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Barcelona has been one of the best teams of the modern era but still have not been able to make it past the quarterfinals stages of the UEFA Champions League since winning the coveted trophy in the 2014-15 season when the South American trio of Messi, Suarez and Neymar went rampant and destroyed each and every side they faced. In 2016 they lost to Atlético Madrid 3-2 on aggregate, in 2017 it was Juventus who dumped them out of the UCL courtesy a 3-0 aggregate victory and in 2018 Roma managed a remarkable comeback to end Barca's hopes for another UCL trophy.
Here in the following slides, we look at a few reasons why the Spanish giants have failed to win the prestigious trophy in recent years.
#3 Luis Suarez's failure in the Champions League
Contradicting to his prolific LaLiga goal-scoring record, one has to go back to September 2015 to record Suarez's last Champions League goal away from Camp Nou which was against AS Roma in a 1-1 draw. Suarez has scored only four times in the competition since the 2015/16 season although he has made twenty-three appearances for the Blaugrana in the European competition. He is yet to score in this year’s UCL too.
Suarez's poor form in UCL competitions has been a significant impediment for the team. A striker especially of Suarez's calibre is expected to score more goals than what he has scored over the past few seasons in the Champions League. This has resulted in Barca being a one-man army for at least the last 3 seasons with Messi alone pulling the chains of Barcelona.
Contradictorily however Real Madrid's hattrick of UCL could be owed to Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema. If Suarez does not manage to score in the quarterfinal clash against Manchester United, then inevitably Barca's hopes of getting past the quarterfinals stage will be dented.
#2 Defensive Flaws
In the midst of all, one part of Barcelona has lingered behind in terms of effectiveness and reliability—defence. Barcelona have been flat, frail and disorganised and opponents have easily opened up their defence.
The last three seasons have clearly pointed out the defensive infidelities of arguably the best-attacking club in the world. The majority of problems in their defence being -
Right Back position:
The departure of Dani Alves has proved to be detrimental for Barca as ever since then the Blaugranas have failed to find a proper right-back to replace the Brazillian maestro. Barcelona tried playing Sergi Roberto, a midfielder in the fullback position but with very little success. Roberto’s runs, his close ball control and awareness are more suitable for the midfield. He has been poor defensively over the years which has made the task more difficult for the Barca centre-backs.
Centre Backs:
While Gerard Pique has been the soul of the defence, even he knows that he's not that agile and bold defender he used to be once. Barcelona has often left lots of space in their own half, which has allowed opponents to cause havoc. Since Puyol retired Barca have struggled to find a centre-back suitable to replace the Spaniard. Barca went with Samuel Umtitti but the linkage between Pique and the Frenchman has been really effeminate which has resulted in Barcelona conceding many goals. The defensive lapses were the primary reason behind Barca being dumped out of the UCL by Roma last year in the quarterfinals.
#1 Lack of creativity from the midfield
Barcelona have usually used a three-man midfield since the Pep Guardiola era. The Blaugranas then had Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets, a trio which made the finest of teams struggle. Xavi's control, Busquets' interception and Iniesta's creativity ruled the midfield every time Barca were on the field. But ever since the departure of Xavi the dominance in the midfield seems to have faded. Iniesta found it difficult to link up with the other midfielders after Xavi's departure.
Ivan Rakitic was chosen as Xavi's heir to the throne. He showed his excellence in his first season at the Camp Nou but has failed ever since. The Croatian has turned into a very conservative player who hardly takes any risk and fails to provide lethal balls in the final third which is primarily due to a vulnerable right back position.
Busquets' main job has been to connect the midfield and defence and he has been doing it pretty well even after Xaviesta's departure. Rakitic not being press resistant has resulted in Messi dropping deep to create chances.
These problems were generally not seen in the La Liga because the small teams did not tend to press high but the teams in the Champions League have exploited Barca's midfield problems to snatch victory away from them.
Arthur Melo's arrival has however somewhat solved the problem this season and Barca will be hoping for a more stable midfield for their game at the Old Trafford.
