It's mighty obvious that Barcelona is not fit of the title "best in the world" anymore... The big teams in Europe seemed to have to have Tiki-Taka all figured out: Patiently defend (aka "parking the bus"),  wait for a chance and deliver a swift, lightning fast and fatal counters. I won't get into details about Tiki-taka because tdot2barca seems to have already made a thread about it. All I can say is that Barcelona need to modify Tiki-taka somehow if they ever want to win a champions league again. Now back to my point, with Barcelona out of the picture, Who is deserves the title of "best in the world"? In my opinion, it should be either Bayern Munich or Manchester United. What do you think?

If Barca don't win the CL this year, I think their reign is over.

it could be the start of the bayern munich or dortmund era

Bayern have the best shot at it. Man United are much too shaky at the back, sometimes even with Vidic and Ferdinand. Bayern on the other hand, have conceded only 7 goals in the Bundesliga so far, and like United and Barca, have a HUGE lead over the second place teams. But first we have to see how Man United fare against their second match against Real, since there's a huge difference in beating the current Arsenal squad and beating Real Madrid.

I think this is premature judging. I rather leave this till the end of this season to see what happens. That they lose one game doesn't mean they aren't the best. Yes european teams found out that parking the bus works against Barca which is awful because of how terrible it is. 

@TheTruth

Don't lose hope man. This is a team that has the likes of Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, and Xavi Hernandez with them. They still have a big game up ahead to win, and playing in the Camp Nou will only give them more confidence to win. Although I have to say it was surprising to see them lose to this AC Milan squad and not the one last year (when they still had Ibrahimovic, Alex Pato, Robinho, and Thiago Silva). O.o

i agree with 
Dynastian98, when we lost the title last season, everyone was saying chelsea and city will dominate but now we are 12 points ahead

One shock result and people are crying. Stop acting like little boys and believe in your club. ATM Barca is still the best. People lose matches it happens.

@United_Hates_Blues Of course I will always support my club no matter
what but it's not just "one" shock result. Both games against Celtic
were the same as well. It happened last year with Chelsea in both games,
and Real Madrid seem to be playing above our level in the clasicos, and now we lose against a Milan who is not even in the top 5 in the Serie A and without Zlatan, Pato, Thiago Silva like Dynastian98 says and Balotelli didn't even NEED to play. What
does that tell you?

I think you guys are underestimating Barca.. Do you guys know how hard it is to do what Chelsea, Inter and Milan did? It takes the strongest of mentalities and some EXTREME conditioning to do it. Just because underdogs have beaten them a few times it doesn't mean the power has shifted. We still boast the one of the strongest defense in the world. Along with the strongest unmatched midfield and attacker in the world. What you guys don't realize is that ALL teams attempt "parking the bus" while playing against Barca and mostly all teams fail. & the fair thing to say is teams have no chance of beating Barcelona unless they play heavy defense with heavy counter-attacking.

@tdot

Barca boast one of the best defences in the world? Really? This season in La Liga, Barca have conceded 27 goals in 24 matches (1.13 per game). That's the same amount of goals conceded as 16th place Osasuna. They've also only kept 5 clean sheets. 5 in 24 games.

On the other hand, Atletico have conceded 23 (0.96), Real Madrid 22 (0.92), and Malaga 21 (0.88), all in 24 games. And in contrast, Real have kept 10 clean sheets in La Liga, double the amount of Barcelona.

Chelsea (1.07)
Man City (0.86)
and Arsenal (1.12) in the EPL,

Juventus (0.68)
Napoli (0.84)
and Torino (1.12) in the Serie A

Bayern (0.32)
and Freiburg (1.00) in the Bundesliga,

PSG (0.64)
Lyon (0.96)
Saint-Etienne (0.76)
Nice (1.12)
Lille (1.00)
and Bordeaux (0.8) in Ligue 1.

These teams ALL have a better goals conceded per game ratio than Barcelona, and they all belong to the top 5 leagues in Europe, and even the world. Barcelona are even outclassed in defense by 3 teams from their own league. I can't see how Barca's defense is possibly "one of the best" in the world.

