5 steps Barcelona must take to win the Champions League next season

Lionel Messi - Humiliating exit
Lionel Messi - Humiliating exit

It is no longer news that Barcelona saw their dream of a historic third treble shattered when the club somehow conspired to throw away a 3-0 first-leg lead and capitulate, with Liverpool running out 4-0 winners at Anfield.

The Catalans would be hardly consoled by the fact that their domestic supremacy has been extended with LaLiga already wrapped up and a Copa final against Valencia to look ahead to.

The Champions League is very much the Holy Grail and the club's failure to win it this season means they have now gone four seasons without Europe's premier club competition and this is sure to leave a bitter taste in their mouths.

Plans have begun in earnest for the club to launch an assault on 'Big Ears' next season and in this piece, we shall be highlighting five steps Barcelona must take to ensure they fulfil their mission of winning the Champions League next season.


#5 Get a proven goalscorer

Luis Suarez
Luis Suarez

Luis Suarez has long proven himself as not just arguably the greatest goalscorer of his generation but to a large extent one of the greatest in the very history of the game.

The 32-year-old has banged in goals for fun throughout his career and it goes without saying that all his teams have been better off with his goals, winning numerous trophies off his scoring boots.

Since joining Camp Nou in 2014, the Uruguayan has gone on to score almost 200 goals, helping the Blaugrana to a treble in his debut season as well as countless other trophies since then.

However, like every other player, Suarez is not immune from a drop in performance which comes with age and the former Liverpool man has started showing painful signs of decline.

Despite scoring over 25 goals in all competitions, the Barcelona number 9 has struggled to match previous heights and shows signs of laborious play.

Nowhere has this been more evident than in the Champions League where improved opposition means Suarez is much more easily found out.

In nine UCL matches this season, he scored just one goal, while he is without an away goal in the competition for over three years.

These are rather poor numbers for a man charged with leading the line at a club like Barcelona and if the club is to genuinely have a shot at European glory next season, then they must address this glaring weakness.

#4 Fix the Dembele conundrum

On his day, Dembele is a player of undoubted quality
On his day, Dembele is a player of undoubted quality

Numerous eyebrows were raised when Barcelona splashed a then club record fee of €105m to sign Dembele from Borussia Dortmund.

The French international had won many admirers for his displays in Germany albeit for just one season and he was signed to be a direct replacement for the PSG-bound Neymar.

The 21-year-old had a hellish unveiling and things only went from bad to worse when he suffered a long-term injury barely a month into his Barca sojourn.

That was the beginning of the end of his debut season and despite returning, he was never the same player such that there were rumours that he could be on his way out of the club.

Things continued in the same manner for him in his second season, as he faced criticism over his lifestyle choices and professionalism, but the World Cup winner took the scolding with his chin up and produced the best football of his Barcelona career till date, displacing Coutinho from the starting lineup.

Just when things started to look bright for him, injury once more came knocking, ruling him out of Barcelona's crunch period of the season.

On his day, Dembele is a player of undoubted quality. The problem, however, lies in the fact that he rarely stays fit long enough at a stretch to showcase enough of his abilities.

Given his injury-prone nature and huge salary outlay, Barcelona must as a matter of urgency act on Dembele by selling him off and investing the recouped money into getting a player who can aid in their trophy hunt.

#3 Complete the De Ligt deal

At just 19, the Netherlands international already shows a composure which belies his age
At just 19, the Netherlands international already shows a composure which belies his age

While the Barcelona attack might hold a fair share of the blame for the capitulation against Liverpool, the bulk of the blame lies at the foot of the defence for making numerous schoolboy errors and gifting Liverpool at least three goals on a platter. It is here that the highly rated teenager Mattijs De Ligt steps in.

At just 19, the Netherlands international already shows a composure which belies his age, while his maturity is also off the chart, as he is already the youngest captain in Ajax's illustrious history and did not look a bit out of place despite coming up against some of the greatest players in history during the course of this season's Champions League.

It is hard to imagine Barcelona's defence switching off in the manner they did for Liverpool's 4th goal with De Ligt present, while his tenacity and aerial threat should also offer a considerable threat going forward.

Having already completed the purchase of his Dutch teammate, Frenkie de Jong, Barcelona would do well to go over the line for Matthijs de Ligt, as he could prove to be the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle.

#2 Ernesto Valverde must show ruthlessness

Ernesto Valverde
Ernesto Valverde

Ernesto Valverde was appointed as Barcelona manager in the summer of 2017 and in his first season, he showed his tactical prowess in guiding the club to a domestic double and almost unbeaten LaLiga campaign in his debut season in charge.

His feat was however blighted by the fact that he oversaw one of the most disastrous European results in Barcelona's history as the club lost a 4-1 first leg lead by losing 3-0 to Roma in the second leg.

This season, domestic supremacy has once again been achieved, but in showing an alarming loss of concentration, Valverde allowed lightning strike twice as Liverpool dented Barcelona's European quest with another remontada.

The 53-year-old showed some tactical naivety by playing into the hands of Jurgen Klopp, and seeing as a lot of managers would be keen to taste European glory next season, Valverde must rise above his weaknesses to lead Barcelona to the promised land.

#1 Limit Messi dependence

La Pulga
La Pulga

Lionel Messi is unarguably one of the greatest players in history and the greatest to ever put on the famous colours of Barcelona.

It, therefore, stands to reason that the club should build around the mercurial Argentine, and rightly so, as 38 major honours have been won ever since the Barcelona icon made his Blaugrana debut.

With 48 goals in all competitions this season, he is by far the club's most potent goal threat, while his 22 assists are also significantly more than anybody else managed this term.

Messi's impact can largely be felt in that they look nowhere as dangerous when he is not in the starting lineup and the Rosario native has more than bailed Barca out on a number of occasions.

For as long as Messi is on his mojo, this dependence is not too much of a problem, but this proves a conundrum when he is uncharacteristically off-colour.

This much is evident in the Champions League where Barcelona went three consecutive seasons without qualifying past the last eight, and it came as no surprise that Lionel Messi failed to score in each of those disastrous fixtures.

The club will always rely on Messi to bail them out, his status as an all-time great guarantees that, but there should be a limit to how much they rely on him to provide inspiration, and other players should begin to take the mantle in his absence. This could be the difference between success next season on the continent and another campaign filled with disappointment.

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Edited by Anthony Akatugba Jr.