Unrecognizable, deprived of stars, heavily in debt … Barça, a prestigious institution which dominated Europe at the turn of the 2010s, saw a sporting downgrade symbolized Tuesday by the slap suffered at home against Bayern Munich (3-0), one year after the terrible 8-2.
Now orphans of Lionel Messi, the Catalans have not won a Champions League match since December 2, 2020 against the modest Ferencvaros (3-0). Once a fortress, Camp Nou has become a land where the giants of Europe are no longer afraid to fight. Barça have lost their last three C1 matches there, conceding ten goals and scoring only one!
And the stinging defeat against Bayern on Tuesday, a year after Lisbon’s historic 8-2 rout in the quarter-finals of the 2019-2020 edition, only confirmed impressions already known.
Barça had not started a European campaign with a defeat at home since 1997 (3-2 against Newcastle), that is to say for 24 years. It is also the first time in its history in C1 that Barça concludes a match without having framed a single strike.
The report of failure in the Madrid and Catalan press is final this Wednesday morning. “Poor Barça“, headlined Marca, the best-selling newspaper in Spain.”Sad reality“, posted the Catalan daily Sport on its front page on a black background.”Far far away“, headlined the Catalan sports newspaper L’Esportiu.
A helplessness shared by the blaugrana icon Gerard Piqué at the final whistle: “This is how we are what we are. Right now, it’s true that it’s complicated. Today, there is a clear difference, it is clear. To be honest, today we are not one of the big favorites“.
According to Catalan media, the president Joan Laporta and his closest associates held an emergency meeting at the Camp Nou offices late at night, after the game, without announcing a decision immediately.
“The match confirmed the sense of desolation that has pursued Barça in recent days. A long and useless match for Barça, a kind of death row at the end of which there was no other hope than defeat. No one could hope for anything else“, tackled Alfredo Relaño, honorary president of the daily As and respected voice of Spanish football, in an editorial on Wednesday.
Ray of hope
Should we already bury Barça or is there still hope? It must be said that the Blaugrana club played bad luck before this continental comeback.
Barça lost two superstars during the transfer window, with the departure of Messi to Paris SG and the loan ofAntoine Griezmann at Atlético Madrid. The injured, many and especially in attack (Ansu Fati, Ousmane Dembele, Sergio Aguero, Martin Braithwaite…), Could not help.
Its executives, like a Jordi Alba who played sick and who got injured, from a Sergio Busquets leached or a Sergi Roberto whistled on its way out, can no longer carry the team on their own.
And young shoots, likeEric Garcia faulty on the goal of Thomas Müller, but also of Riqui Puig, Pedri, Gavi, Oscar Mingueza, Alex Balde, Yusuf Demir, Sergino Dest, Where Ronald araujo, still need to accumulate experience before claiming to be able to compete at the highest level.
“I know that with our very young players, we will end up competing. They will gain experience, and at the end of the season, you will see …“, slipped Pique Tuesday night.
A Coué method to quickly put into practice in Group E, where Barça already has no room for error against Benfica Lisbon and Dynamo Kiev.
