Another humiliation with consequences in Can Barça

When it seemed to be putting some stones for its reconstruction, the Barça returned to blow in pieces this Tuesday against Paris Saint Germain. European humiliations begin to be the bread and butter of each year in Barcelona and are no longer counted on the fingers of one hand. After Paris (4-0), Turin (3-0), Rome (3-0), Liverpool (4-0) and Lisbon against Bayern (2-8), another symbolic collapse came, in the 'old' Camp Nou which is being debated these days about its reconstruction. The 1-4, which recalled that win conceded by Van Gaal's Barça against Dinamo Kiev, with a hat-trick by another emerging star at that time, Andrei Shevchenko, leaves the review process that Koeman started in August.

“We are changing things. I know where we are and I know what I want. We are in the middle of the road,” the Dutchman wanted to claim with confidence at the end of the game. But that path has unknowns. Barça once again showed that its sacred cows have grown older. Pwhat had a nightmare comeback; Jordi Alba was given the night by Kean and Sergio Busquets is outmatched in those physical European nights. But not only the veterans were marked, also the players who had to take the baton in the squad. Ter Stegen was hesitant again on a great night, not knowing how to occupy the spaces. Lenglet has stalled, Griezmann did not find the goal although he was the one who searched the most, and Dembélé failed miserably. The young people were also engulfed by the night. De Jong and Pedri, the two future bets in midfield, could not push the team. And although he had a buffalo in front of him, Sergiño Dest left doubts about his true level. Chased shadows all night

And then there is Messi. Tempted by PSG, if it was a question of measuring the competitiveness of the teams, the 1-4 clarifies it. The Parisians had more than Verratti, Mbappé and a good choral performance to sweep Barcelona without the need for Neymar or Di María. The Argentine announced in December that he would wait until the end of the season to make a decision on his future, but perhaps 1-4 will give him the opportunity to accelerate it. Tuesday night pointed to a long transition in a team with limitations that needs to change many things in the squad, but that is in a difficult economic situation to do so. If Messi is in a rush to win more titles, Barcelona may no longer be the window. Another thing is that he wants to accompany the club in its renewal and, meanwhile, prepare its way to the World Cup without the pressure that it can find in clubs that are going to demand what it is no longer being able to give Barça, the ability to unbalance to win big games.

The European spots are overlapping in Barcelona. More and more painful. The last, against Paris Saint Germain, threatens the illusion, or perhaps the mirage, of renewal.