(Football news) Barcelona last season were embarrassed in the Champions League group stage as they lost to Bayern Munich twice and dropped down to the Europa League. This time around with a much improved squad the Blaugrana have done the same despite having Robert Lewandowski on their side. After winning their opening fixture against Viktoria Plzen, Barcelona lost 2-0 at the Allianz Arena against Bayern Munich and 1-0 at the San Siro against Inter Milan. They needed a win at the Nou Camp against Inter Milan but ended up drawing 3-3 in what could've easily been a loss. Coming into the matchweek 5, Barcelona needed Plzen to do the impossible and win against Inter and beat Bayern Munich at the Nou Camp.

In an  early kick off, Inter Milan defeated Viktoria Plzen 4-0 to seal their qualification to the Round of 16 and send Barcelona down to the Europa League. The Blaugrana didn't even do what was in their hands as they were embarrassed 3-0 by Bayern Munich in their own backyard which isn't the first time it has happened. Barcelona pulled so many financial levers in the summer to sign players, some of which were arguably surplus to needs. They were heavily dependent on reaching far in the Champions League to recover that money. Having failed to do that is a very big blow financially for the club. It doesn't do the pride of Barcelona any good as well.

It would be very easy to blame all this on the departure of Lionel Messi but it has started long before that. Barcelona haven't won the Champions League since 2015 and have reached the semi final only once since which is when they blew a 3-0 first leg lead and lost 4-3 on aggregate against Liverpool. They haven't won the League since 2019 and the closest they have come is 5 points behind the champions in 2020. Dropping down to the Europa League last season was a new low which has but the relegation in 2 consecutive seasons even with so many signings is embarrassing. Barcelona relied on signings that would fix things for the short term as they didn't sign anyone who was particularly good for the future. Signings like Robert Lewandowski, Marcos Alonso and Hector Bellerin were always going to be in the plans for a short term. Now that the short term plan of Barcelona has failed, the long term looks to be very dark.

While the majority of the talks will be about how the board has handled things, manager Xavi also has to take some of the blame. This team is definitely good enough to make it to the UCL Round of 16. Even though he has been unlucky with injuries and the fact that his side were drawn in the Group of death. Xavi constantly says in press conferences about how he doesn't want to win by playing badly which could be seen as a cheap dig at rivals Real Madrid. Now his side are in a situation where they play well but still lose games which is even worse. The Catalan club are still doing well in the league and that has to be their primary focus. Winning the Europa League at this stage is the best they can do but Xavi needs to make sure that they don't repeat last season's defeat against Frankfurt.

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