Barcelona add Lisbon to European tour of horrors as Bayern humiliation shows problems went beyond Valverde

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Ben Hayward14 August 2020

Another year, another Champions League humiliation for Barcelona.

The Catalans can add Lisbon to a growing list of cities which also features Paris, Turin, Rome and Liverpool and reads like a European tour of horrors for a club which was the envy of the continent not so long ago.

Even on Thursday, midfielder Arturo Vidal had described Barca as 'the best team in the world' as he warned former club Bayern that they were not playing against a Bundesliga team.

But Bayern had not been beaten since November and in Europe, came into this fixture with eight wins out of eight, including a 7-2 win at Tottenham and a 7-1 aggregate victory over Chelsea in the last 16.

The German champions were everything Barca were not on Friday night, attacking with pace, power, precision and physicality to expose a slow and ageing Blaugrana back line.

REUTERS

It looked like a training exercise at times and if losing 7-0 to the Bavarians over two legs in 2013-14 was bad enough, this 8-2 mauling in a one-off match was worse. Much worse.

The competition's format post Covid-19 was supposed to help Barca. No tough away game and 90 minutes at a neutral venue would give Quique Setien's side a chance. Or so it seemed.

Early on, it had appeared that might be the case. Barca went behind, but caused Bayern problems and soon levelled. In the space of nine devastating minutes, though, everything changed.

Bayern made Marc-Andre ter Stegen uncomfortable and forced the German goalkeeper into poor passes when he would have been keen to impress against his international rival Manuel Neuer.

Sergio Roberto and Nelson Semedo were involved in a mix-up which led to the second goal, while Clement Lenglet was beaten was pace and then caught cold at his near post.

It was all too easy for Hansi Flick's slick side and despite a Luis Suarez strike after the break, Bayern quickly took back control and won the second half as they had the first – by four goals to one.

This was Setien's fifth defeat as Barca boss since taking over from Ernesto Valverde in January, when the former Athletic Club coach was sacked following his fourth loss of the season.

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Fresh in the minds of many was last season's 4-0 collapse at Anfield and Valverde had his faults, but this latest disaster proves that the problems went way deeper.

Changing coach has altered little. Barcelona's squad has been poorly planned and Setien has not improved the team at all. Not even in style terms, which was supposed to be his big plus point.

Some soul searching is now needed and an overhaul of this squad, which is not ideal in a summer when the club has limited funds post-pandemic.

Setien has not been an upgrade on Valverde and will surely leave, but a rebuilding project is required and this eight-goal humiliation must serve as a wake-up call for Barca as president Josep Maria Bartomeu heads into the last year of his mandate.

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Elections, scheduled for next summer, surely cannot come soon enough and persuading Lionel Messi that his future lies at Camp Nou may also be tricky after this embarrassment.

The Argentine is likely to stay, but after conceding four in Paris, three in Turin, four in Rome, four in Liverpool and now eight against Bayern, the time has come for real change at Barcelona.