What do theses twin defeats mean to Spanish national side?

In the aftermath of Bayern Munich’s 4-0 humbling of Barcelona in the Champions League, I was left with a nagging question – what does Tuesday’s result mean for Spain’s national team?

It’s no secret that La Roja’s success on the international stage over the last five years is largely attributed to Barcelona’s domination of club football (European and world) during the same period.
Since their 2006 Champions League Final victory over Arsenal, Barcelona have amassed a whopping 16 trophies in all competitions, including a further two Champions League titles and four La Liga crowns.
In that time Spain have won and successfully defended their European crown and became World Cup champions in our own back yard in 2010. The victorious Euro 2008 side was managed by Luis Aragones. It had only three Barcelona players in it – Carles Puyol, Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez – four if you count La Masia bred Cesc Fabregas, but it’s noteworthy to add that Xavi was voted Player of that Tournament.
But since Vincente del Bosque has taken over it’s been a Barcelona-themed affair; the Iberians becoming the international equivalent of the Blaugrana – without Lionel Messi of course.
At the last Euro (2012), Del Bosque even deployed Fabregas as a “false number nine”, assuming the role Messi plays at club level.
David Villa, Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, Pedro Rodriguez, Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas and the aging Puyol have all been at the core of Spain’s success. The high intensity and pressing Barcelonesque style has served the world champions well, famously recording a 24-game winning streak – stretching back to 2007 – in qualifiers (World Cup and Euro) that ended with a 1-1 draw against France last October.
Bayern’s dismantling of Barcelona exposed more a failure to adapt when the situation called for it than the need for a wholesale change in the Catalans’ philosophy.
Insisting on a half-fit Messi, despite his lack of penetration and not bringing on an Alex Song to shore up a midfield that was clearly over-run are just some of talking points that attributed to Barca’s defeat.
It’s this lack of a ‘Plan B’ that will be a worry for Spain supporters. During their Euro defence, as fore mentioned, Del Bosque on three occasions chose to start without a recognised striker – despite having the two Fernando’s, Torres and Llorente, and Alvaro Negredo in the squad.
Though they did go on to emphatically beat Italy 4-0 in the Final, Spain’s displays throughout the tournament weren't always the convincing spectacles we’ve come to expect from the world champions.
It was in their recent World Cup qualifier against Finland on March 22 that some alarm bells would have gone off. Despite going ahead in the 28th minute, the home team failed to finish off the 87th ranked team.
For all their intricate passing, possession playing and ‘Fabregas false-nining’, Spain were unable to add to their goal as Finland kept them at bay and scored a 78th-minute goal of their own to claim a famous away draw.
Looking forward to next year’s World Cup, Joachim Löew’s young guns will be the team everyone watches. Germany is reaping the rewards of overhauling its youth development structure in the early 2000s – which included the mandatory prerequisite that all Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 clubs must have a youth academy.
Made up mostly of Munich and Dortmund players, Die Mannschaft will look to make good on their obvious potential.
That said, the propensity of Löew’s teams to crack under pressure is well documented: they narrowly lost the 2008 Euro Final and the 2010 WC Semi-final to the Spaniards, not forgetting the Euro 2012 semi-final exit to Italy when they were expected to progress.
Even at club level the impressive Bayern have reached two of the last three Champions League finals but failed to convert their opportunities into silverware.
The question remains, have the Germans grown and matured from these disappointments or will they flatter to deceive on the big stage once again?
This in large part is still up to the Spaniards, who will look to use the upcoming Confederations Cup as a platform to defend their World Cup title and achieve an unprecedented four-title grand slam.
But with just over 13 months to go before Brazil 2014, Del Bosque will need to come up with a suitable Plan B to avoid a potential Barcelona-style implosion.