Can Pep Guardiola's Barça Revolution Conquer Real Madrid?

Pep Guardiola is certainly a man on a mission. Since it was announced in May that he would succeed Frank Rijkaard as manager, he has wasted little time in beginning something of a revolution at the Camp Nou.

Star players Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto'o have been told they are free to leave whilst diminutive play-maker Deco has already completed his transfer to Chelsea.

On the other side, Seydou Keita, Gerard Pique, and Martin Caceres have been identified and recruited, whilst the club have also just paid a hefty fee of around £23 million for Sevilla right-back Dani Alves.

There is more room for other signings too, perhaps Emmanuel Adebayor from Arsenal.

It seems that Guardiola's tactic is to sell the bigger egos in the squad in the hope that he can create a more harmonious atmosphere ready to challenge the Madrid monopoly on La Liga next year.

This method significantly resembles that used by Fabio Capello two years ago when Real Madrid were attempting to counter Barça's successful run. Capello ended the "galactico" era at Madrid and established the platform for success that Bernd Schuster continued last season.

Whilst Barça never had an explicit "galactico" policy themselves, Guardiola hopes that by selling off the likes of Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto'o there will be an end to the squabbling and in-fighting, which undermined their bid for success in the last two seasons.

What will certainly help Guardiola is that he has at his disposal one of the most talented players of our generation in Lionel Messi. Again in a move similar to Real Madrid with Raul, Guardiola will make Messi the sole star attraction where he hopes he will not be shackled by the power struggle between other big-name players.

Another important factor in the appointment of Guardiola is that he is not only a former player but he is also Catalan. Therefore, he will certainly be a popular choice amongst fans.

He will know exactly what the club means to the fans and perhaps he can one again instill the sense of national pride in the club and make the club live up to its claim of "mes que un club."

FC Barcelona has always been a vehicle for the promotion of Catalan national identity and culture in a Madrid dominated country. Now that they are once again being managed by someone with a definitive and profound sense of what it is to be Catalan they can re-find the success that has deserted them over the previous two seasons.

The heart of the side will now no longer be big-money foreign signings but Catalan players like Carles Puyol, Xavi and Iniesta who will have a burning desire to topple Real Madrid as they will have this in-built sense of injustice stemming from the years of suffering the Catalan people underwent during the Franco years.

With a manager who will now share these values, FC Barcelona has a good chance of repeating the successes they initially enjoyed under Frank Rijkaard.

Of course, it is a big gamble by President La Porta to hire an inexperienced manager, but a gamble that had to be taken. It is hoped this new era for Barça will bring a new found stability to the squad and to the boardroom, which in turn can provide the success that has been sorely missed in previous seasons.

The coming season does look promising for Barça as they seek to rid themselves of the bad blood which lingered last year. Only time will tell how well calculated this gamble was.