Strong Barcalona talk of the ‘treble’

Barcelona enter their biggest week of the season in optimistic mood.

Luis Enrique’s side take a 2-1 lead into tonight’s Champions League last 16 second leg at home to Manchester City, and then face Real Madrid at the Camp Nou on Sunday with a one point lead and all the momentum in the La Liga title race.

It is hard to believe just two months ago Barca were widely seen to be in meltdown on and off the field — with Enrique considered a dead man walking, superstar Lionel Messi unwilling to confirm he would still be at the club past the summer and club president Josep Maria Bartomeu charged with fraud.

The turnaround has been helped by poor form from their rivals — City have won just three of their last 11 in all competitions, while Madrid are currently the ones under the media microscope amid criticism of coach Carlo Ancelotti and galacticos Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale.

But there has also been an upsurge at Barcelona. The turning point, many feel, came in defeat at David Moyes’ Real Sociedad. When Messi missed training the next morning, having rowed with his coach in the days beforehand, it looked like the turmoil would completely derail the Catalan club’s season. Instead the clearing of the air has been the catalyst for Barca to find their best form. Following that Anoeta loss they won their next 11 games in all competitions, with Messi in particular putting in some superb performances, and fellow attackers Luis Suarez and Neymar also clicking.

“There was a change in the attitude and the motivation of the team after that game,” Messi admitted in mid-February. “Recently we have gone onto the pitch more motivated, to press and attack. The dressing-room wanted to change the image of San Sebastian. That has been seen a lot.”

This looked a lot like Messi was taking credit for the turnaround himself, or at least giving it collectively to the players. But Enrique has always maintained his plan for the season has rolled out more or less as expected, with some dips and peaks always likely along the way.

Nobody outside the camp really knows how the leadership duo get along personally, and few even inside the dressing-room understand what makes Messi tick, but their relationship is clearly currently working.

Barca’s transfer signings last summer have also settled well, and the team looks much more solid than in recent seasons. In goal both Claudio Bravo (in La Liga) and Marc-Andre Ter Stegen (in the cups) have impressed.

Gerard Pique is also back top form at centre-back, and just 16 goals have been conceded in 27 La Liga games this season. The team is playing with more intensity and athleticism, in large part thanks to summer signings Suarez and Ivan Rakitic, who have quickly become key players. Rakitic fits the abrasive coach’s idea of a midfielder so well, that one of long-serving duo Andres Iniesta or Xavi Hernandez will be on the bench tonight. With their team already qualified for May’s Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao, there is now excited talk among blaugrana fans and pundits of matching the ‘treble’ won by Pep Guardiola in his first season in charge in 2008/09.

Guardiola’s former teammate Luis Enrique would entertain no such talk at yesterday’s pre-game press conference, and refused to even speak about the looming Clasico.

“There is no other game,” he said brusquely, while focusing solely on the challenge of beating City tonight.

Iniesta was at least willing to entertain the idea. “It is not that we meet up to talk about winning the treble,” he said. “But we know how the team is playing, that if we keep playing well we can fight for everything until the end.”

The now 30-year-old Spain international, who has experienced both triumph and disaster with club and country through recent years, then sounded a note of caution. He recalled that 12 months ago, under then coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino, Barca reached March in a similarly good position, and ended up winning nothing.

“Last year we were more or less in this situation,” Iniesta warned. “We should not confuse feeling well at the moment with thinking this game is a foregone conclusion.

“City are very dangerous, so we need 100% concentration to be in the next round.”