With or Without Title, Changes Afoot at Barcelona

After all of the commotion surrounding the releasing of World Cup squads from around the globe, it could have been easy to overlook that there are still domestic trophies to be won, including a title decider in Spain coming down to the final game of the season.

For FC Barcelona, the task is simple: win against Valladolid at the Camp Nou on Sunday, and the La Liga crown remains in Catalonia, regardless of what happens between Real Madrid and Malaga.

Should Barcelona fail to win the game Sunday without the injured Andres Iniesta, and the suspended Xavi Hernandez, they will have followed up their six-trophy haul from a year ago with nothing whilst handing the title to their archrivals.

Although winning the club’s 20th league championship will bring great joy to the Camp Nou, it will not hide the fact that many changes may occur at the club during the offseason, the least of which is the possible departure of manager Pep Guardiola, who will wait to see the results of the upcoming club Presidential Elections before deciding whether to continue.

In addition to the doubt surrounding Guardiola, there are many areas on the pitch where the club will need to strengthen, especially considering the imminent exits of some of the clubs stars.

In the attack, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has had an indifferent couple of months after starting so strongly in Spain. The giant Swede has battled injuries, but when healthy has been guilty of a surplus easy misses with the goal at his mercy.

After two anonymous performances against his former club Inter, Guardiola Ibra benched in two of the past three matches in favor of tiny strikers, Lionel Messi, Bojan Krkic, and Pedro Rodriguez, all products of Barcelona’s La Masia youth academy.

In last week’s nervous victory over Sevilla in Andalusia, all three were on target and it seems likely that Guardiola will repeat the same attacking trident this weekend.

Having lost his spot at the most pivotal point in the season, it will come at no surprise if Zlatan packs his bags, with a return to Italy possibly in the cards.

The forgotten man in Barcelona’s attack this season has been Thierry Henry, who has looked like a retried player at his testimonial at times, who will be moving on after the World Cup with the MLS as his most likely destination.

To replace two world stars, Barcelona have been linked with David Villa of Valencia, after failing to bring the Spain hitman in last summer. Villa’s arrival would certainly be the end of Ibrahimovic, as it seems nearly impossible that the two could function with Lionel Messi in the same attack.

Luis Suarez of Ajax has been another striker linked to Barca, but a successful World Cup could inflate the Dutch League’s top scorer already hefty price tag.

In midfield, Yaya Toure is said to be “90 percent chance of leaving the summer” according to his agent after being bizarrely benched in favor of Sergio Busquets in many important games this season.

Argentina captain Javier Mascherano has been linked to Barcelona all of last season, but the Liverpool hardman is unlikely to come to Spain if he feels that favoritism will continue to be shown towards Busquets.

Andres Iniesta has been very susceptible to injuries the last few seasons, and Barca will want to add a more midfield cover should the Spain international struggle physically again next season.

Defensively, Rafael Marquez seems set to be offloaded, while a leftback could be brought in to shore up a position, neither Maxwell nor Eric Abidal have been able to claim as their own this season.

Despite all the off season happenings on the way, Barcelona must first win Sunday where most of the creative pressure will fall on Messi with both Iniesta and Xavi out.

Win or lose, the game will assure in plenty of new faces, while many familiar ones will be on the way out.