An away win for Barcelona in the Champions League may have spared their blushes

Published on: 16 November 2021
An away win for Barcelona in the Champions League may have spared their blushes
Barcelona's Nou Camp

It really would be hard to fathom a side like Barcelona playing Europa League football.  Having started this season in horrendous form off the pitch, and financial austerity wreaking havoc off it, the club is still in a period of crisis, but a crucial away win to Ukrainian outfit Dynamo Kiev will surely soften the blow for the Catalonians.

The Spanish league is hotly contested this season, with several sides capable of taking home the title but from the looks of things Barça won’t be one of them. Having regularly been favourites for the league in the online betting, the Camp Nou have been cast adrift this season, with a slew of underwhelming results forcing them into midtable, conceding goals at will and lacking the productivity to find the back of the net.

There was always going to be a period of transition when Lionel Messi ended a fifteen-year affiliation with the club this summer, but the signing of Memphis Depay, despite so much financial turmoil for the former Spanish champions, was meant to ease the damage left by the little magician’s departure. The Blaugrana’s bad luck continued when their other new addition Sergio Agüero, who had only recently grabbed his first Barca goal in El Clásico, had suffered chest pains which turned out to be cardiological issues that will leave him sidelined for at least three months.

With many questions being asked of the manager, Barça could not be further from where they had anticipated — with the atmosphere under Ronald Koeman mutating from hostile to downright toxic. You always felt there was an inevitability around his sacking — a matter of when as opposed to if.

In terms of European football, things weren’t much better either. However, a crucial win at the   Valeriy Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium puts one foot in the door for the round of 16. Ansu Fati eventually broke the deadlock and the La Masia academy has really paid dividends this season with a number of youth prodigies being granted more gametime including Gavi and Óscar Mingueza, who deputised at right back.

Considering the quality of Bayern Munich and Benfica, qualification to the next round is not a guarantee just yet, with the Bavarians humbling Koeman and co. in the initial stages of the competition with a resounding 3-0 win at the Nou Camp. Here though against Kiev, Barcelona looked much better and far more organised under Sergi Barjuán until the move for Xavi as the next manager is made permanent. A former teammate of Xavi, he was quick to heap on the praise for his side and believes the win could prove significant:

“This can be an important turning point. This frees you, gives you confidence. Seeing the players you could tell that there was tension before the game and now I see relief in their faces.” He said, whilst also acknowledging the performance of Fati: “We are a team. But a scorer like him [Fati] helps everyone do their jobs better. It’s vital that he’s got that vision of the goalmouth and how to put the ball away,”

The win will allow fans to breathe a sigh of relief but there is still work to do both domestically and in Europe, with the January transfer window proving to be an interesting proposition considering the lengthy injury list and financial constraints.

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