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It's the worst time to be alive for all Barcelona fans right now.
For the fourth successive season in a row, Messi and co. have crashed out of the Champions League and this was probably the closest they got in the last four years. Yet this is going to be one of the worst defeats in Barcelona's history ever, simply due to the way they played.
Time and time again, these players have cracked under pressure in the Champions League and it has now become a regular pattern for this club.
From the players to the manager, everyone deserves to be blamed for the disastrous performance at Anfield and right now, the board and technical staff at FC Barcelona have some big calls to make going into the next season.
#1 Changing the team management
Quite simply put, Ernesto Valverde isn't good enough for such a big club like Barcelona. Thanks to him, Barcelona have been consistently winning and dominating the domestic league for the past two years, but the Champions League isn't his cup of tea.
In crunch moments, he looks out of ideas and doesn't seem to have a plan B. As a manager who gets the job done in terms of results, he may be one of the best currently, but his style of management simply doesn't suit a big club like Barcelona. He bases his entire tactics around one player (you know who I am talking about), and when that particular player isn't upto the mark, all his tactics go for a toss.
Talking about the disasters at Rome and Anfield, he was more of a reactive manager rather than a proactive one. For instance, he brought on Dembele too late at the 85th minute in Roma while chasing a goal instead of bringing him on earlier before the 3rd goal by Kostas Manolas. The same goes with players like Arthur and Malcom, who were brought on too late to make an impact rather than coming on earlier.
In such a situation, it is perfect for someone like Erik ten Hag, Ronald Koeman or Maurizio Sarri to step in, out of which the former two have been linked to Barcelona in the recent past.
The current manager of Ajax has been a revelation this season. Formerly an understudy of Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich, the Dutch manager has quite successfully implemented the philosophy and tactics he learnt under the tutelage of the former Barcelona manager at Ajax.
Ajax have played some really good football under Erik ten Hag this season and they have gone pretty far in the Champions League under his leadership. Under ten Hag, the team has displayed attributes of cohesion as a unit and have also exhibited strong character in crunch moments.
Rather than looking up to a single player as a source of inspiration, the entire team has performed as a unit and have put in some formidable performances against the likes of Real Madrid and Juventus.
Talking about Ronald Koeman, the Barcelona legend has been pretty successful as the Dutch national team manager so far after his difficult tenure at Everton, even though it can be argued that Everton's players aren't really suited to a possession based style of play. Moreover, he has successfully worked with the likes of De Jong and De Ligt in the national team, both of whom are most likely to join Barcelona in the summer. The Dutch manager is no stranger to Barcelona's playing style and it's values and could be a perfect fit for the Catalan club.
As for Maurizio Sarri, even though he has been pretty less successful with Chelsea,it can be argued that he faces the same problem at Stamford Bridge as Koeman faced during his time at Everton. He does not have the players suited to his style of play, like he had during his time at Napoli. However, Sarri is pretty less likely to join Barcelona as no news outlets have linked him to Barcelona lately.
Simply put, the style of management of these three managers complements a club like Barcelona to a great extent in terms of style of play, youth development and other aspects as well and Barcelona would do great with such kind of managers.
#2 Changing the team's core
After a few disasters in a row, it is pretty evident that some players who form the core of this team cannot be relied upon heavily.
In attack, Luis Suarez needs to have some competition for the number nine spot as well. He is 32 right now and isn't getting any younger. As a striker, he has lost his sharpness to a great extent and the only major reason he is still a part of this squad is due to his telepathic connection with Messi and his other teammates.
In short, it is fair to enough to say that when Messi doesn't perform, Suarez is often pretty toothless in attack.
In such circumstances, it is important that Barcelona bring in another reliable striker with age on his side and who can perform in Suarez's absence.
In addition to that, young attackers like Malcom certainly deserve more minutes under their belt and someone like Coutinho might be sold to generate some much needed funds going into the summer transfer window.
Furthermore in midfield, players like Ivan Rakitic and Sergio Busquets need to make way for younger players like Arthur, Carles Alena, Riqui Puig and Frenkie de Jong in the starting lineup.
In defence, even though Alba and Pique have had excellent seasons, they are now on the wrong side of the 30s and just like the other senior players mentioned above, they cannot be heavily relied upon as well. Right now, it is the perfect time for someone like Marc Cucurella and De Ligt (if he joins which seems likely) to be integrated into the first team squad and Sergi Roberto should undoubtedly make way for Semedo in the starting lineup.
Even the remaining squad needs to be trimmed down right now to integrate more La Masia players into the first team squad. The likes of Vermalaen, Rafinha, Kevin Prince Boateng, Denis Suarez and Andre Gomes(whose loan deal ends this summer) need to be sold as soon as possible, to generate some funds.
Right now, a young group of talented players as the core of this team seems to be the only way forward for this prestigious club.
#3 An ageing Messi cannot be the lone superstar of this team anymore
While Lionel Messi is arguably the best player of all time, he does have a knack to crumbled under pressure on many occasions. Although his ability is second to none, he simply lacks the mental strength at times to perform under crunch moments.
He might have delivered a lot of match winning performances in La Liga in pressure situations, but in the Champions League, he has been a mere shadow of himself in such circumstances, occasionally.
Taking games against oppositions like Chelsea (in 2011/12 season), Bayern Munich (in 2012/13 season), Atletico Madrid (in 2015/16 season), Juventus (in 2016/17 season), AS Roma (in 2017/18 season) and the recently concluded game against Liverpool into account, it is a clear indication that Messi turns off and loses motivation in tense moments in the Champions League, even though it should be considered that apart from the game against Chelsea, Messi was surrounded by either mediocre managers, teammates or sometimes even both.
Lionel Messi is probably not the best player to be relied upon to handle mental pressure all the time and the team needs other players to step up in crunch moments, especially at this stage of his career, and most importantly the dressing room in Barcelona needs a vocal leader figure in the form of either a manager or a player to take relieve Messi of some mental pressure.
To be precise, rather than always looking for Messi and hoping for him to create something, it is important that the players around him rely on collective brilliance rather than someone's individual brilliance.
Conclusion
It is fair enough to say that this season, Barcelona have been hit hard in one of their most crucial matches of the season due to poor management by their coach, a squad full of ageing players and their significant over reliance on Messi.
FC Barcelona should consider this match as an important lesson and look to build a new team with a core of younger players who would play more as a team rather than rely on someone's individual brilliance, under the leadership of a coach whose style of management suits the club.
