Barcelona only have themselves to blame after crashing out of Champions League
For the first time in 17 years, Barcelona will play in the Europa League. The Blaugrana have been gravitating towards mediocrity over the last four years but time has finally caught up with them.
With Lionel Messi leaving last summer and the club plunging into a financial crisis, Barcelona are currently losing both on and off the pitch.
Swapping Ronald Koeman for Xavi Hernandez in the managerial hot seat has changed very little at the club. Not only are they miles behind Real Madrid in the La Liga, but the Blaugrana have also now been dumped out of the UEFA Champions League.
Xavi’s side was outplayed, battered and beaten by a merciless Bayern Munich team on Wednesday – a result which ensured Barcelona finished third in their group.
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Barcelona should have beaten Benfica
No matter how one looks at it, Barcelona only have themselves to blame for their current predicament. They were presented with a glorious chance to qualify for the next round when they faced Benfica in their penultimate game in the group stage.
All they needed to do was to beat the Portuguese side to guarantee their places as runners-up. However, Barcelona massively flopped and ended up drawing with their opponents.
That made things difficult for them, as a match against Bayern at the Allianz Arena was never going to be an easy task. The bottom line, though, is that Barcelona didn’t deserve to qualify for the Round of 16 of the Champions League.
Barcelona won just two matches in the group stages – both against Dynamo Kyiv – and scored just two goals in six matches. That is certainly not good enough for any side looking to compete in Europe’s elite inter-club competition.
2021/22 Champions League Group E final standings:
◉ Bayern (18 points)
◉ Benfica (8 points)
◎ Barcelona (7 points)
○ Dynamo Kyiv (1 point)
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Blaugrana nearing a crisis
Barcelona are currently not contenders in the La Liga, where they sit 16 points behind bitter rivals Real Madrid. Their European dreams have also now also been crushed.
Xavi might have good intentions but there’s very little he can do at the moment as the club risks going into a crisis after the damaging recent results. Xavi admitted in his post-match press conference, as quoted by Sky Sports:
"I hoped we would compete better. Bayern are better. That's the reality. But we're going to work hard and give our all so that this doesn't happen again. It's a feeling of helplessness. We have to start to get Barca back where they belong, which is not in the Europa League. This is also a hammer blow for me as a coach. We will work hard to bring Barca back, but we have to change a lot, of course."
Based on current form, Barcelona does not even seem like a team that can win the Europa League. As Xavi said, this is now the club’s level…