Barcelona sinks faster than the Titanic or Kodak

To win, when you feel you have already won: is it easy or is it unmeasurable pressure? As we have seen in the past weeks, for FC Barcelona, it's definitely the second.

FC Barcelona have gone from riches to rags in just four weeks

One of the best coaching books I have read is Brad Gilbert's Winning Ugly. In one of its chapters, Gilbert claims that throughtout all his tennis experience as teenager, pro and coach, he discovered that there is an emotional behavior called the "Achievement Effect", which makes tennis players lose more matches than you can imagine.

Gilbert explains that in tennis, the achievement effect happens when you're halfway through a tennis match with a winning score and you have gained a sufficient advantage, that makes you feel like you have already won the match. Like for instance, in a best of three, say you are up a set and an early break in the second set, like 6-2 / 2-0. Gilbert claims that the player who at this point in the match is the one losing, still has a very good chance of turning things around, making a comeback and win the match. He gives two reasons for this:

1. The hurt bear: which means at this point the losing player will change his strategy and begin playing more aggressively.
2. The achievement effect: which is the one I will talk about in today's post.

One month ago, FC Barcelona had a 9 and 12 point advantage over their closest followers, Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid in Spain's La Liga. They were also #1 favorites to win this year's UEFA Champions League, having trounced Arsenal in the round of 16. Today, Barcelona and Atletico are tied at first place, with Real Madrid just one point behind. And, they were eliminated from Champions League by Atletico after being defeated 2-0 last wednesday.

Barcelona hasn't celebrated in quite some time...

Most football pundits would say: "there's no way that happened." Well, it did.

After achieving a streak of 32 consecutive wins through the season, Barcelona somehow lost their compass (and their ability to score at will) and in just four weeks, they tied Villareal 2-2, then lost to Real Madrid 1-2 as hosts, then lost to Real Sociedad 0-1, then lost to Atletico Madrid in the Champions' Quarterfinal match 2-0, then today, they lost to Valencia 1-2, also at home.

So how did this happen? I believe Gilbert's theory claimed another victim.

I believe that at some point between the start and the finish line of a race, when you find yourself as the leader, your mind and your body become relaxed and both of them feel like they have conquered the objective of becoming "number 1". It is at this point when the mind apparently forgets that becoming #1 is not the same as finishing as number 1, and eventually lets your body's guard down a little bit. As your body relaxes, you lose rythm, tempo, motivation, strength, will, and several other positive factors that are in charge of taking you to the finish line in first place. The pack behind you -who aren't on first place- haven't lost any of these factors, and eventually catch up with you and pass you. At this point you freak out because you can't turn your body on back again, because mentally you had already "cashed out" of the game. Next thing you know, you lose.

This is why people can say whatever they want about LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and more recently Steph Curry. To me, the list of 100 greatest NBA players of all time consists of Michael Jordan at #1, followed by 99 other guys.

Jordan dunked on Magic... and never looked back

After struggling during his first years, finding his place as a team player and not a solo-act player in the Chicago Bulls, then battling (and losing against) the Detroit Pistons for three straight years, Jordan got to the finals in 1991 and won his first title against the Los Angeles Lakers. After winning his first title, Michael never looked back, meaning he never knew what it meant to be on the losing side ever again. He never lost at anything again. He never lost at all, again. Once MJ got used to winning, his mind never relaxed or let himself down.

As most of you may know, Michael won the 92, 93, 96, 97 and 98 finals. Six finals, six wins. Oh and yes, he was also named MVP of all six finals. No other player in the NBA has achieved this. No one.

Here's another interesting stat: Michael Jordan never lost a series when having home court advantage. And, to be more exquisite, he never let a best of seven finals reach game seven. How can one interpret these two stats?

Michael Jordan never lost when he was expected to win.

Six finals, Six Championships, Six MVP titles.

Barcelona's downfall experienced in the past weeks raises several questions regarding what caused the team to lose when expected to win. After all, they had a nine (potentially twelve) point advantage over second place in their domestic league and were overwhelming favorites in European Champions League.

Many fans believe the team was tired given the grueling schedule of domestic, european, cup and international matches. I disgree with this affirmation. In 1991, when Jordan and his Bulls won his first NBA title, the team played 82 regular games, plus at least 18 more play-offs and finals games -a total of 100 games-. The following season, they had to go through the same schedule. And again the season after that to conquer their first three-peat. And again from 1995-96, through 96-97 and 97-98, including a season in which they set a record of 72-10. So were the Bulls not as tired as Barcelona? I really don't think so.

Atletico Madrid won fare and square against a totally unkown Barcelona team

Others point to hail the performance of their rivals. I'll give you that Villareal, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Real Sociedad and Valencia played well against Barcelona. They really did, but they didn't really blow them away off the field. It was a combination of their rivals playing well and Barcelona not. Every time Roger Federer plays (and loses) to Rafael Nadal, Roger plays to the best of his abilities, but he simply can't beat an opponent who plays better than him. It's as simple as that. It's not like Roger doesn't play well enough, it's just that Nadal is too good for him.

Others bring up the debate of either poor defense vs poor offense. In those most recent four matches, Barcelona has allowed nine goals and have only scored four (two of them against Villareal). Whichever way you put this, it only spells blood-loss, as Barcelona has been riding the wave of having three of the best forwards in the world, Messi, Suarez and Neymar.

To me, the main reason behind Barcelona's disaster is none other than the "Achievement effect". By two thirds of the season, the team "felt" they had won their domestic league. By the time they had reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League, the team "felt" they had already won the trophy.

Which brings me to Jordan and his Bulls... and another key figure that must be mentioned: Phil Jackson.

Arguably, the two main forces driving behind the Bulls' Six Championships

Like I have stated before, once you achieve the feat of winning, it's really hard to keep up with that mindset since there is nothing that goes on top of winning. I mean once you get to that champion or #1 rank, the only thing left to do, is to /defend keep the trophy or rank. Phil Jackson understood this more than anybody (well, maybe second after Jordan) and as a coach of the Chicago Bulls he endured a day-and-night marathon of being the chief strategist and leader of a group of players who were used to win.

Simply put, Phil Jackson's job was to prevent the Chicago Bulls to lose their status of champions, contrary to what happened with major corporations like Kodak and Blockbuster early in the 21st Century. And that is what a great leader does.

In Barcelona neither Luis Enrique nor Barca's Jordan's equivalent, Lionel Messi were able to brush off the "Achievement Effect" from last season, and the results of the last four weeks prove it.

When you find yourself running a business and you're CEO or President of your company, whether if you are on the rise to become best at your market segment, or if you already are on top, you must always strive to keep that hunger for winning. And you must make sure that your leaders and the rest of your key players are also hungry for winning.

Even if you have already won.

H