Never feel bad for Barca.

Legal Custodian said:

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Texaggie7nine said:

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Is it an effort issue or is Bayern just in better shape?

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Bayern is the better team. Barca are in poor form, yes, but Bayern would win this game 7 times out of 10 with both teams in top form. The way Barca are right now, Bayern wins this game 9 times out of 10.

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I was wrong here, sorry guys. At this rate, Bayern would win this game 10 out of 10 times.

This did not age well at all.

Barca have been too fixated on signing big names that are past their prime rather than building a team around their stars
Spending big on those stars have left them nothing to sign good young players to fill glaring voids

Bayern have done just that....they built one hell of a team by finding great players that were not necessarily huge stars at the time

This barcelona team needs a complete overhaul but sadly not much time this season for that

That was quite satisfying. Messi did nothing. Even bailed on the post-match interview. And he's Barca's captain. Yikes!

That didn't take long. Setien got sacked. Getting embarrassed 8-2 will do that n

jeffk said:

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Never feel bad for Barca.

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I wish I had the hang-my-head-in-shame emote, because as the game was winding down, I certainly felt sad for them.

But then all the "they've hit rock-bottom" talk in the post-game commentary and interviews reminded me of how high on their ivory tower they were. If losing - even embarrassingly like this - in the quarterfinals of the Champions League is "rock-bottom" for a team, then it probably means that their management and fanbase has enjoyed a period of so much success that they're divorced from reality.*

This isn't rock bottom; it's just back to reality.

To continue with the theme of their post-game show; being divorced from reality would cause you to arrogantly believe you've got the right formula thus ignoring necessary changes in personnel and tactics.

I would argue this applies more broadly to Spanish football as a whole, not just Barca. Roberto Martinez's own comments about Spanish football showed this same arrogance. He dismissed the idea that it's tactics/style and chalked it up to Spanish clubs not having the money they used to have, and not being able to spend like English and Italian clubs can.

Nevermind that according to Transfermarkt, 3 Spanish clubs are the in the Top 10 in player value (Real Madrid 2, Barca 4, Atletico 8) and not a single Serie A team is Top 10. And the Bayern team that just embarrassed Barca is 5th. I realize that in the past, Real Madrid and Barca might be 1 and 2 on the list, but never-the-less, that's splitting hairs. This isn't simply about money.

And nevermind that just a day prior, an RB Leipzig club that has never spent more than 20 Million Euro on a player, and had lost its highest valued player to transfer (Timo Werner), deservingly beat Atletico Madrid using a free-flowing positive style of play.