Not good enough or just bad luck? A post-mortem of the Champions League and Barcelona Clasico – Barca Blaugranes

Time heals all wounds.

For culers everywhere, it will be necessary to wait until the dawn of a new season to fully recover from the trophyless disappointment of this one.

In the space of a week, Barcelona’s newfound hope and optimism was shattered.

A surprise journey to the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Headed into the second leg with a one-goal lead that grew to two in the opening minutes at the Estadi Olímpic.

An unbeaten run in La Liga dates back to January 27, when Xavi announced he would step down as manager at the end of the season following a shock 5-3 defeat to Villareal.

Things were not only getting better, Barça fans were dreaming of the impossible.

Photo by Pedro Salado/Getty Images

In the blink of an eye, everything collapsed.

What if Ronald Araujo let Bradley Barcola pass?

Would Barcelona have reached the semi-finals?

Would they have had the confidence and courage to achieve victory against Real Madrid, keeping their hopes alive in the national title race?

In my mind, this seems very possible, even likely.

Momentum matters. The Champions League will make you a hero, or give you the harshest reality check before you have the chance to deal with the reversal of fortune.

But Barcelona, ​​as a club, seems to have these moments of existential contemplation more often than it would like. The fact that you even have to ask these questions should be a sign that something is wrong with the way they are handling the game.

Real Madrid, and I’m not going to mince words here, are more than happy to play ugly. And that’s exactly what they are. They don’t play for the love of the game.

Manchester City gave us poetry for 90 minutes, but they were not rewarded. True art very often manifests itself in the form of tragedy.

Instead, Real Madrid won the penalty shootout lottery.

Barcelona has lost the color lottery that comes out of the referees’ pockets.

And then, later in the week, when the two teams met, as it was the second time in a La Liga season, Barcelona lost the lead and handed their historic rivals the Spanish championship.

But this is also where the question of luck or merit begins to evolve.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Real Madrid are the protagonist of this story. They’re definitely not the good guys. It’s simply the perfect heel.

They sit, object, get inside your head and wait for you to self-destruct.

This is exactly what Barcelona have done, not once, but twice at domestic level.

Photo by Flor Tan Jun/Getty Images

For Manchester City, it wasn’t that dramatic, but they fought back by allowing the match to go the distance, instead of going for the round of 16 when they had the chance.

So who is to blame in all this, and could Barcelona have done something different to influence the result?

Xavi, for his part, had not been wrong for months.

His high-profile decision to publicly announce his departure seems, in hindsight, brilliant. He said he was doing it for the love and benefit of the club, and that’s exactly how it happened.

Barcelona could have been knocked out of the Champions League in the round of 16, and the league campaign could have ended much sooner, considering how far they had come at the start of the year.

Instead, they gained confidence and got out of their heads. The manager was a liberated man and his players, despite ongoing injuries to their key teammates, also took to the field with the mindset of ‘nothing to lose’.

Photo by Irina R. Hipolito/Europa Press via Getty Images

And the results kept coming.

Ronald Araujo’s red card, however, once again revealed uncomfortable truths.

Faced with adversity, Barcelona does not react well.

Xavi’s decisions during the match can be quite scrutinized. They were still two goals ahead and by the end of the match, in 60 minutes, they had conceded four goals.

Once again, against Real Madrid, when the pressure was high, they let their advantage slip away.

It was a nightmare week for Joao Cancelo and the defensive line in general.

Photo by Xavier Lainé/Getty Images

But we also know that individual errors do not exist in isolation.

PSG came out on the right foot. Araujo’s red card came after a bad drop-off.

Real Madrid had everything to play for and, in the end, Barcelona failed to muster enough desire to suffer from the result. They gave up their lead not once, but twice.

And yet, during his tenure as coach, Xavi seems to gradually change his self-image.

Yes, there have been steps back, but perhaps there have been other steps forward.

Photo by Alberto Gardin/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

He didn’t win a La Liga title by chance. Coming off a truly disastrous two years where the team seemed competitively paralyzed, he woke them from a coma and brought the fire back into their bellies.

Surely no one is more frustrated than Xavi with this season’s result.

It’s true that some of the same old ghosts have returned. But we also saw the clouds part and the light shine again in Barcelona.

Going forward, the club will need to shake off the self-fulfilling prophecy that they will always be doomed to bad luck.

Playing beautiful football and dominating is what has brought them success in the past.

And in the future, quality on the field will also be the way forward.

Fortunately, La Masia continues to bear fruit.