This season has been bad when it comes to conceding but individually our defenders are among the best in the world. Not so much Puyol anymore (he's still amazing) but Pique is, including Alves and Alba. 

Alba? Alba is an attacking wing-back, and doesn't even defend much. Same for Alves. Alves may be better than Alba, but neither of them are a true wing-back liek Phillipp Lahm.

It happens, so what if a lower placed team beat you? Just shows that they where top class that day.

And when you say "Barcelona boast one of the strongest defenses in the world", you're talking about the WHOLE defensive lineup. And a successful defensive lineup is based on goals conceded per game ratio and clean sheets kept. And Barcelona don't have the "best" defensive players individually either. Yes, Pique is amazing and world-class, but Puyol is slow and nothing like the threat he used to be. Hummels, Kompany, Pepe, Vidic, and many others can compete there. As for right back, Dani Alves' antics give a very poor impression on his play, and he focuses too much on attacking rather than defending. His defensive duties are poorly carried out. Ramos, Ivanovic, Rafael, Lahm, and many others can compete here as well. As for left back, Alba is the same as Alves. Marcelo, Cole, Evra, and Chiellini can beat Alba here as well.

I said one of the strongest, not the strongest, you're just naming all the better people. & yes sorry for giving off that impression. I think Alba does his defensive duties very well while Alves seems to be out of position sometimes. & you said Dani Alves' antics give a poor impression on his play, we aren't talking about antics it has nothing to do with skill or this conversation. I also said one of the best defensive players individually and I think Pique, Alves, and Alba are each in the top 3 best in the world for their position, however that could be argued.

Yes that CAN be argued.

With Pique there's Pepe, Hummels, Kompany, Vidic, Thiago Silva.
Top 3?
Thiago Silva, Kompany, Hummels

With Alves, there's Ramos, Ivanovic, Rafael, and Lahm
Top 3?

1. Lahm
2. Ramos
3. Ivanovic

Left back?

1. Ashley Cole
2. Marcelo
3. Patrice Evra

I just proved you wrong here yet again. You just keep on fussing about how Barca's the "best" at everything, and you can give no proofs.

"Who deserves the title of "best in the world?" hmmmm easy Chelsea FC :P haha :)) jk but no seriously they will be when all the young players we have gain more experience they will be beasting and feasting ;) Imagine the likes of Hazard, Mata, Oscar, Marin, etc in 2 years not to mention that they are already a good players :)

I don't think Hummels or Kompany are better than Pique. I don't think Ivanovic or Rafael are even NEAR the level of Alves.. please don't put them in the same sentence. & I also don't think Evra is better than Alba. & where are your proofs? Your only proofs were saying how Barcelona are not the strongest defensive side in the world when I clearly didn't say that and you misunderstood while I gave the wrong impression. Please tell me what makes you think Ivanovic or Rafael are even near the level of Alves? What are you going to say that he won the CL? Why don't do you the full comparative thing you did with Ronaldo and Messi/Bale for all of them? Then again it's just all your opinion but whenever we argue all you do is give your opinion then say you prove me wrong. Look at the World XI, you're just going to say that XI was complete BS (but it's based on skill which is what we are comparing, not what they have won)

Bayern Munich ... they have reached the final of Champions League 5 consecutive times in my Manager Mode ... XD =D ... LOL .. But seriously I think 01. Bayern Munich and 02. Barcelona 03. Real Madrid ..... at present IMO.

And as raimondo said ...this is premature judging ... Barcelona are still a team which makes the opposition fans nervous.

@tdotbarca : Barca hasn't had a clean sheet in last 12 consecutive matches. As Dynastian said .. the real threat is Pique only. Jordi Alba isn't much of a defender thing. Dani Alves has lost some shine. A year back only I feared him ... but now he looks like any other good defender.

@tdot : World XI should be based on the performance of the player in that calender year ... This is the reason I think Dani Alves and Pique didn;t deserve a spot.... and don't think this is an "Anti Barca" thing .. .because Casillas also didn't deserve IMO .. Neuer was better last year.