“The Sinking” was the front-page headline of the Spanish sports paper Marca, reflecting on Barcelona’s first failure in 21 years to reach the last 16 of the Champions League. The most alarming thing about the 3-0 defeat by Bayern Munich on Wednesday evening was that it was entirely predictable for a club who lie seventh in La Liga, have a debt of £1.15bn and have suffered regular beatings from the Champions League’s elite clubs — although generally in the knockout stages before the Bayern debacle — in recent seasons. In Spain, people are no longer just asking: “Why did this happen?” but have moved on to the bigger question: “How many more times could it happen?”
But Barcelona’s new manager, Xavi, could not hide that Wednesday was a new low. “We have not even competed. The Europa League is now our reality even though this club cannot afford that.” Asked what he had told the players, Xavi said: “Today starts a new era for FC Barcelona.”
Diario AS, another Spanish newspaper, described the Bayern defeat as Barcelona’s resignation from the football elite; more woundingly, Bayern’s Thomas Müller said the Barcelona players will not recover until they discover greater “intensity”.
Müller said: “Technically, they have it all, they are great players tactically and technically. But they can’t cope with the intensity in top football.”
How did it get this bad? The Barcelona defender Gerard Piqué, who was part of the team that was rated the best in Europe under Pep Guardiola, said: “It is very simple. Because of the management of the club.”
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Piqué didn’t mean the coaching — although Ronald Koeman lost his job to make way for Xavi — he meant the extraordinary financial mismanagement that forced Lionel Messi to leave last summer.
The £1.15 billion debt is the result of some appalling decision making over the past six years. Exorbitant transfer fees, such as the £142 million deal for Phillippe Coutinho from Liverpool in 2018 and the £121 million signing of Ousmanne Dembélé from Borussia Dortmund in 2017. Both players have heavily underperformed at Camp Nou. Joan Laporta was elected as club president in March to clean up the mess and inherited a players’ wage bill that cost the club 74 per cent of all their income.
Barcelona are way behind Real Madrid in La Liga but share with their rivals a deep concern over the huge gap in TV income between the English Premier League and the rest of the world.
As Laporta said of their involvement in the doomed European Super League: “We’re doing this because we love football and because right now the game is in a complicated situation. The state-owned clubs can make much more attractive offers than us and they keep on investing.”
Without a Super League, Barcelona have asked Xavi, a club legend, to rebuild them following the classic Johan Cruyff-inspired approach to playing style.
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Elimination from the Champions League will deepen the club’s financial concerns, costing them £17.3 million that they would have made even without winning a knockout tie. Even winning the Europa League would recover only about £12 million.
The fanbase hopes’ rely on a handful of young talents whom Xavi has in his squad. From the last Kopa Trophy winner, Pedri González, to Ansu Fati, Pablo Gavi or Nico González. They are all under 20. The Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong has not fulfilled what the club expected from him but his potential is unquestionable, and he is still 24.
Barca want to add some signings but their budget restricts them. Last week, Sky Germany reported the 19-year-old Karim Adeyemi had rejected a £34 million approach from the Catalans. The RB Salzburg striker has registered more goals in this season’s Champions League (three) than Barcelona as a whole (two). The report said he did not sign because he was not convinced by the direction the club were heading in.
Another potential signing the club are eyeing is the Manchester City winger Ferran Torres.
Less than two weeks ago, the Barcelona executives Mateu Alemany and Ferran Reverter travelled to Manchester to start a negotiation with City. The clubs are far from reaching any kind of agreement, although the 21-year-old would be keen on a move. Sources from Barca don’t dismiss the option of reaching an agreement next month.
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Some might think that Barcelona will find in the Europa League a chance to shine again, but this cannot be the club’s priority. Finishing the season in La Liga’s top four has to be Xavi’s main target.
They are six points away from fourth-placed Atletico Madrid, and a painful 16 points from Real, the league leaders. Another season without Champions League football would be hard to sustain at Camp Nou.
