Barcelona suffer another humiliating European night

Suffering embarrassing losses in the Champions League has seemingly turned into Barcelona’s calling card as they were once again on the wrong side of a thrashing.

The Catalan side followed up their 3-0 loss to Bayern Munich with another 3-0 defeat, this time at the hands of Benfica.

The game started off poorly with the home side going in front within three minutes. Barcelona tried to bounce back but saw their efforts at an equalizer thwarted by poor finishing from Luuk de Jong.

From then on, Ronald Koeman had no answer as he took out Gerard Pique before the end of the first half and put Frenkie de Jong, his best player in that half, at center-back.

Barcelona lose the first two games of a group stage for the first time since 2000

The scoreline could have been worse with Marc-Andre ter Stegen coming out of his area and misjudging a ball. Barcelona was fortunate the ensuing shot hit the post and went out of play.

But it was more of the same from what the team showed against Bayern Munich. Koeman set out with a 3-5-2 that once again failed to protect the defense or offer anything up top. Benfica were dangerous in transition and aside from a few plays involving De Jong, Memphis Depay was non-existent and Luuk de Jong was ineffective.

To make matters worse, Eric Garcia picked up another red card late which is his second sending off in only six games. To be fair to the 20-year-old, no one on the team covered themselves in glory.

It was another game in which Barcelona struggled to create and finished with only one shot on target. So far this season, they’ve been outscored 6-0 in two matches and sit at the bottom of their group. Their numbers are worse than that if one goes back to last season.

To no surprise, the latest result has once again put Koeman’s continuity in danger with it already hanging by a thread. The Dutch manager was asked about it and his team’s performance after the game.

"“It’s a tough result to take, and it’s not what we saw on the pitch,” Koeman said.“While we conceded early, we were good until it became 2-0. We had a number of chances to score and didn’t take them. That’s how you change games.“If they score the three chances they create and we don’t, then that’s the big difference between the sides.”Source: ESPN"

Regarding his future, Koeman said he felt backed by his players but not entirely sure about the club and that it was out of his hands.

He did, however, go out of his way to absolve himself of any blame for the result and pointed out the situation of the club.

"“I’m not going to argue about the level of my team. There’s no point in comparing this with Barcelona teams of years gone by. That’s as clear as water,” the Dutchman said.Source: ESPN"

While this Barcelona is nowhere near sides of old, it is no excuse to be losing easily to Benfica who, on paper, are not as good as the Spanish giants. The difference is in the details and Benfica are simply a better coached side.

The same mistakes that plagued Barcelona remain the problem. We can talk about who is fit and who isn’t but it does not absolve Koeman of his responsibility of getting his team ready for the big occasions. Aside from last year away to Juventus, Barcelona have come up short each and every time.

Barcelona now find themselves in real danger of not progressing out of the group stage. They currently have zero points and a -6 goal differential. Falling down to the Europa League, or out of European competition altogether, is going to be a massive blow to club’s prestige and pocketbook.

As far as Koeman’s future is concerned, president Joan Laporta is not going to fire him right now. But there will be a meeting on Thursday to once and for all decide the Dutchman’s fate. Giving everything that has happened and his feud with Laporta, the chances are high that Koeman has managed his final game at Barcelona.