FC Barcelona. One of the best clubs in the world and of course in Europe. Five times Champions League and 26 times La Liga winners. Having arguably the best player in the world at their disposal in the form of Lionel Messi.
And yet, the Blaugrana were unable to go all the way to lifting the cup this season, even after taking a healthy 3-0 lead over Liverpool in the first leg of the semifinal played at the Nou Camp. Ernesto Valverde’s men were unable to capitalize on the momentum they had created as they were sensationally knocked out by the Reds after losing to them by 4-0 in the second leg of the contest, thus repeating the disappointment of the last term when they were unable to go past AS Roma in the quarterfinal stage even after winning the first leg by 4-1 in their own backyard and losing to the Italian giants in the second leg.
So, what went wrong for the mighty La Liga champions, whose performance has been pretty dominant in the domestic front this season? The following reasons might put light on their disappointment in Europe’s most elite club competition.
Over-dependence on Lionel Messi
The Argentine maestro has been in sublime form this season and has scored a total of 50 goals to show for his efforts. His classy footwork has been too good to contain for the opposition defenders, establishing the Barcelona skipper as undoubtedly the best player this season. However, given Messi’s mesmerizing skills and ability to win matches single-handedly, at times it felt like Barcelona were over-dependent on the little magician and this can be termed as the first and foremost reason for their failure in the Champions League semifinal, when Messi was not able to net a single goal in the second leg at Anfield.
Ernesto Valverde’s lack of vision
Valverde is undoubtedly one of the finest tacticians in the modern game but even the staunchest of Barcelona would agree to the fact that he lacks vision when it comes to facing the opposition in the European competitions. In fact, if Messi wasn’t there, Barcelona would probably have not been able to go as far as they did in the UCL this season. Valverde’s tactics in the European competitions have been far from effective in the past as well for his side and that is the second reason for their lacklustre performance in the UCL this season.
Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele’s disappointing form
The likes of Coutinho and Dembele have suffered from injury concerns, which seem to have affected their form adversely as well. While Coutinho was able to finish the season with only three goals and three assists to his name, Dembele also finished the season with the same number of goals and only a single assist to show for his efforts. The lack of composure from both the players has been one of the biggest concerns for Valverde and he might be more than willing to have someone like Antonio Griezmann this summer.
The aforementioned points might be considered to be the biggest reasons for the defending La Liga champions to falter in the Champions League this season. However, it is expected that they will bounce back in the next term and would be able to notch up their sixth UCL trophy.
