arsenal tonight, it would mean they will have only won a solitary Champions League and reached a further semi-final and second round in three years under Guardiola.

Would that really be enough for a team of such talents? Would it, in fact, represent unfulfilled potential?

Such questions put extra pressure on the Catalans for tonight’s match. As big a test as this game might be for Arsenal, in terms of finally coming through a key game, it is pregnant with dire consequences for Barcelona’s legacy.

The irony, if Barcelona were to fall tonight, is that Guardiola’s masterplan might be one of the main factors in costing them. His backroom team have devised a rigorous and meticulously-planned fitness programme to ensure the team peaks in November/December and April/May. That helped explain the excellence of the 5-0 win over Real Madrid before Christmas and the unravelling of Manchester United in the 2009 final.

But, naturally, there has to be a flipside. The February slump. In every season under Guardiola so far, the period between the first week of February and first week of March – virtually to the days – has brought Barcelona’s worst run of results in the respective campaigns. Put more starkly, they average two points per game in the league during this time. Over the rest of the season, it’s 2.7.

That drop-off was evident in the first leg at the Emirates. Despite Barcelona’s domination of extended stretches of the game and the ball itself, their play seemed to lack its usual intensity and accuracy. It also resulted in the sort of sloppiness which saw three retreating defenders stare at Samir Nasri from as he set up Andrey Arshavin to score the game’s winner.

Most of all though, there are the niggles and injuries the squad are more susceptible to around this time. Because of Carlos Puyol’s knee problems and Gerard Pique’s suspension, Barca will start tonight without their World Cup-winning central defensive partnership. Such occasions tend to coincide with a lot of defensive problems and most of Guardiola’s defeats. Except for one occasion. In last season’s quarter-final second leg against Arsenal, Barca were forced to start with Gabriel Milito and Rafael Marquez at the back.

Around the club’s training ground this week, they’ve been very keen to keep reminding each other of that. But there’s a further caveat for Arsenal. Since the defeat at the Emirates, Barca have shown steady but sure signs of coming out of the slump. They’ve won their last three league games and, without Andres Iniesta and David Villa for the majority of the match, reached an all-time best of 81% possession against Zaragoza. Repeat that against an Arsenal side not exactly high on confidence and more gaps are likely to appear.

Because that’s another point. Barca’s February hiatus eventually leads to a flood. In every single last-16 or quarter-final Champions League tie they’ve played at home under Guardiola, they’ve scored four goals or more. Lyon, Bayern Munich, Stuttgart and – of course – Arsenal have been pummelled at Camp Nou in the first knockout stages.

One thing this team have never done, however, is overturn a first-leg deficit. That is a new pressure, though not as weighty as that 50 years of relative failure in the European Cup. Tonight, this Barcelona team is expected to take another step on the road to history.

Camp Nou expects.