What Do Barcelona Need To Do To Compete For The UCL Again After Hitting Rock Bottom

What Do Barcelona Need To Do To Compete For The UCL Again After Hitting Rock Bottom

Like a fairy tale that is coming to an end – Barcelona is going through a tough time at the moment in the UCL

The giant Catalan club was historically the benchmark in quality for the rest of the world.

How the mighty have fallen. The Spanish giants have now been reduced to a new low, this is the first time in 20 years that the club failed to qualify for the Champions League round of sixteen.

Barcelona Bundled Out Of UCL 2021-22 Season

While the 3-0 defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich at Allianz Arena might have cut short the chances of Barcelona advancing to the next phase of the Champions League – it is nothing compared how far the Spaniards have fallen in the competition, only scoring twice but conceding nine times.

Barca have found it impossible to get back to the throne they once shared with the other giant clubs in the region and while the likes of Bayern Munich and the top Premier League clubs are setting the pace. Manchester City and Liverpool are looking to continue their league dominance in UEFA’s most elite club competition. The Citizens, the Bavarians and the Reds are among the top three teams touted to scoop the prestigious competition.

Moreover, since PSG’s procurement of Messi, Ramos and others, they are now seen as one of the favorites to win the UCL, behind City, Bayern, Liverpool, and Chelsea at 9-1 odds, according to the 2021/2022 Champions League betting odds. Beating Real Madrid in Round of 16 will further propel their chances of winning the trophy that the French club have been longing to win for some time now.

However, rising again to challenge these powerhouses is by no mean a small job for the newly appointed Blaugrana coach. There have been some positive signs since Xavj took over the club in less than seven games, the Bavarian have once again showed the Blaugrana how much work is still needed to consistently compete with the best.

While the club can deal with not being in Champions League R16 this season, having to miss out on the next one will certainly prove to be a bigger problem for the club struggling to get their financial house in order. However, a club like Barcelona needs to win the competition and where Bayern has already shown the team the amount of work needed, below are some things the Blaugrana need to win UCL again.

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Trust in Youth

Before the Xavi Hernandez acquisition, the previous coach, Ronald Koeman had begun to turn up the interest in the club’s youth players, as the likes of Oscar Mingueza, and Illaix Moriba benefited immensely from his decision.

However, the team’s over-reliance on big-name players did take its toll on the club’s financial health as many began to demand increased wages to match other players salary, just to stay with the club.

The most dominant era of Barcelona in world football has always been about the reliance on youth, La Masia products featured greatly in Johan Cruyff’s and Pep Guardiola’s time as the head coach of the Blaugrana.

Moreover, since the birth of the past administration, before the Bartomeu era, there has been a shift in focus of the club from youth policy system as the likes of Neymar, Luis Suarez, Griezman, Coutinho were all procured with huge fees and demanded very high wages.

However, Barcelona will have to return to investing in the youth policy hugely to have the chance of competing with other clubs in UCL. Though the likes of Gavi, Fati, Pedri, Dest, Garcia, and Abde are giving a sign on how bright the future could be, losing out in the UCL will only make the future more blurred, thus, Barcelona must commit to investing in La Masia for a better future.

Restart again

One of the major reasons why Barcelona failed miserably in the Champions League in past years has been because the team failed to recover from bad results, due to the pressure on the team to deliver on all fronts.

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However, the loss of Lionel Messi to PSG can give the team the necessary opportunity needed to build from scratch while centering its attack on Ansu Fati who is likely to stay with the club for a long time.

A new beginning comes with lower expectations as long as the team can qualify for the Champions League in the process, there is a chance that the young players would grow with immense pride and character at the club.

Not always employing former players as the coach

Enjoying huge success while entrusting the team to a former player who understands the philosophy and principles of the club – it’s understandable why the board is adamant about employing a coach that shares their ideology and history

While Tata Martino was not a success during his reign as Barcelona coach, having the like of Lois Van Gaal, Franck Rijkaard and Sir Bobby Robson as coach in between Cruyff and Guardiola is not such a bad idea that kept the team high in the league despite playing UEFA Cup rather than the Champions League.

Howerver, the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, City, and Bayern are not scared to employ a coach who has no history with their club to create new dynamism to compete at the highest level of club football.

Though there has been some improvement in the past few games under the guidance of the former Champions League winner, it’s not enough, as Barcelona crashed out of the Champion’s League group stages when Benfica visited Camp Nou.

With a coach with different ideas, the team has the chance of winning instead of sticking to the club-style of play that had been so predictable to another team when facing them.

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Barcelona needs to start moving away from always exploring former players as coach whenever there is trouble and instead the hierarchy should look beyond this in order to try and win the Champions League again next year.

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