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Exiting the Champions League is always a bitter blow. More so, if you are FC Barcelona and are now entering the twelfth year running of their wait for European glory.
A lot has been made of that particular fact and other humbling truths that came to the fore following the deflating loss to Atletico Madrid on aggregate – the team’s lack of experience, the high-line setup and squad planning being among the usual suspects.
But now with the dust starting to settle on the forgettable European campaign, there are some key conclusions that can be derived for Hansi Flick and his team before they pick up the pieces, get back to the drawing board and start to prepare for their next chance at silverware.
Barcelona were NOT the best in Europe
Ever since Hansi Flick took over, there has been this air of inevitability about Barcelona. They score at will, cut through with extreme precision and are ruthless in their scrimmaging on the pitch.
While the previous campaign was the showcase of all these qualities on full tilt – a clear sign of recovery in the Champions League, this year we saw a team still sore from the knockout blow at the hands of Inter Milan at the semi-final stage last term.
Flick had a big task on his hands to get this group going again, and he knew that the squad, being as young as it is, needed to learn from the disappointment and bounce back.
Cut forward to the present day, if honesty is the memo of this discussion, Barcelona were a shell of themselves on the continental stage.
They barely managed to finish in the Top 8 of the league phase. They were made to work for their ultimately credential-proving win over Newcastle United – at least away from home in the Round of 16.
And they couldn’t clear a local rival who is languishing 22 points behind them in La Liga.
Falling short in Europe again. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
The Catalans may have played well across the tie, but Barcelona have not stepped up when it has mattered this season in Europe. PSG at Montjuic was a wake-up call. Chelsea was the warning. Atletico merrily knocked the final nail.
For nearly two years running now, Barcelona have had a fantastic opportunity to reach the final of the Champions League. And for all the promise they have and continue to hold, the team has failed to deliver.
The hunger for Champions League is starting to become a bane
The Champions League is elusive. 36 teams go head-to-head in their bid to claim the tag of being Europe’s absolute best. It is a stamp that Barcelona have been striving for over a decade now.
While the team has come close a few times to experiencing that magical feeling once again and have been dearly embarrassed on other occasions, with each attempt – often felt as futile by the end of it – the pressure ramps up on the club to deliver.
And this is where obsession is mistaken for motivation.
Yes, Barcelona long for Champions League glory. But if they can lose since they are a young side still getting to grips with the harsh dose of failure in the Champions League, they also have time on their hands to mature after a few bruises to bring home the cup.
Their youth presents this dichotomy – two sides of the same coin. It is fearful to say, the noise surrounding the team at the moment is not appreciative of the latter.
This is not an excuse to look at the bright side either, but a plea to the fans, stakeholders and the team itself to not be blinded in their pursuit of the trophy.
Barcelona have gone over a decade without conquering Europe. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
When Lionel Messi and co. attempted to win it all, the pressure and weight of expectations were understandably heavy because that team of the time was operating at its peak – with experience and quality.
But this is a completely new side. Literal teenagers are cornerstones of the club. Thanks to their infusion of youth and a mental slate without the scars of the past, Barcelona find themselves suddenly challenging for trophies on all fronts.
They have turned around a sinking ship into a globetrotting one in almost no time.
This wave of unnecessary pressure and heightened stakes is toiling the club more than one can imagine. Patience is the word. Their time will come. And besides, not winning the Champions League doesn’t automatically mean the season is a failure.
Do not underestimate domestic success
“We won eight league titles in 11 years! Maybe today we don’t give it the value it deserves, but in a few years we’ll realise how difficult it was.”
These were the words of Lionel Messi, looking back on a season that promised so much but ultimately ended with only the La Liga title after a shocking 4-0 loss to Liverpool in the Champions League, having led 3-0 in the semi-final first leg.
What he preached then, couldn’t have been more prophetic.
Barcelona went on to lose the next three La Liga titles and have won only two in the six seasons since. It is almost as if the fanbase and the club contagiously take domestic success for granted.
Thanks to Hansi Flick, the team is nearing their second successive La Liga title with an eight-point lead over rivals Real Madrid and the importance of this title defence shouldn’t be underestimated.
Stats even show Barcelona have only been more consistent in the league this season. Should they win all their remaining seven games, they would hit the 100-point mark in the league, a historic feat.
Barcelona are on track to win a second consecutive La Liga title. (Photo by Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)
The Blaugrana have conceded fewer goals per game, they are averaging better in the scoring department and are two wins away from equalling last season’s win tally.
On top of that, the fact that Barcelona were only moments away from staging an epic comeback against Atletico Madrid in an increasingly classic match-up in the Copa del Rey semi-finals, almost overturning a 4-0 deficit, showed the ceiling of this team.
So, another (and improved) league title win with a tremendously encouraging Copa del Rey campaign, Barcelona need to appreciate the value of their somewhat newfound consistency domestically. And that too despite the context.
Reference to Context
Objectivity is the name of the game in football these days. How a team performs is irrelevant, and the discourse is around mere results because ultimately that’s what matters. Barcelona have been long victims of this perspective.
While this card is often drawn to defend a run of poor form, in the case of the La Liga leaders, the context adds glitter to their achievements.
A team so young at its core, it lost a leader and the little experience it had in Inigo Martinez in the summer.
Last season’s best player, Raphinha, has had a stop-start campaign hampered by injuries. Barcelona’s established midfield of Pedri and Frenkie de Jong have not started even a handful of games together this season.
While injuries are part and parcel, the team was also left hindered by a sudden nosedive in the performance of the squad.
Ferran Torres, entrusted with more responsibility, faltered midway through the season. Robert Lewandowski’s form simply started to look his age.
Full-backs Jules Kounde and Alejandro Balde also found themselves in and out of the team due to an accumulation of below-par displays. Even Lamine Yamal struggled to get going after suffering a niggling Pubalgia injury in the first half of the season.
All these nitty-gritties do matter in the grand scheme of things, especially in Europe, where things need to fall into place to win it all. For Barcelona, they neither had luck nor performance on the same page at the same time.
However, despite all of these hurdles, Flick’s Barcelona didn’t stop winning games where consistency was the prerequisite. Or let the circumstances prevail when it was easier to do so with enough credit in the bank.
That’s important because, sure, they lost a few important ones elsewhere, but none of the restraints has held them back from repeating an impressive La Liga win and still putting up a more than decent fight across the rest of the competitions.
There is more to come from this team. But there is still a lot to love about it.
