Since the restart of the football season, after it came to an abrupt halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic, several teams have found it hard to get back into proper rhythm on the pitch and show their best form. One such side is Barcelona, who had failed to capitalise on the momentum they had before the La Liga season was paused for the pandemic and thus, were dethroned by their arch-rivals Real Madrid as the champions of Spain. To add salt to injury, the Blaugrana had to face a humiliating exit to their Champions League campaign as well, as they were defeated by Bayern Munich by a margin of 2-8, which will be etched in the memories of the fans of this great club as a night of sheer embarrassment for sure.
What Went Wrong
The Blaugrana started well in the 2019/20 season in the domestic competition, having won most of their matches and taking a healthy lead at the top of the table. Also, the fact that Real Madrid were not playing well and were losing games had helped the cause of the Catalan side. However, after the restart, Real Madrid ensured that they remain undefeated in all of their 11 matches while winning 10 of them. This led them to overtake Barcelona in the race to win the La Liga title as Quique Setien’s men succumbed to defeats on several occasions both at home and in away matches.
Zinedine Zidane also marshalled his troops well against the opponents and helped Los Blancos to win their 34th league title. On the other hand, Setien was unable to make prompt decisions which hurt the confidence of the Barcelona players, and they failed to perform as a team, despite Lionel Messi leading their attack.
Over Dependence On Lionel Messi
Messi has undoubtedly been carrying the Barcelona side with individual performances in the last few seasons and the 2019/20 season was not an exception to that. Messi finished the season as the top scorer with 25 goals in the La Liga, which saw him win the Pichichi award for the 2019/20 season. Apart from that, he had also laid 21 assists for his side this season, which is a record for any player in any league around the world.
With stats like that, any player would be convinced that he can lead his side to a silverware. However, the over-dependence on Messi has become a sort of curse for Barca as the other players have not been able to perform at the same level as that of their skipper. This has been a massive blow for the Blaugrana as they failed to hold onto the La Liga crown this season.
Messi himself has been far from impressed with the performance of his side. In a recent interview, the Argentine captain said, “We have to be self-critical. Starting with the players but doing a global self-criticism. We are Barca and we have to win everything. We can’t look at Madrid…Madrid have done their job, but we have helped them a lot.”
He added, referring to their match against Napoli in the Champions League, “We have to change lots of things. We have a game against Napoli just around the corner and things have to change. I think we’ll have a break now which will be good for us to clear the heads a bit.”
His words were proven true by the performance of the Catalan club in the quarter-final of the Champions League after they defeated Napoli and booked a place in the quarter-final, as they faced a shambolic defeat at the hands of the Bundesliga champions. It goes without saying that a lot needs to be done within the club, in terms of changes, which has already started with the sacking of their manager Quique Setien almost immediately after the 8-goal thrashing they had to face at the hands of the Bavarians.
What Needs To Be Done
To turn the table in their favour, Barcelona need to sit down, and as Messi said, they need to be “self-critical”. The Barcelona board have been investing in players like Ousmane Dembele, Antoine Griezmann, Martin Brathwaite and Arthur, who have not been able to perform at a consistent basis and have turned into liabilities for the side.
So it is time for the Barca hierarchy to understand the need of the hour and bring in players who can lead their side to triumph both in Europe as well as in the domestic competitions. They also need to nurture talents like Rique Puig and Ansu Fati in the right way so that they can become the true successors of Barcelona legends like Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta.
Having said that, it is never enough for a club to take a humiliation as massive as the one they faced against Bayern Munich. The Blaugrana, without any doubt, have hit a dead end and should find a way to bounce back effectively or they can meet the same fate as that of AC Milan, who have drastically degraded in terms of performance due to the wrong decisions taken by the club authority and management over the last decade. Let’s just hope Ronald Koeman is up for the task.
