FC Barcelona's UEFA Champions League woes continue

Bayern Munich's 3-0 victory at Camp Nou knocked out Blaugrana from this year's competition

Barcelona are in a terrible mess, and despite being very active in the transfer market and spending $200 million to shore up their team to enable them to compete in all competitions, their UEFA Champions League group stage exit marked that there are still many concerns that need to be resolved before they can once again be considered an elite club.

Barcelona raised €267 million by selling their 10% media rights to Sixth Street after that it enabled Catalan side to pulled all the levers. Their 2022–23 forecast also called for a €275 million profit after taxes, with €600 million coming from three more levers.

The excitement started building as the club pulled all the preferred players and transformed the team into a competing club once more. They started the season with optimism in LaLiga and Champions League, with Lewandowski translating his Bayern form in Barcelona.

How Barcelona failed miserably despite spending 200 million? 

Although they performed well in La Liga, back-to-back losses against Bayern Munich and Inter in the Champions League revealed that the club is far from being a dominant presence. Although Barcelona were determined that they could turn things around when they played Inter at Camp Nou, ambitions were still high. However, after a 3-3 draw and a subsequent 3-0 loss to Bayern, Xavi's squad is again heading back to the Europa League.

With these levers, Barcelona have temporarily solved its relatively brief issues, but if the team underperforms It will have negative repercussions down the road. And if we look at the entire picture, just one player has consistently performed for the team. Raphinha, Kessie, and Kounde have all fared below expectations in contrast to Lewandowski, who has exceeded them.

Although manager Xavi has also drawn negative criticism for his poor tactics. Few fans have called for his dismissal since they believe Xavi lacks the managerial experience necessary to lead a Spanish side to victories. There are a few areas where the team needs to be enhanced. But the board still has faith in the midfielder's project and is patient with him.

But what about the Champions League curse? 

The issue is much more complicated than what the team is currently dealing with; it is not qualifying for the Europa League for the second consecutive season that is the trouble. When it comes to their Champions League ineptitude, we must look back at the Roma fiasco; ever since Barcelona have appeared to be a club that is not a challenger anymore.

The Roma collapse was followed by the Anfield catastrophe. Barcelona were on track to qualify for the next round after defeating Liverpool in the first leg of the 2018–19 competition. The 4-0 setback that reduced Barcelona's reputation was just another failure of their tragedies. And it demonstrated how players lack the attitude to thrive under duress. The second leg had a different story, and how Barcelona crumbled at Anfield will live in infamy.

Bayern Munich 8-2 Barcelona

However, there was still more to come as Bayern Munich's 8-2 thrashing of Barcelona served as a warning that the club is in a serious crisis under president Bartomeu, and the club has since been mired in hardship.

Bartomeu's carelessness and the club's mounting debt are to blame for Barcelona's demise. Players that lack a winning mentality are also a worry because they appear sluggish, struggle in critical games, and make poor decisions that harm their chances of success. There are other issues with the club that Xavi needs to address, and it will undoubtedly take several years to elevate the team to an elite level.

Has Messi’s departure impacted Barcelona's performance? 

We can all agree that Barcelona has been impacted in a variety of ways because they lack a player who could transform the game with his nimble passing or dribble opponents and score on his own. Lionel Messi was the leading scorer for several seasons, which also reminds us Barcelona doesn't have a player who can contribute goals. 

Lewandowski's signing has resolved the goalscoring issue. But the team still requires a creative player who can make wise decisions in the final third. However, they are in the rebuilding phase and have players who can move the needle if given the support and confidence.

Is this another lesson for Barcelona after being qualified for Europe League? 

Unquestionably this is a lesson about how the club were complacent and which resulted in another setback. Although the club and players should learn from this and Barcelona needs more strengthening in a few areas, they need to find a right-back and replacement for Busquets and need more depth in their defence. Injury to Araujo and Kounde affected the club’s run in the Champions League.

Most importantly, Xavi must adopt a more realistic strategy to yield positive results. His strategies never succeed against superior opposition, on top of that Players' inability to maintain composure under pressure, which leads to poor outcomes, is another problem.

You cannot fire a manager who took over the team when they were in disarray; thus the supporters and board should back Xavi, as Arsenal did with Arteta and United are with Ten Hag, you must exercise patience. If Klopp and Guardiola needed three to four years to assemble a dominant team, then Xavi merits the opportunity.