After years of slow decline, Barça has become the riot of all Europe. The old champion, that team that was scared when he won, suffered the worst European defeat in its history, turned into a toy in the hands of a Bayern who could have scored even more goals (2-8). Rome and Anfield were useless. In Rome there were three goals, in Anfield, four. And against Bayern, eight. And the last two, the work of Coutinho, a player owned by Barça. A bad joke. It has been useless to lose the League, play slower and slower and see how millionaire investments end up on the bench, without being able to take over from some players who have already given the best football they had. The signs of decline in recent years, instead of allowing a change of direction, became the prelude to the final defeat, in Lisbon. In a sad and empty stadium, as sad and as empty as the Barça game. A defeat that closes a cycle, that ends an era, that anticipates revolutions. No one is saved from the defeat of Lisbon, from the offices on the pitch, as in the end it was the last chapter of a season full of unforgivable mistakes. Europe’s highest budget has ended up turning into a bad taste joke.
Bayern, who reached the quarter-finals with a chest, were true to their word and did not miss the opportunity to step on a Barça that not so long ago had a style that the Bavarians themselves copied. Barça, who had a 4-0 defeat in Europe’s worst defeat, already lost 4-1 in the 30th minute of a match in which Bayern, sniffing blood, decided to use the Catalan defeat to send a message to the other rivals. They can aspire to reign in Europe. Barça, right now, can’t even put their home in order with a broken dressing room, a harassed management and a wounded social mass.
The defeat of Lisbon will end with Setión, not only because of the result but because of the way it fell. And, by the way, the rest of the mandate of a Josep Maria Bartomeu who has a few months to try to save himself from the bonfire could also be charged. Bartomeu’s only full term began managing the legacy of a treble, that of 2015, and ends with his first year on target in 12 seasons, despite spending more money than ever. The Lisbon show, of those who hurt their eyes, started in the preview, when Setión and his coaching staff took selfies on the grass, confident that they would remember that image for a lifetime. And, in part, they were right, although they probably deleted the photo to never see it again, as it will be the one of the final defeat. The coach who cited Cruyff as a reference ended up betting on a more defensive 4-4-2 – with Arturo Vidal in place of Griezmann – which never served to stop the game of Bayern.
The name of Lisbon will forever bring back more bad memories to a Barcelona player who arrived divided at the event. Some, rational, saw not a single reason to believe in their team. Others, passionate, blindly trusted that Messi would work a new miracle. But the Argentine has become a prophet without apostles, too lonely when the day of judgment comes. And yet, the start of the game was not entirely bad in a game marked by mistakes. Like that of Sergio Busquets in the middle of the field who finished with Thomas Müller’s first goal, already in the fourth minute, or that of David Alaba, who shortly after scored Barça’s own goal. Then it was a goal that allowed to dream, but the scriptwriter was so cruel that he had decided that even the goal of Barça would be made by a Bayern that little by little understood the party and humiliated the Barça, that was undone.
The Bavarians succeeded by playing together, as a collective. And Barça fell apart, becoming a group of lonely men who lost their individual duels. Sergi Roberto and Semedo were especially misguided, and turned the right wing into the base camp of a Bayern who decided the match with goals from Perisic and Gnabry before the 28th minute. Thomas Müller, that striker who looks like a comic actor , with strange movements, was responsible for marking the fourth. And then Bayern relaxed a bit until the break, forgiving a Barça that was making water from the goal. On the day that Ter Stegen had to prove that he is better than Manuel Neuer, who owns the national team goal, the Barça goalkeeper rediscovered the insecurity with a lot of mistakes.
Setión – facing a broken dressing room, with his eyes on the ground – gave a break to the break to a Griezmann who had neither esma nor real options to change anything. Bayern was always superior. When Suárez, breaking the waist of a Boateng that always ends with bad memories against Barça, made it 4-2, the Bavarians put one more march and Davies, making it clear that Semedo has no level for Barça, offered to Kimmich from 5-2. Setión, who only gave minutes to Ansu Fati when the match was already decided, closes his stage with the worst European thrashing of a Barça that ended up humiliated with Lewandowski’s goals. And to end up turning it into a bad joke, Coutinho scored the last two goals, the seventh and eighth. The most expensive signing in the history of Barça marked the last goals of the Germans, as the culmination of the darkest night. Winter has arrived at Barça, where they will shoot heads. The worst Barça in history is right now a ghost walking aimlessly. And without anyone able to direct it.
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