Is Jorge Sampaoli the Man to Reacquaint Barcelona with Their Own Religion?

Jorge Sampaoli certainly has a way with words. For a man who spends his weekends looking like the most agitated man in Spain, forever pacing furiously around his technical area with short, angry strides while bellowing and screaming to adopt the demeanour of Joe Pesci in Home Alone, such an attribute might surprise you. 

With what may come to be regarded as one of football's great turns of phrase, the Sevilla manager showed his tactics aren't the only things he approaches with a creative licence when discussing Barcelona's Lionel Messi. "To compare Messi with the rest," he told beIN Sports last month, "is like comparing a good policeman with Batman."

Given this is a man who has what reads as a personal mission statement tattooed on his arm, perhaps we should have expected such craft with language. A lyric from an Argentinian song Prohibido, the tattoo reads: "I don't listen and follow, because a lot of what's forbidden fills me with life."

Sampaoli evidently places a premium on the ability to transmit a message, a feeling, an essence. You sense he's someone who thinks very carefully about what he says and the words he uses, knowing exactly the response he's attempting to elicit. 

All season he's successfully transmitted a message to his own club. Sevilla have embraced his theme of rebellion and have run with it, storming into title contention in La Liga under his watch. Suddenly, though, a message directed elsewhere rings louder than ever.

"[They're both] great managers," Sampaoli said in November ahead of Sevilla's clash with Barcelona back in November. "But I'm closer [in style] to Pep Guardiola than Luis Enrique." If he were to apply for the position in question right now, that would go pretty well as the opening line to his cover letter. 

Much of what Sampaoli feels he stands for is what many connected to Barcelona feel they've lost. Since Luis Enrique's appointment in 2014, Barcelona's identity has been shifting, and that process has accelerated over the last 18 months, taking the club to where it is now. What started out as heeding the odd lesson from a few other books has become a significant deviation in faith, the original text not being adhered to the way it once was. 

Cutting through the hysteria following the Catalans' evisceration at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain last week were the words of Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets. The two men who, alongside Xavi, symbolised the Barca religion spoke of a "footballing" problem rather than an "attitude" one. It might have sounded simple to the point of being redundant, but it was hugely significant. 

"They've pressed more and were better tactically," Busquets told TV3 (h/t Sport). "They knew how to make a plan and follow it out when they wanted." His suggestion couldn't have been more clear. A guy telling his partner in the car on the way home that the girl sitting opposite at dinner clearly looks after herself might have been more subtle. 

"The word attitude I have never liked and it doesn't apply to this team," Iniesta added. "It's a question of football, being well placed, so they don't overcome you. They overcame us with football."

What Iniesta was getting at was structure and positional play, essence and identity, the power of the collective. Or, in short, everything Barcelona didn't have at Parc des Princes. 

When the cover of Sport proclaimed "this is not Barca" the following day, it was only partially right. This is certainly not the Barcelona that the club's philosophy theoretically creates, but it is what this Barca have become. 

Going down the route of faster, more direct football to maximise the damage inflicted by Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar, Barcelona have lost the central tenet of themselves. That's not to say the Luis Enrique-led evolution wasn't needed when he arrived; it was. It's just not the right answer to the question anymore. 

Having drifted too far along the spectrum, passing the point of their current method's effectiveness, Barcelona have slowly eroded their own foundations. The Catalans have ceased controlling games, and that glittering midfield is no longer. Ditto for the system; instead Messi, Suarez and Neymar are the system.   

Coincidentally, no game better demonstrated that than Barcelona's clash with Sevilla in November, when Sampaoli's men seemingly pulled off identity theft before kick-off, strangling and laying siege to Barcelona in the first half only to be underdone by Messi in a mode deserving of a cape. No wonder Sampaoli wants to stand beside Batman as Lucius Fox. 

"To coach Messi is still a wish, although it doesn't depend on me," the Argentinian told Marca (h/t ESPN FC). It doesn't, but he might not need a genie either.   

With Luis Enrique looking increasingly likely to step aside, Sampaoli is in the conversation to replace him at the Camp Nou, according to the Independent's Miguel Delaney. You wonder whether the Argentinian's line that he's stylistically closer to Pep than Lucho was more calculated than off the cuff. Regardless, there's truth in it. 

The man who led Chile to their breakthrough triumph at the 2015 Copa America has an obsession with his teams imposing themselves on their opponents. Pressing ferociously from the front, full-backs forever flying forward, the shape forever changing complexion like a Rubik's Cube, Sevilla have become an ultimate personification of their manager, an intoxicating blend of aggression and audacity. 

Sevilla at times have been erratic and chaotic, but there's a daring spirit to them that never fades. If Guardiola's famous wish is to play with 11 midfielders, you can picture Sampaoli's being to play with 11 Alexis Sanchezes (the player who defined his Chile teams) running at opponents like tidal waves.

Winning alone isn't enough for him. Dominating and overwhelming is not a goal but an obligation. If he were to turn up to an old-fashioned duel, Sampaoli would arrive with a bazooka. 

The appeal in such a quality at a time when Barcelona are looking watered down is understandably immense. A poll of Barcelona fans by Marca had Sampaoli at the top of the list among candidates to manage the club next season. 

The tattooed and infectiously energetic Argentinian may be the front-runner, but he'd also represent something of a gamble. Unlike other potential candidates such as Everton's Ronald Koeman, Real Sociedad's Eusebio Sacristan and Athletic Club Bilbao's Ernesto Valverde, Sampaoli has no prior connection with Barca and its identity. 

The 4-3-3 that is the staple at the Camp Nou is not the Sampaoli way. With Chile, 3-4-3 was his preferred system, and with Sevilla we've seen everything from 4-2-3-1 to 2-1-5-2. Of course, formations are flexible and are influenced by what a manager has to work with, but, when it comes to Barca, practicing the club's distinct verses matters. 

The Catalans might well prefer the idea of "one of their own" at a time Barcelona feels considerably less like Barcelona. The idea of a leader who's precise and exacting in his methodology might appeal, too.

It's easy to imagine Sampaoli being content with winning 10-8. In this season's opener against Espanyol, that could have been the scoreline (it was 6-4) as Sevilla engaged their opponents in the footballing equivalent of beer pong—if they had to swallow a few blows on the way, it didn't matter; as long as the other lot ended up looking worse.  

Countering those instincts, though, is Juanma Lillo. A mentor to Guardiola, Lillo is Sampaoli's assistant at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan and balances the manager's fury with something more measured. His influence seems to have grown as the season has progressed, Sevilla steadily becoming more structured and less kamikaze. 

Having Lillo in his corner and in his ear will matter for Sampaoli's prospects of finding his way to Catalonia. But even more so will be the raw evidence: A comparatively under-resourced Sevilla competing for the title with the some of the Contintent's behemoths; a Sevilla who've beaten Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid; a Sevilla who looked more like Barcelona than Barcelona when going head-to-head with them; a Sevilla who dazzle and inspire, who've bought into an idea and a message transmitted from the man in charge. 

Sampaoli has given Sevilla a new religion. He could be the man to give Barcelona their own one back.