3 Reasons why Barcelona have not gone past the UCL Quarterfinals since 2015
Barcelona has been one of the best teams of the modern era but still have not been able to make it past the quarterfinals stages of the UEFA Champions League since winning the coveted trophy in the 2014-15 season when the South American trio of Messi, Suarez and Neymar went rampant and destroyed each and every side they faced. In 2016 they lost to Atlético Madrid 3-2 on aggregate, in 2017 it was Juventus who dumped them out of the UCL courtesy a 3-0 aggregate victory and in 2018 Roma managed a remarkable comeback to end Barca's hopes for another UCL trophy.
Here in the following slides, we look at a few reasons why the Spanish giants have failed to win the prestigious trophy in recent years.
#3 Luis Suarez's failure in the Champions League
Contradicting to his prolific LaLiga goal-scoring record, one has to go back to September 2015 to record Suarez's last Champions League goal away from Camp Nou which was against AS Roma in a 1-1 draw. Suarez has scored only four times in the competition since the 2015/16 season although he has made twenty-three appearances for the Blaugrana in the European competition. He is yet to score in this year’s UCL too.
Suarez's poor form in UCL competitions has been a significant impediment for the team. A striker especially of Suarez's calibre is expected to score more goals than what he has scored over the past few seasons in the Champions League. This has resulted in Barca being a one-man army for at least the last 3 seasons with Messi alone pulling the chains of Barcelona.
Contradictorily however Real Madrid's hattrick of UCL could be owed to Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema. If Suarez does not manage to score in the quarterfinal clash against Manchester United, then inevitably Barca's hopes of getting past the quarterfinals stage will be dented.