Barcelona's face lift

When the potential for creating new tactics would appear to have been exhausted following the success of Pep Guardiola's era, Tito Vilanova has been able to revamp Barcelona's game, and still break records, through some important fine-tuning of the basic model.

There are no titles at the moment – the only one up for grabs, the Spanish Super Cup, escaped Barça's grasp – but progress in la Liga (11 points clear of the second placed team), in the Champions League (qualifying brilliantly) and in the Copa del Rey (qualifying for the quarter finals) have been exemplary.

It is all a question of style, of a desire to win, of voracity and of not believing itself to be unbeatable. "We'll lose one day, you have to accept that reality", is the message repeated by the coaching team, although, since the season began, Barça has only lost two of its 37 games played. With a total of 31 wins between la Liga, Copa del Rey, Champions League and friendlies, four draws and two defeats (Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup and Celtic in Europe).

The paradigm of Barça's new version is Cesc Fàbregas. Why, if Cesc plays, can Iniesta not play? Tito has opted for both and the results speak for themselves.