Winning and qualifying will always be a source of joy for a team, but the FC Barcelona He arrives at a scene that not even his circle really believed. The performance of the Catalan team is not the brightest. After becoming champions of The league Last season, you could see a disorganized team, without hunger or intention to cause fear.
The positive point was that they advanced to the quarterfinals of the Champions League for the first time in four years, beating Napoli 3 goals to 1 at home. The negative point may be assumed to be only one, but the reality is that there are many.
Xavi Hernández’s destiny is written. Despite advancing in the most prestigious competition in Europe, assuming they become champions, the culé coach assured that he will not stay after the end of the campaign.
Robert Lewandowski is the club’s most impressive scoring figure and, although he scored in the duel of the week, he still does not look like the “killer” of previous years.
The Barça team did not appear among the eight best teams on the old continent since the 2019-2020 edition, when they were beaten abusively by Bayern Munich (2-8) in a tie played in a single match and without an audience, due to COVID-19. 19, at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon.
From that moment on, Barcelona saw Lionel Messi leave. Quique Setién was fired and the Dutchman Ronald Koeman arrived. That stage can be classified as the worst in the last 20 years of the Catalan club, as the chemistry collapsed and they were left naked.
They hired Xavi as the savior of the bench, but it was inevitable to rescue them, not even in the Europa League. During his first full season, the Catalan was able to conquer La Liga. However, the Champions League was impossible to reach.
When they were supposed to have a team that was worthy of fighting for the European title, several plans stopped working. Lewandowski is no longer lethal. Vitor Roque still has not shown what he did in Brazil. Pedri and Frankie de Jong suffer with injuries. The absence of Gavi is notable, as they need a player who attacks and recovers the ball aggressively. The defense is only saved by the Uruguayan Ronald Araujo, since Sergi Roberto cannot keep up with the pace of the current game.
Barça is not an applicant. Even less candidate. But it is already, for now, among the eight best teams in Europe.
