Madrid (AFP)
Time to get up.
Traumatized by the humiliation against Bayern Munich (8-2) in August and upset on all levels, FC Barcelona begins in La Liga Sunday (19:00 GMT) against Villarreal its vast reconstruction project, under the orders of the new coach Ronald Koeman .
It's time to go back to school for the Catalans who, like five other teams in the Spanish league, have benefited from lengthy preparation for finishing the previous season late.
They will have to make a clean sweep for the third day.
Erase the catastrophic 2019-2020 season, the first without any title since 2008;
erase the pandemic, which has put the club's finances to the test and which still threatens La Liga;
erase the abortive departure wish of its captain Lionel Messi;
erase the two changes of coach experienced and the slew of locker room managers who have left;
and erase the criticism of the current leadership, which is targeted by a motion of no confidence.
After the slap received against Bayern in the quarter-final of the Champions League in Lisbon on August 14, President Josep Maria Bartomeu had promised "profound changes".
And they have arrived.
Quique Setién has been replaced by former member of Barça's "Dream Team" under Johan Cruyff (1988-1996), Dutchman Ronald Koeman.
And several big salaries of the workforce were ousted during the summer: Arthur, Rakitic, Semedo, Vidal and Suarez.
- Messi, savior without envy?
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What can we expect from this 2020-2021 season in Barcelona?
The big question is what will be the motivation of world superstar Lionel Messi.
After wanting to unilaterally terminate his contract at the end of August, the Argentine was forced to stay by the management, but will be able to leave free at the end of his contract, on June 30, 2021.
He will even be able to begin officially negotiating with teams from January.
La Pulga (chip, in Spanish), who has often turned into the savior of a barça in distress last season, will he still have the shoulders, soon to be 34, to carry the Catalan institution on his own ?
And above all, will he have the motivation, now abandoned by his friends Arturo Vidal and Luis Suarez?
Koeman and Messi, who started their relationship badly, called for appeasement last week.
Messi assured that he will invest with the same commitment as before.
But the new technician is determined to share the responsibilities.
- Griezmann and Dembélé, second chance -
After a gray first season but punctuated by brilliance in Catalonia, with 15 goals in 48 matches in all competitions, the French international Antoine Griezmann (29) could earn stripes on the front of the Blaugrana attack thanks to the departure from Suarez to Atlético Madrid.
Ditto for his compatriot Ousmane Dembélé (23), long injured in the legs last season, who could finally shine this season for his fourth season at Barça.
"The rookie of the offseason", as the Catalan sports press described it.
Always looking for a center forward to compensate for the departure of Suarez, despite the presence of the Danish Martin Braithwaite (currently affected in the left quadriceps), Barça is trying to attract Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan) or Memphis Depay (Lyon). .. But Koeman will have to start his season counting on his strengths.
With the return of Dembélé, the technician can also count on that of the Brazilian attacking midfielder Philippe Coutinho, (loaned to Bayern Munich last season), on the Bosnian international Miralem Pjanic, who arrived from Juventus from Turin in exchange for Arthur, and on the integration into the first team of the prodigy Ansu Fati (17 years old).
Barça had a month to recover from the slap in Lisbon, and three preparation matches (all won) to refine the 4-2-3-1 advocated by Koeman, put to the test on Sunday in a Camp Nou in behind closed doors by the ambitious Villarreal of Unai Emery, the former coach of Paris SG and Arsenal.
With a transfer window to finish, a motion of censure in progress against the management, a budget in deficit to be completed in October and elections for the club's presidency to come in mid-March, will the 2020-2021 season be the last? of the Messi era?
or the first of the FC Barcelona revival?
© 2020 AFP