Should Spain evolve with Barcelona blueprint once again?

The end of ‘tiki taka’ as we knew it. Teams had found a way to not only play against them, but to win. Spain were eliminated in Brazil at the group stage and went home wounded, frustrated, and maybe, just maybe resolutely determined to put things right as soon as possible.

A year earlier, Barca were dumped out of the Champions League at the semi-final stage, losing 7-0 on aggregate to a Bayern Munich side that combined aesthetics with pace and power to emerge dominant, sweeping the Catalan club aside with ease.

It was Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid that proved their nemesis a season later. Ending their La Liga dominance, Atleti also knocked them out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage, with smart, effective, counter-attacking football.

As a result, Barcelona brought in former fans favourite Luis Enrique in the summer with transition top of the agenda.

In came a different type of player; Croatian midfielder Ivan Rakitic, a more direct, though nevertheless creative option switched from Sevilla and rightly so after 18 assists for the Bathtubs that season.

Rugged, yet experienced centre back Jeremy Mathieu proved to be a canny acquisition, offering a physical presence in defence. Young, promising German goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen was brought in from the Bundesliga, but is behind Chile custodian Claudio Bravo, who excelled at the World Cup, for La Liga matches.

Seasoned campaigner Thomas Vermaelen moved from Arsenal with injuries robbing him of making much impact in his maiden campaign. Perhaps the ace in the pack was Luis Suarez who, without a shadow of a doubt, has raised the standard in quality and arguably made Barca’s attacking front three the best in the world.

Although suspended for the start of the season following a bite on Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup, he has gone on to score 21 goals in all competitions, contributing 19 assists. However, there is no doubt Barcelona’s style has become more direct under Enrique, with the team encouraged to play the percentages instead of just ‘one more pass’. They are decisively more ruthless.

This is what Spain need to do if they are going to, once again challenge. Barca look like they are going to win La Liga, as well as the Champions League, which they are 7/4 to win. A simple tweak is all it takes.