Ok, but there is a one difference.
In 2003, we had HIT THE BOTTOM. And the board (Laporta), a coach (Rijkaard) and fans were ready for a new era/new cycle, even if that means selling virtually 50% of the first team players.
So, let's see what Rijkaard has done. This was our team when he came:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003–04_FC_Barcelona_season
-- in 2003 summer, when he came, he bought 3 younger players for the new cycle:
-- 23 yrs old Aml-Fc Ronaldinho, 24 yrs old Dc-Dmc Marquez, new hyped the next world's superstar Mr Quaresma, and he loaned Gio VBronckhorst to see how will he fit into our team
-- and the first part of the Season wasn't good
-- we had too many "dead" players from the old cycle and the team just wasn't working well
-- we were in the middle of the table around New Year, and played like a crap
BUT! Rijkaard had the balls to change things in that moment.
He started to bench older superstars like Kluivert, Lucho Enrique, Overmars and similar players.
Plus, he loaned Edgar Davids on a 6-Months deal in January.
Suddenly, with some of the older superstars on the bench, with Edgar Davids on Dmc and with some new younger players in the team, our team had something like 13-14 victories in a row in a 2nd part of the Season.
We almost won a title in the end, even though we were 20 points behind the leaders around Christmas.
Further, at the end of the Season, Rijkaard decided that he no longer needs players of the older generation, and in a Summer of 2004 he kicked all these superstarts from our team:
-- Lucho Enrique (lol), Gk Rustu Recber, Dr Reiziger, Fc Saviola, Mc Cocu, Fc Kluivert, Amr Overmars, Mc Luis Garcia
-- plus, he kicked the hyped superstar Quaresma out of the team
-- so, that was 9 players kicked out of the team, and Rijkaard started a new generation of players
-- so, in summer 2003 he bought Ronaldinho, Marquez and Van Bronckhorst
-- and in summer 2004 he bought new guys: Fc Eto'o, Mc Deco, Amr Guily, Dmc Edmilson, DR Belletti, Dl Sylvinho, Fc Larsson
-- plus, he gave more chances to young La Masia players as Victor Valdes, Oleguer, Iniesta, Motta and Messi
So, when we look at the winning team from 2006 (Best 11, who won CL), our best team was:
-- Gk Valdes (Rijkaard promoted him in 2003)
-- Dl Bronckhorst (Rijkaard bought him in 2003)
-- Dc Puyol
-- Dc Marquez (Rijkaard bought him in 2003)
-- Dr Belletti (Rijkaard bought him in 2004)
-- Dmc Edmilson (Rijkaard bought him in 2004)
-- Mc Xavi
-- Mc Deco (Rijkaard bought him in 2004)
-- Fcl Ronaldinho (Rijkaard bought him in 2003)
-- Fc Eto' (Rijkaard bought him in 2004)
-- Fcr Guily (Rijkaard bought him in 2004)
-- reserves:
-- Dl Sylvinho (Rijkaard bought him in 2004)
-- Dc Oleguer (Rijkaard promoted him in 2004)
-- Dmc Motta (Rijkaard gave him a chance)
-- Mc Iniesta (Rijkaard gave him more chances)
-- Fcr Messi (Rijkaard promoted him)
-- Mc Van Bommel (Rijkaard bought him in 2005)
-- Fc Larsson (Rijkaard bought him in 2004)
-- so, basically Rijkaard brought 11 key new players (Bronckhorst, Belletti, Sylvinho, Marquez, Edmilson, Van Bommel, Deco, Ronaldinho, Eto', Guily, Larsson) and promoted 5 La Masia products (Oleguer, Motta, Valdes, Iniesta, Messi)
-- he only kept 2 (!!) players from a previous cycle, and those were 2 homegrown players, Puyol and Xavi
So, again, from 1999-2003 era, Rijkaard kicked THE WHOLE TEAM, and kept only 2 homegrown players Xavi and Puyol, and has built a completely new and motivated team.
He won La Liga in his 2nd and the 3rd Season (2005 and 2006), and won Champions league in 2006.
But then, as always, the same curse strucked his team.
Players who were once motivated and who jumped into a shoes of the old guard players, suddenly started to play exactly like the players from 1999-2003 era.
Ronaldinho, Deco and co started to be lazy, they started to party too much etc.
Again, then Pep came, and kicked ALL the players from this generation in order to build a new team.
My point is: NO. Lucho doesn't have any similarities with Rijkaard or Pep.
Our team, coach and the board still haven't figured out that this team is mostly dead and finished.
And this is not a season of transition, lol. We are dead, and we are weaker and weaker each Month. And we will continue to fall further and further until someone will kick out at least 50% of the current team out.
Seriously, do you think that Lucho or the current board have the balls to say goodbye to: Pique, Pedro, Xavi, Iniesta, Alves, Montoya and lots of other players?
No.
Do you know why?
Because they will reply: "But those players are not finished, they can still play very well"
Look, Ronaldinho, Deco, Motta, Edmilson, Belletti, and lots of other players could have still played good. But they were all kicked out because they were past their prime.
And a team full of players who are past their prime is NOT good enough to win CL.
Anyway, I just don't see how Lucho will repeat Rijkaard's or Pep's success with the current set of unmotivated and mostly past-their-prime players.
Both Rijkaard and Pep would kick out half of these players, and they would either promote youngsters, or like Rijkaard, they would buy 16 new players in 2 Seasons.
We still haven't hit the bottom and we won't start a transition and a new cycle until we will say goodbye to at least 50% of the current gold generation.
So, please don't compare Lucho and this board with Laporta, Rijkaard and Pep.
