Tito Vilanova: What Would Represent a Respectable First Season for Barca Coach?
Tito Vilanova replaced Pep Guardiola as FC Barcelona coach on June 30, 2012. The expectations of the new coach for the 2012-2013 season were high.
The reasons were the achievements of Guardiola during his time with La Blaugrana. Guardiola managed to achieve two trophies in the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Club World Cup and three La Liga trophies.
What would represent a respectable first season for Vilanova?
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El Clasico
Vilanova must win El Clasico for the sake of FC Barcelona and himself. While Vilanova wants a new beginning with El Clasico, Jose Mourinho poking him in the eye must be remembered.
The purpose is to serve as one of the stimulations for a Barca victory.ย Barca and Real Madrid each wonย an El Clasico match so the one this Sundayย is very important.
A victory for FC Barcelona in El Clasico will further consolidate Vilanova as manager.
Copa Del Rey
FC Barcelonaย is the current Copa del Rey champions. They must attempt to win the trophy again during the 2012-2013 season. The outcome would depend on who will be the opposing team.
UEFA Champions League
Vilanova and FC Barcelonaย mustย defeat their opponents in the Group G standings of the UEFA Champions League (UCL). La Blaugrana was placed in Group G with Spartak Moscow, Benfica and Celtic.
La Blaugrana barely defeated Spartak Moscow at Camp Nou. They also left Benfica scoreless at their home stadium of Estadio Da Luz in Portugal.
FC Barcelonaย must defeat Celtic at the end of October. Theyย must defeat the three Group G contenders in November and December of the current season.
After the Group G victories, FC Barcelonaย must attemptย to advance in the quarter finals, semi finals and finals. If Barca manages to survive to the finals, it must win the UEFA Champions League trophy.
La Liga
FC Barcelona is currently in first place in the 2012-2013 La Liga table with 18 points. La Blaugrana won all of its six matches in the current season.
Atletico Madrid is trailing Barca with 16 points and five wins out of six matches. La Blaugrana would have to win either all of its matches or the majority of them.
It will not be an easy feat especially when Barca barely survived its match against Sevilla. A victory would be a crowning achievement for Vilanova at the end of the 2012-2013 season.
It was unfortunate that Guardiola was unable to finish as Barca manager with a La Liga win in 2012.
Conclusion
The challenges for Vilanova as a first season Barca manager are daunting. We will see the results as the 2012-2013 season advances.
