Barcelona's Treble, provided they fix their defence
Back Barca to win the lot, provided they fix defence
Put the house on a Barcelona Treble.
Put the apartment, the family heirlooms and the neighbour's yapping dog on the Catalans scooping up three trophies in the next four games like an over-eager vacuum cleaner.
Win three out of the final four fixtures and the Nou Camp will go to work on a trophy room extension to accommodate the latest pots from La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League.
And it will happen.
As night follows day, as Luis Suarez follows Lionel Messi, as Neymar follows Luis Suarez, the unstoppable Barca bandwagon is on its way to nirvana.
It smells like team spirit. It smells like a Treble.
But there is one caveat, just the one, but it's enough to concern a level-headed coach of Luis Enrique' stature.
There are screws loose in the defence. They must be tightened. History is there for the taking. But Barca's destiny lies in their backline.
To nitpick seems ungrateful. To witness such rare greatness and focus on a solitary weakness appears petty and shortsighted.
In the first half of the procession against Bayern Munich yesterday morning (Singapore time) Messi, Neymar and Suarez again combined to provoke pointless discussion about their place in the pantheon.
Puskas, di Stefano and Gento; Best, Charlton and Law; who comes out on top? Who crests the summit? Who stands alone? Who cares?
While the pedantic waste oxygen on comparing apples and oranges, the rest of us luxuriate in the privilege of witnessing balletic perfection.
Neymar, Suarez and Messi are the best of their generation. That's enough.
They killed off Bayern with playground football; knocking the ball around among their kakis, chipping, sliding and volleying for fun, wrapping up proceedings before skipping back to class.
Don't worry about comparisons to the past. Stay in the present. Enjoy the moment. Be grateful that they will line up in the Champions League Final.
Their grace and guile took out Bayern in the first half. They could take out the Treble by themselves.
They might have to.
Strip away their creative brio and ponder what lies beneath. Even if Enrique accepts that the second leg was essentially an exercise in futility, the Achilles' heel revealed itself.
It was barely perceptible, hidden behind a silver screen of Hollywood football.
But if the Barcelona swagger came from the Catalans, Bayern's goals had their origins in Greek mythology.
Achilles boasted powers of invulnerability but for that pesky heel. After winning one heroic battle after another, he was taken out by a single poisonous arrow.
From the Copa del Rey to the Champions League final, opponents will line up their archers.
The target presented itself at the Allianz Arena. The arrow men of Munich found it three times with alarming ease.
Barca's defenders are not immune to acrophobia. High balls hurt.
Medhi Benatia's opening goal defied belief. He rose from 12 metres, unmarked, to nod a header inside the far post.
His goal belonged in a dusty coaching manual under the "don'ts" category. Do not allow a routine outswinger to reach the first man. Do not leave him alone in the box. Do not leave the post exposed at a corner.
Set-pieces and simple through-balls occasionally left Barca's back four dancing on a carpet of marbles.
Gerard Pique was particularly culpable, often losing aerial battles to the brilliant Robert Lewandowski.
The Polish striker terrorised Pique, won his share of first balls and tiptoed around Javier Mascherano for an outstanding goal. He also laid down a template for Barcelona's final opponents.
High balls and threaded passes leave their back-four hot and bothered.
Only an outstanding double save from Marc-Andre ter Stegen denied Lewandowski, after Thiago Alcantara played a knife to Barcelona's tub of margarine.
Thomas Mueller dumped Jordi Alba on his backside in the second half and later benefited from Pique going AWOL again to slot home a fine goal.
Bayern scored three, but could have conceivably doubled their total.
Of course, Barca's front three might have said the same, but Enrique will prioritise his back four. A less charismatic coach than Guardiola, he is proving to be a more pragmatic one.
The justified hoopla over the front three may dupe the masses, but not the coach. Barcelona are blessed with three kings worthy of wearing all three crowns.
But there are just enough flaws in the back four to leave them looking like court jesters.
And there will be no defence for that.
I have suffered, I have suffered in each and every round.
— Barcelona coach Luis Enrique on watching his team during the Champions League
ENRIQUE: LET'S FINISH THE JOB
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique is determined to "seal the deal" and guide Barcelona to their fourth Champions League trophy in 10 years.
The Catalan club reached next month's final in Berlin, their first appearance in the summer showpiece since 2011, by surviving a second-leg fightback from Bayern Munich to claim a 5-3 aggregate victory in the semi-finals yesterday morning (Singapore time).
Pep Guardiola's German side won 3-2 on the night thanks to goals from Mehdi Benatia, Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Mueller, with Neymar's first-half brace ensuring Barca's three unanswered goals from the first leg were not cancelled out at the Allianz Arena.
The La Liga leaders, who are also preparing to contest the Copa del Rey final, will now face either domestic rivals Real Madrid or Juventus of Italy, who played in the second semi-final this morning -in the final on June 6.
Enrique (above) said after the match: "Mission accomplished. Our next objective is to be European champions.
"This result does not bother me because the Bavarians have a strong team. We're very happy, but now we need to win the final.
"Which team do I want to face in the final? Whichever one deserves it.
"This is a good moment for us but we still have to seal the deal."
When asked if he felt confident about his club's chances of completing a rare Treble, the former Barca midfielder added: "We're one win away from winning each of the three competitions.
"That is our mission."
Enrique's one-time teammate at the Nou Camp, Guardiola, who guided Barca to two of their recent Champions League trophy wins, admitted all hope his new team had of progressing was lost once a Lionel Messi-inspired side plundered their emphatic 3-0 victory in last week's first leg.
"We played a good game and we can walk out of the stadium with our heads held high," he said.
"We are sad, of course, after all we wanted to reach the final in Berlin. We lost this semi-final back in Barcelona." - PA Sport.
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