It was deja vu for Barcelona at Old Trafford on Thursday, as Manchester United as soon as once more proved to be the bane of their European ambitions.
After a fierce contest, the Red Devils emerged triumphant, securing a 2-1 victory that left the Catalans nursing their wounds once more after one other continental failure.
Last season additionally they ended up within the Europa League playoffs after ending third of their Champions League group. However, they had been knocked out of Europe’s second-tier competitors within the quarterfinals after a 3-2 loss to Eintracht Frankfurt at Camp Nou.
It was the primary time since 1998-99 below Louis van Gaal that Barca failed to achieve the Champions League knockout levels in two consecutive years and solely the fifth event they’ve been eradicated within the group stage within the final three a long time.
After an excellent run from 2005-15, profitable 4 Champions League titles, Barcelona has didn’t get previous the final 16 in Europe’s elite competitors within the earlier three seasons after being humiliated 8-2 by Bayern Munich within the 2019-20 quarterfinals.
They have reached the semis solely as soon as since profitable the Champions League in 2014-15.
Barca fell right into a monetary disaster between disappointments exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Restricted by La Liga’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) guidelines, they might not resign membership nice Lionel Messi, who left as a free agent for Paris Saint-Germain in 2021.
Financial hit
Crashing out of Europe once more is a dent in Barca’s funds. Its perilous state led the membership’s board to promote a stake of their TV rights and conform to promote their audio-visual division as a part of a number of monetary levers.
In this 12 months’s price range, Barcelona’s board predicted the staff would attain the Champions League quarterfinals and win the La Liga title.
It was a daring and over-optimistic view, with Barca now going through a large blow to their 2022-23 earnings after exiting the Champions and Europa League.
This 12 months ought to have been certainly one of restoration as a revamped Barcelona facet, spearheaded by new signing Robert Lewandowski, was anticipated to be heading in a brand new course.
They are high of La Liga with a lead of eight factors over their bitter rivals, Spanish and European champions Real Madrid.
However, their dreadful European outcomes have taken a few of the shine off their home kind.
“It’s a big disappointment, but I believe we were better this season than in the previous one; at least we showed up,” Xavi informed Movistar Plus after Thursday’s loss to Manchester United.
“We performed towards top-level golf equipment like Bayern Munich, Inter Milan (within the Champions League), and now Manchester United and couldn’t be as much as their stage.
“Now what’s left to us is to be humble and self-evaluate how we might be higher to compete on the highest stage in Europe subsequent season.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
