The Champions League hammering could be a blessing in disguise for Barcelona

Let’s be clear from the start.

Absolutely no one wants to see their team lose to a cricket score, much less one of the most historic clubs in the world and one with a rich and proud history.

The 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich is devastating for anyone with a vested interest in FC Barcelona and for a variety of reasons.

However, it’s also probably the best thing that could have happened to the club, and the only real shame is that it didn’t come a year or two earlier.

Because?

Barca have long ceased to be a real force in Europe for a starting point. Yes, we came close, but the pattern of defeats against Juventus, Rome and Liverpool since the last time we had the Champions League trophy in our hands suggested, even then, that a rigorous staff review was needed.

Domestic bliss has cast the wool over many eyes, but winning La Liga or Copa del Rey should be the bare minimum expected of a team of Blaugranes stature.

The barometer of where we are as a club should be measured in Europe’s top competition. A competition that our fiercest national rivals have won eight times more than us.

Let’s talk about the concept of players choosing teams for now, because I don’t think that’s ever the case. However, trying to keep senior staff ahead can have an element of truth.

Why else would the club persist with Luis Suarez on a weekly basis? The Uruguayan has been excellent in some games, pants in others.

When a strong hand has been requested from the bench, it generally hasn’t come, and it’s not just Suarez, the same could apply to any number of players.

Beyond that, the board has the power to determine when certain players have passed the expiration date but, in essence, have kept the faith.

Photo by Noelia Deniz / Urbanandsport / NurPhoto via Getty Images

The problem comes absolutely from above and emanates downwards, and I wonder why blinders have been kept over the past 18-24 months, when anyone with half a brain could see what would happen if the status quo remained the same.

Burying your head in the sand is never the best course of action, and neither is throwing good money after bad in an attempt to disguise previous failures.

The 8-2 defeat lays bare the flaws the world can see and means there is nowhere to hide or no one to hide behind.

I don’t expect Josep Maria Bartomeu to step down, but with the focus on him and his advice now, the next moves he makes could make or break the current team as we know it.

At least something will finally be done and we can only hope it is for the betterment of the club we all care about.