Barcelona were once again on the wrong end of a 3-0 thrashing, at home, against Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Julian Nagelsmann’s side made short work of an unrecognizable Barcelona who came out with the mindset of not to lose rather than to compete.
Ronald Koeman opted to go with a 3-5-2 formation to pack the midfield and provide cover for the defense. Throughout the match, Bayern were finding acres of pace with the defense scrambling to clear the danger away. But it looked like the Germans never needed to shift into an extra gear.
Barcelona no longer part of the the elite sides in Europe
The Catalans could consider themselves unlucky as all three Bayern goals came off a deflection either of a player or a goalpost. However, it had more to do with where the two teams find themselves.
On one hand, there is Bayern Munich, a well-run club who have an identity and a style of play. On the other, there’s Barcelona. A club in an institutional crisis, swimming in debt and now without the best player in history, Lionel Messi.
In other words, another embarrassing defeat had nothing to do with luck.
Gerard Pique put it succinctly during his post match interview.
"“It is what it is,” Pique said. “Now we are who we are. We are going to end up competing, although it will be a difficult year.The game teaches us that Bayern are superior, but very young players have come out who must be the future.”Source: Mundo Deportivo"
What the defeat also showed is Barcelona are no longer at a level where they can compete with the best teams in Europe. Messi papered over the cracks and without him, it is quite evident how limited this club truly is.
In the last three Champions League games at the Camp Nou, Barcelona has lost 3-0 to Juventus, 4-1 to PSG and 3-0 to Bayern Munich. A competent side isn’t losing by those margins — especially at home.
Some of those losses were with Messi still in the team.
To make matters even more depressing for Barcelona, this was the first time in their history that Barcelona did not record a single shot on target in the Champions League.
#OJOALDATO - El Barcelona termina un partido SIN REALIZAR NI UN SOLO REMATE A PUERTA por PRIMERA VEZ en TODA la historia de la UEFA Champions League #UCL
— MisterChip (Alexis) (@2010MisterChip) September 14, 2021
Koeman can make all the excuses he wants. He can blame it on the lack of forwards, only having young players to count on or on his squad not being as good as Bayern’s.
Ronald Koeman: "The system? We had three forwards available. Of course we would have liked to compete better, but this is what we have, this is what we have."
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) September 14, 2021
But the Dutchman shares the majority of the blame. The players do as well but they went out there to do what the manager asked of them. To sit deep, play long balls to Luuk de Jong and try to hit the Germans on the break.
All those are counter-intuitive to the way people expect Barcelona to play. Those tactics are the complete opposite to the way they played under Pep Guardiola and how they revolutionized the sport.
Koeman said he was a “Cruyffista” but realistic. Against Bayern Munich he was neither of those things. He was a manager trying to hold on as long as he could vying for some sort of positive result.
This Barcelona side is nowhere near good enough as previous editions. In this respect, Koeman is playing with what he has. But there are young players with a promising future who can help the team right now.
Despite the emergence of Pedri, Koeman is only playing the young players because he has no choice. He also has the likes of Frenkie de Jong and Ronald Araujo to build around. There is a young core and other components to field a competitive team.
The problem is with the manager who is not the right one to take Barcelona forward. If the club was in better financial shape, he would have been fired.
In his first season, he also struggled tactically when it came to playing the tougher opponents. Down the stretch, it was against teams they should have beat and didn’t that ended up costing them the league.
The signs were there that another thumping at the hands of Bayern were on the horizon. The 2-1 win against Getafe, where Barcelona ended up with five at the back, was simply a precursor.
Teams like Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Real Madrid are at the top level of European football. Barcelona were once there but are no longer part of that club. They are a second-tier side now with plenty of work ahead of them before they can consider themselves equal to the teams mentioned above.