Let these wounds heal. Next season and beyond, Barcelona will be back and ready to compete for anything.

Time heals all wounds.

For culers everywhere, it will be necessary to wait until the dawn of a new season to fully recover from the trophyless disappointment of this one.

In the space of a week, Barcelona’s newfound hope and optimism was shattered.

A surprise journey to the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Headed into the second leg with a one-goal lead that grew to two in the opening minutes at the Estadi Olímpic.

An unbeaten run in La Liga dates back to January 27, when Xavi announced he would step down as manager at the end of the season following a shock 5-3 defeat to Villareal.

Things were not only getting better, Barça fans were dreaming of the impossible.

Photo by Pedro Salado/Getty Images

In the blink of an eye, everything collapsed.

What if Ronald Araujo let Bradley Barcola pass?

Would Barcelona have reached the semi-finals?

Would they have had the confidence and courage to achieve victory against Real Madrid, keeping their hopes alive in the national title race?

In my mind, this seems very possible, even likely.

Momentum matters. The Champions League will make you a hero, or give you the harshest reality check before you have the chance to deal with the reversal of fortune.

But Barcelona, ​​as a club, seems to have these moments of existential contemplation more often than it would like. The fact that you even have to ask these questions should be a sign that something is wrong with the way they are handling the game.

Real Madrid, and I’m not going to mince words here, are more than happy to play ugly. And that’s exactly what they are. They don’t play for the love of the game.

Manchester City gave us poetry for 90 minutes, but they were not rewarded. True art very often manifests itself in the form of tragedy.

Instead, Real Madrid won the penalty shootout lottery.

Barcelona has lost the color lottery that comes out of the referees’ pockets.

And then, later in the week, when the two teams met, as it was the second time in a La Liga season, Barcelona lost the lead and handed their historic rivals the Spanish championship.

But this is also where the question of luck or merit begins to evolve.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Real Madrid are the protagonist of this story. They’re definitely not the good guys. It’s simply the perfect heel.

They sit, object, get inside your head and wait for you to self-destruct.

This is exactly what Barcelona have done, not once, but twice at domestic level.

Photo by Flor Tan Jun/Getty Images

For Manchester City, it wasn’t that dramatic, but they fought back by allowing the match to go the distance, instead of going for the round of 16 when they had the chance.

So who is to blame in all this, and could Barcelona have done something different to influence the result?

Xavi, for his part, had not been wrong for months.

His high-profile decision to publicly announce his departure seems, in hindsight, brilliant. He said he was doing it for the love and benefit of the club, and that’s exactly how it happened.

Barcelona could have been knocked out of the Champions League in the round of 16, and the league campaign could have ended much sooner, considering how far they had come at the start of the year.

Instead, they gained confidence and got out of their heads. The manager was a liberated man and his players, despite ongoing injuries to their key teammates, also took to the field with the mindset of ‘nothing to lose’.

Photo by Irina R. Hipolito/Europa Press via Getty Images

And the results kept coming.

Ronald Araujo’s red card, however, once again revealed uncomfortable truths.

Faced with adversity, Barcelona does not react well.

Xavi’s decisions during the match can be quite scrutinized. They were still two goals ahead and by the end of the match, in 60 minutes, they had conceded four goals.

Once again, against Real Madrid, when the pressure was high, they let their advantage slip away.

It was a nightmare week for Joao Cancelo and the defensive line in general.

Photo by Xavier Lainé/Getty Images

But we also know that individual errors do not exist in isolation.

PSG came out on the right foot. Araujo’s red card came after a bad drop-off.

Real Madrid had everything to play for and, in the end, Barcelona failed to muster enough desire to suffer from the result. They gave up their lead not once, but twice.

And yet, during his tenure as coach, Xavi seems to gradually change his self-image.

Yes, there have been steps back, but perhaps there have been other steps forward.

Photo by Alberto Gardin/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

He didn’t win a La Liga title by chance. Coming off a truly disastrous two years where the team seemed competitively paralyzed, he woke them from a coma and brought the fire back into their bellies.

Surely no one is more frustrated than Xavi with this season’s result.

It’s true that some of the same old ghosts have returned. But we also saw the clouds part and the light shine again in Barcelona.

Going forward, the club will need to shake off the self-fulfilling prophecy that they will always be doomed to bad luck.

Playing beautiful football and dominating is what has brought them success in the past.

And in the future, quality on the field will also be the way forward.

Fortunately, La Masia continues to bear fruit.

Let these wounds heal. Next season and beyond, Barcelona will be back and ready to compete for anything.