The team had a humiliating farewell to the most important club competition in the world

What happened last Tuesday at the Olympic Stadium in Rome is something to see and not believe. Not even the most adventurous of the members of the soccer family would have thought that the Roman team would be able to recover from a 4-1 against and, much less, against Barcelona. However, sport as life itself gives surprises and a big one experienced the fans of the FC Barcelona, ​​who went from enjoying the strongest squad of the season to mourn a shameful elimination.

Leer en español: 4 razones para entender la debacle del Barcelona

Everything went wrong for Ernesto Valverde’s squad in his visit to Italy. Not only the team was shown as a timid and bowed head before the big bad wolf that ended up being La Roma, but also it said goodbye to the Champions as never before.

However, questions arise, such as: what really happened to the team? How to explain such a ridiculous elimination in the most important tournament of clubs in Europe? The truth is that for everything there is an answer and in this text the reasons are explained.

1. Messi-dependency: For nobody is a secret that Barcelona bases its game on Leonel Messi. However, in recent months, the dependence on the Argentine had been accentuated much more and the game on Tuesday finally ended up being the chronicle of an announced death, because if Messi is not well, the group falls apart.
2. Terrible decisions of Valverde: The determinations made by Valverde in the commitment were terrible. Posing a game without aspirations to attack, taking Iniesta off the field to put André Gómes, and give entry to Dembelé, when there was no room to play, were totally unwise decisions. On the other hand, that a technician does not know how to rest his players properly is also a big mistake. Messi, Suarez, Busquets, and Iniesta never stopped. The truth is, if the league was already won several dates previously, it was best to alternate them in the league games and for they to come with their best physical form to the decisive phase of Champions.
3. Team without hierarchy: When analyzing what Barcelona has done, it evidences that the team, in addition to being short in number, did not have renowned players to do much more than it did. André Gómes, Paco Alcácer, Dennis Suárez, Sergi Roberto, and Nelson Semedo are boys who never won anything important. To accompany Messi and Lucho Suárez you need more than youngsters, you need men with chevrons who have the necessary hierarchy to go in search of a cup as important as the ‘orejona’.
4. False expectations: Many expectations are raised year after year around the participation of Barca in the Champions and its goal to transcend. However, these expectations are not always linked to reality. At the end, analyzing the results of the Catalan squad in the last two editions prior to this 2018, it was also eliminated in the quarterfinals phase. So, maybe people have to understand that the team literally stopped being the splendid team of the past that in everything that competed was victorious.

Latin American Post | Freddy González
Translated from "4 razones para entender la debacle del Barcelona"