Drake believed in them. Not sure anyone else did.
Barcelona have sold their soul, their reputation and a significant chunk of their future and for what? For this: being unable to land a glove on Real Madrid in El Clasico and another early Champions League exit.
Should probably go ahead and add those two extra letters to the Camp Nou seating now. Menos que un club.
Xavi’s side have, for the most part, beaten up the lesser teams (and Real Sociedad) in La Liga without too much trouble since a 0-0 home draw against Rayo Vallecano on the opening weekend. Seven straight La Liga wins followed, during which Marc-Andre ter-Stegen conceded just one goal.
The problem, and it’s a considerable one, is that Barcelona look completely incapable of challenging Europe’s elite despite spending more than PSG, Manchester City and Bayern Munich this summer (although admittedly less than Nottingham Forest, such is the wealth gap between the Premier League and everywhere else).
They are only three points behind Real Madrid in La Liga after their 3-1 defeat at the weekend, that is true, but they also sit third in their Champions League group behind Inter and Bayern. They’ve taken a single point off those two teams so far and were fortunate to get that, Robert Lewandowski bailing them out in a thrilling 3-3 draw against Inter at Camp Nou. Failure to qualify for the knockout stages would be nothing short of disastrous given the potential financial ramifications.
Beyond that, Carlo Ancelotti’s side look far better equipped to secure the domestic title and thoroughly outclassed their historic rivals on Sunday. Xavi has now won 56% of his games, the worst percentage of any Barcelona manager to take charge of at least 50 since Serra Ferrer. Who? Exactly.
Barcelona have mortgaged their future in the hope of instant success under Xavi and the quick rebuilding of their brand, which has taken something of a hit in recent years, to put it mildly. Signing Martin Braithwaite and losing Lionel Messi will often do that to a club. Not sure a Spotify sponsorship and special OVO shirts quite fix it.
Raphinha, Lewandowski, Jules Kounde, Franck Kessie, Andreas Christensen, Hector Bellerin and Marcos Alonso all joined this summer despite an all-consuming financial crisis that made it extremely difficult to register players under La Liga’s salary cap rules. Essentially, new-old president Joan Laporta has decided to lump it all on black (again) despite Barcelona still owing money on other disastrous…
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