BARCELONA, Nov. 3 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Barça continues to experience a constant anxiety in the Champions League, eliminated this time for the second consecutive season in the group stage, since the tough eliminations of 2018 and 2019 against Roma and Liverpool, but the tough 2-8 conceded against Bayern de Munich in 2020 the maximum setback from which it does not raise its head in the European elite and is unable to compete with the clubs with the greatest potential.
The harsh elimination in the 2020 quarterfinals against the Bavarians made the Blaugrana team lose its essence, see its image of a winning team fade, and neither the change of coaches (Setién, Koeman or Xavi) nor the arrival of ‘ cards’ like that of the former executioner Robert Lewandowski seem to have found the solution.
Gone is the time when the Catalan team lifted the long-awaited ‘Orejona’ in a short time up to four times, of the five they have in their record. The great Barça of Pep Guardiola and Tito Vilanova, that of Luis Enrique Martínez as well, are a mirage. An oasis sought after in the current desert that is the Camp Nou.
It was hard to see Roma and Liverpool come back from two crosses on track in the first leg, despite then having the ‘D10S’ Leo Messi. In Rome, the 4-1 first leg faded to 3-0. A year later, the 3-0 first leg at home against Liverpool gave way to 4-0 at Anfield. The sentence for the era of Ernesto Valverde.
Unforgivable mistakes that opened the box of thunder and aroused chaos that led to the disappearance of the ‘culés’ among the favorites of Europe, consummated that Friday, August 14, 2020 at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon –in a ‘Final to 8’ due to the pandemic–. A 2-8 that buried Barça so deep that today the Catalan team is still digging in search of the surface.
From 2-8, the Blaugrana team has played a total of 20 games in the Champions League, with a balance of 9 wins, 3 draws and 8 losses. Some numbers that deceive, since most of those triumphs are in the group stage and against rivals of lesser historical weight.
After that blow at the hands of Bayern, Barça has lost against Juventus in the group stage, against Paris Saint-Germain (eliminated in the second round of 2021), against Benfica and Inter Milan also in the group stage. And, above all, four games against Bayern in the last two editions, also in the group stage.
And the victories? Against Juventus (0-2), true, but the rest of his victims are the following teams; Ferencváros (in two games, Dinamo kyiv (in four) and Viktoria Plzen (in two other games). And all the wins in the group stage.
In knockout rounds, from 2-8, Barça only played those round of 16 against PSG, which ended with a defeat at the Camp Nou (1-4) and a draw in Paris (1-1). It was the 20-21 campaign, and they were followed by two eliminations in a row in the group stage, being on both occasions (21-22 and this time 22-23) third in the group and moved to the Europa League.
In these 20 duels of more shadows than lights, with a game that has never convinced, Barça has scored 31 goals but has conceded the same. And, against Bayern, Juventus, PSG, Benfica and Inter Milan, the balance in those duels is 1 win, 3 draws and 8 losses with only 7 goals for 26 against.
Numbers that undermine the mood and hurt the soul of the ‘culés’ fans. Neither the arrival of Xavi Hernández on the bench, this being his first full season, nor the disbursement via levers to get the Lewandowskis, Koundé or Raphinha, have prevented a second bloody and early elimination in a European elite that Barça follows outside.
Now, it will be time to seek consolation in a level Europa League that he already knows and where last year he did not shine either with only two wins in his six games, both at home against Italian Napoli (2-4) and Turkish Galatasaray (1-2). ). At the Camp Nou he was unable to beat these two rivals and a German Eintracht that was the one that eliminated him by beating him 2-3 after the 1-1 in Frankfurt.
