There have been a lot of speculations in the media recently because of the humiliating match against Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals in Lisbon. However, we saw a different Barca and a different Messi there against the Bundesliga champions.
Messi has taken the responsibility as a club captain since the departure of Iniesta for about 2 complete seasons but his role as a captain can be questioned from the last game. Even though he has won La Liga once in his leadership, but he failed to bring Champions League cup two times.
The leaked images after the halftime when Barca was losing by 4-1 says a lot actually. We see a dejected Messi and an unfamiliar Ter Stegen whereas the Argentine should have energized the players to fight back. His reactions and feelings lost the game to Bayern, who according to De Jong, was not superior by quality but by the intensity.
Still, there was hope when it was 5-2 but eventually, the squad didn’t find any motivation to play, lacked the positivity after the repeated waves of attack from Bayern. Whereas there was a different scenario at the substitute bench with young energized players like Monchu, Riqui Puig, Araujo and others.
When the team was being humiliated with a goal after goals, these players were banging their benches still Setien didn’t provide any opportunity, only except Ansu, which was too late. The Cantabrian coach himself had his job at stake but didn’t bring on Ousmane Dembele, showing he also lacks the leadership qualities to lead a team like Barca and make the right calls at the right time.
The youth needs to be given the regular opportunity and should be mixed with the “aged Barca squad” to bring dynamism on to the play. There are a lot of potentials who step up from Las Masia but end up getting sold due to lack of opportunities, this needs to change immediately. Signing big players and making nothing out of it has become a part of the board and this makes Bartomeu equally responsible for the failures as well.
As Pique said after the match, there should be changes at the club and he himself offered his position for sacrifice to the youth to step up. The club needs major changes from coach to the board, we hope this bitter defeat brings a lot of changes with Barca fans have been asking for since ages.
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