A decade marked by failures. We have to go back to 2015 to take the last photo of a Barcelona Football Club champion of Champions. It was a golden age for the culé entity, a moment in its history in which it increased its European record in an impressive way, but nothing of that remains.
This remodeled Champions League was considered the beginning of a new era. A different competition format, a radical change on the bench, the tenth season since the last European title… Several factors suggested an entry of fresh air, but at the first opportunity the house of cards collapsed.
The defeat in Monaco It was something that no one was counting on at Barcelona. The start of the season did not suggest anything like that. Leader and top scorer of La Liga, Barca He played good football and was consistent in every performance. With confidence, with belief in his game. But once again it became clear that the Champions League is a completely different story.
Pablo Torre is interested in a Barça teammate on the pitch.
EFE
It is true that in this difficult setback, Barça has an excuse, although to a certain extent. The expulsion of Eric García when only ten minutes of the match had been played conditioned everything, of course, but the culés have barely had the capacity to react.
In fact, the only glimmer of hope was placed Lamine Yamal. With verticality, determination and even a flair for the goal, the beardless player of culé put all the responsibility on his back and it was he who made his team dream of being able to save something positive from Monaco, but it is clear that the performance of a single player on his account is not enough in such a demanding competition.
The ghosts return
Barça has become an expert in recent seasons in embodying great successes in the Champions League. There have been bigger ones and of historic dimensions, like that of Bayern, and others that were more predictable due to the extra-sporting conditions that surrounded the club, like those of more recent years.
What happened at Anfield in 2019 is etched in the memory of all the culés. In that second leg of the Champions League semi-finals, and with a favorable score of 3-0 in the first leg, Barça. Liverpool swept the abutments to leave them endless on a dark night. It was the moment when the Catalans came closest to a new final.
Perhaps this puncture is minimized by what happened in 2020, in the middle of a pandemic, in the quarter-finals against the Bayern MunichThe 2-8 loss to the Germans was a historic humiliation and one of the most exaggerated scores of the competition, a moment that will never be erased from the mind of any football fan.
What has happened in recent years has only served to worsen Barça’s European crisis. With Xavi Hernandez Up front, the culés have fallen two consecutive seasons in the group stage, an unprecedented fact and which has not been up to par in the history of a team of this caliber.
Eric Garcia, sent off with Barça to Monaco.
REUTERS
The journey through the desert of Europe is beginning to be too long and in the year that has passed ten seasons since the last title, Barça wanted to start on the right foot and send a message to the others. Far from it, the opposite happened. The defeat against Monaco resurrects all those ghosts that seem not to have disappeared, even with the new format of the competition.
Lamine Yamal and nothing else
Apart from everything that conditioned the expulsion of Eric García after ten minutes of play, Barça showed practically no signs of life. Monaco. The team was a far cry from what it had shown in the previous five La Liga games and was a shadow of what it can become.
Flick’s team did not have the intensity of the last games, which led to an unfortunate action, caused especially by a terrible pass from Ter Stegen. The goalkeeper’s performance Barca It was terrifying. It led to Eric García being sent off, he could have done more on the first goal and won on the second when the ball entered his body.
Barça had to regret some very discreet performances from men who should be taking the honours in these kinds of circumstances. With Pedri Almost gone, neither Raphinha nor especially Lewandowski have barely managed to generate danger.
The only burning nail that the team of browse was Lamine Yamal. The very young European champion with the national team took the honors and once again established himself as the best of the team. It was the goal that gave life to Barça, a team clinging to a 17-year-old boy who threatens to eclipse the figure of Leo Messi over the years.
In short, the Champions League put Barça back in its place at the first opportunity. The culé team should not worry yet in a competition that now gives more opportunities than before to recover from a setback, but it is a warning for the sailors.
