Barcelona have a very long road back to the days of former glory

The road ahead is a long and dark. Tough decisions have to be made at Barcelona for the club to get back to supremacy.

Another year, another devastating defeat, another abject performance. Fans of the Barcelona should be used to this by now. Even the casual soccer fan will have noticed this trend. Barcelona have a curse laid on them, but they have nobody else to blame but themselves.

As a fan of the club, someone who has watched their football for the last 15 years – extremely closely over the last 8 – I would say that this result has been coming.

If 2011 was the peak, 2015 was a close second. The football they played against United in the 2011 Champions League final was the best we’ve seen. In 2015, the revolutionized, superstar-driven, furiously managed Luis Enrique side did the unthinkable and won the treble for the second time creating history as the only side in Europe to have ever done it.

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Bayern, barring any real shocks, look set to repeat that record this year. There is some irony there, but for the tired Barcelona fan, this doesn’t seem worth pointing out.

Against Bayern this Barcelona  team was awful. Not even Lionel Messi was blameless. He looked dejected, and the Bayern players could smell it.

There was a lack of leadership on the field; Gerard Pique haplessly letting Alphonso Davies pass to Joshua Kimmich without a hint of a tackle, Jordi Alba getting a caution for throwing the ball at the referee, and Arturo Vidal picking fights with the opposition for no reason.

Off the field on the touchline, Quique Setien looked like a man lost, personified the most when he stood ready to be crucified. And he will be. 

But nothing will change. Not until Josep Bartomeu’s dictator-like era, an era symbolized by the glitz and glamour of money, sponsorship deals and a smile that Barcelona fans have become used to (and have hated seeing). Bartomeu has run this club to the ground, making rash decisions, selling the club’s best players, spending a billion euros on replacements, and hiding behind the fall guy (usually the manager) when it all blows up around him.

Messi deserves better. The fans deserve better. The city deserves better.

Since that false dawn in 2015, Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez have waltzed into the first eleven week after week, no player hungrily waiting in the wings to fight for that spot. Lucas Digne, Andre Gomes, Paco Alcacer left the club dejected, seeking pastures greener elsewhere. They saw what many fans saw, but the board refused to. That the top brass, these Barcelona “legends,” have gotten fat and complacent sitting atop their golden thrones drinking their wine, watching their bank balances rise.

Suarez and Messi, the best of friends off the field, are untouchable on it.

Messi has continued to do what Messi does, but Suarez hasn’t. His performances have dropped off a cliff and while the spark, the quality and the devastating finishing is still there, it shouldn’t justify his inclusion week after week. He is just not good enough. But his wages, and the fear of upsetting him mean that he will continue to play.

There is no semblance of a meritocracy at this club. And it starts at the top, where Bartomeu continues to fight, cling on to power, deflect blame, much like a dictator blinded by his own ego would.

What must Antoinne Griezmann be thinking? The World Cup winner was signed as yet another glamorous replacement for Neymar, and has been criticized time and time again this season, but hasn’t be played where he should be, has seen his opportunities limited, and like Setien (and Valverde before him) been the fall guy for the critics galore.

Phillipe Coutinho (two goals and an assist in 15 minutes of the bench) could have been groomed to replace Andres Iniesta had there been even a semblance of a plan before throwing a 100-odd million at his former club to sign him.

Now, Barcelona’s readymade replacement for Xavi (Arthur Melo) has been traded for another 30-year-old midfielder (Miralem Pjanic), Frenkie De Jong is continued to be played out of position, and there is no end in sight to this reliance on individuals to produce magic.

They are a one-dimensional, slow, physically weak team on the field, and a detestable one off it. The situation at the club is appalling.

Top clubs that have to be managed well from the top (see: Liverpool, Manchester City, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich). They recognize that there will be some short term pain before long-term success arrives.

The Barcelona management ignored this sensible mantra, and went for the gold early not bothering to look behind and see the chaos they might leave.

Real sacrificed the La Liga and prioritized the Champions League in an effort to rebuild their side. On paper, they have players for the future, ready-made replacements for their club legends Luka Modric, Sergio Ramos, Toni Kroos, Karim Benzema, Marcelo. Federico Valverde, Raphael Varane, Ferland Mendy have shown that they can play for Los Blancos already.

Meanwhile, Martin Odergaard is back at the club ready to prove himself, and a number of youngsters – Takefusa Kubo, Rodrygo, Vinicius to name a few – are biding their time.

Yes, Real were knocked out of the Champions League this year, but they weren’t humiliated, they haven’t been in a long time.

Liverpool are back on their perch, sacrificing on the league for the first few years under Klopp. They signed well (see: Andy Robertson, Gini Wijnaldum, Mo Salah, Sadio Mane) and placed their faith in their coach, that he will improve these players and create a team worthy of returning the club to its former glory.

Imagine that?

The same can be said for Manchester City and Bayern Munich (likely to face each other in the semi-finals this year).

Bayern are everything Barcelona are not. They place faith in players (that they will improve), sign smart, and don’t allow for complacency.

Strong, physical, technical, pacey and hungry. They have leaders all over the pitch. Manuel Neuer, Kimmich, Robert Lewandowski, David Alaba, Leon Goretzka, the list goes on.

This result was a long-time coming, and while Barcelona’s problems have been mitigated by the odd league title over the last 5 years, the argument can be made that those victories weren’t their own doing.

They were because of one man: Messi, and because of their competition (smartly) rebuilding and prioritizing the future. It is hard to see when this current Barcelona team will win it’s next trophy.

There are no tactics that can save this club, there is no manager that can revolutionize it either. Messi deserves better. He should leave to send a message. Pique said he would if that meant the club would improve. But Messi won’t. He can’t seem himself anywhere else but at Barcelona. And Bartomeu knows this and is giving his toothy grin as he signs Setien’s pink slip tonight.

2021. That is when the next presidential re-elections are, and it is only then when this club can begin to rebuild. The road is long and dark, and fans have to be patient.

The collective anger hasn’t worked.

Tonight, these fans will sleep numb to the pain of another humiliation in the Champions League and will be wondering painfully what their greatest ever player is thinking as he flies back to his city.