Assessing Barcelona’s Champions League Failings

Even before a ball was kicked in Munich last week, there was an air of inevitability.

The mighty Barcelona, not just a football club, were on the edge of a cliff, peering over at European oblivion, and only a unique set of results could save them. They had to match Benfica’s result in their much easier final group game, but do it at the home of Bayern Munich, Germany’s strongest club. As CBS reports, they didn’t get close; they were 2-0 down by halftime and surrendered to another 3-0 defeat.

That sent them tumbling into the Europa League for the first time in almost two decades. “Barcelona don’t belong in Europa League; they belong in the Champions League,” their new boss Xavi told the press after the game. Sadly for him, he’s wrong; they absolutely belong in the Europa League after an abject group stage that saw them lose 3-0 twice to Bayern and once to Benfica. They scored just two goals, home and away against whipping boys Dynamo Kyiv, and now face ‘relegation’ to Europe’s second continental trophy for only the third time in 30 years.

On two occasions, in 1996 and 2001, the Blaugrana made the semi-finals, and that is where Xavi’s focus should be. Perhaps the famous striped shirts have no place outside Europe’s elite, but there is precedent; they have been there before and used it as a springboard twice.

In 1996 there were three European competitions, and after losing 4-3 to Bayern in the UEFA Cup, the team kicked on. 1997 saw them finish second in La Liga (their best placing for three seasons) and win the Copa Del Rey and Cup Winner’s Cup. In 2004, they were eliminated from the UEFA Cup in the round of 16 by Celtic – a huge shock at the time. In 2005, they won La Liga, and in 2006, they won the Champions League. Only 2001 saw consistent struggle; they were beaten by Liverpool in the UEFA Cup semi-final and finished outside the top three domestically in 2002 and 2003.

Whilst history does suggest there are benefits to dropping into the Europa League, it is unprecedented in that every previous incarnation Barcelona had endured has been the old UEFA Cup; this is new ground for them. With many clubs falling out of the Champions League with a third-place group finish, the competition is stiff; Borussia Dortmund are current favorites with Bwin to lift the trophy; they were surprisingly eliminated from their group despite thrashing Besiktas 5-0 in their final game. The damage was done across two games with Ajax, during which they conceded seven goals and played the majority of one game with ten men.

Barcelona are second favorites, with six-time winners Sevilla making up the top three. All three of those clubs dropped out of the Champions League, as did Atalanta. The only club that started in the Europa League among the favorites to win it are English side West Ham United. They’re a side constantly on the fringes of major success, but certainly not in the same bracket as Barcelona. That should demonstrate the opportunity here for Xavi and his team.

There are positives for the new manager and his team; Ansu Fati got one of their two goals in the group stages and he’s one of Europe’s elite young players. The likes of Memphis Depay and Luuk De Jong have played plenty of football at the top level and should find some degree of stability with Xabi now at the helm. The harmony between coach and players has been restored after the disastrous reign of Ronald Koeman, and perhaps importantly the president is now happy also. Of course, the financial worries are still hanging over their heads, and they can’t recruit to the same level as some of their rivals, but they do have a major advantage; they’re Barcelona. Whichever competition they’re in, players want to wear the shirt, and sometimes that transcends money and big contracts. They might not outspend rivals in the winter, but they will still be an attractive option,

The other benefit is they didn’t finish bottom of their group; a complete exit from Europe would have been a disaster, but dropping into the Europa League isn’t catastrophic, it’s merely inconvenient in the grand scheme of things. Sure, the Europa League has a tough roster, Barcelona should not be looking at this as a demotion or penance for their recent tribulations. Instead, the Europa League is an opportunity, a chance at European success despite their horrible summer and abysmal early season form. Who knows, it might even give Xavi a shot at silverware that looked millions of miles away as they trudged off the Munich pitch last week, the sort of confidence boost his shot-shy team needs right now.