Barca's shock Euro exit triggers talk of demise
Source: Agencies |
April 26, 2012, Thursday
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Print Edition
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BARCELONA awoke yesterday to questions of whether the demise of one of football's all-time greatest clubs had begun.
After winning two of the last three Champions League titles, defending champion Barcelona was eliminated from the competition on Tuesday following a 2-2 draw with 10-man Chelsea in the second leg of the semifinals.
While Barcelona's best attributes of possession, quick-touch passing and overall shots were on show, the club failed to score enough goals to reach yet another European Cup final.
And maybe worse, the exit comes only four days after a 1-2 loss to Real Madrid that essentially dropped Barcelona out of contention for the Spanish league title.
With coach Pep Guardiola's future to be determined in the coming days, newspaper La Vanguard summed up the mood in the Catalan capital with the headline "Funeral at the Camp Nou."
Most of Spain's sports newspapers rallied around Barcelona's play, with El Mundo Deportivo among those that labeled the result "unjust," but Chelsea's players were not buying into such an analogy after playing for more than 50 minutes with 10 men following John Terry's red card.
"We came here and we scored goals and in the first leg we scored as well," Chelsea striker Didier Drogba said. "Without being arrogant, we deserved to win."
Barcelona's poor effort capped a miserable week for Lionel Messi, which showed the club thrives or dies off the boot of the Argentina forward. Messi missed a penalty that would likely have swung the series in Barcelona's favor and the world player of the year was held scoreless in both legs and against Real. Barcelona failed to win in three consecutive games for the first time since 2009, and the only remaining consolation for the team is next month's Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao.
But the domestic cup will provide little consolation to a team that has won 13 trophies under Guardiola. "I don't even know what I feel right now," Guardiola said. "From opening day I've transmitted this crazy theme of 'You have to go out and attack, attack, attack,' and there are moments when we don't know when to pause. Maybe it's a lesson to learn for the future. We have to find the way to attack better."
Guardiola certainly missed injured striker David Villa against Chelsea, but he also left Daniel Alves and Pedro Rodriguez on the bench, with Alves replacing Gerard Pique only after the Spain defender left with a concussion midway through the first half.
While Barcelona enjoyed 72 percent possession, it's 22 overall shots on Tuesday dwarfed the actual number it had on target: five compared to Chelsea's three. Barcelona had 46 shots over two legs with nine on target, while Chelsea advanced 3-2 on aggregate with just four shots on target.
After winning two of the last three Champions League titles, defending champion Barcelona was eliminated from the competition on Tuesday following a 2-2 draw with 10-man Chelsea in the second leg of the semifinals.
While Barcelona's best attributes of possession, quick-touch passing and overall shots were on show, the club failed to score enough goals to reach yet another European Cup final.
And maybe worse, the exit comes only four days after a 1-2 loss to Real Madrid that essentially dropped Barcelona out of contention for the Spanish league title.
With coach Pep Guardiola's future to be determined in the coming days, newspaper La Vanguard summed up the mood in the Catalan capital with the headline "Funeral at the Camp Nou."
Most of Spain's sports newspapers rallied around Barcelona's play, with El Mundo Deportivo among those that labeled the result "unjust," but Chelsea's players were not buying into such an analogy after playing for more than 50 minutes with 10 men following John Terry's red card.
"We came here and we scored goals and in the first leg we scored as well," Chelsea striker Didier Drogba said. "Without being arrogant, we deserved to win."
Barcelona's poor effort capped a miserable week for Lionel Messi, which showed the club thrives or dies off the boot of the Argentina forward. Messi missed a penalty that would likely have swung the series in Barcelona's favor and the world player of the year was held scoreless in both legs and against Real. Barcelona failed to win in three consecutive games for the first time since 2009, and the only remaining consolation for the team is next month's Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao.
But the domestic cup will provide little consolation to a team that has won 13 trophies under Guardiola. "I don't even know what I feel right now," Guardiola said. "From opening day I've transmitted this crazy theme of 'You have to go out and attack, attack, attack,' and there are moments when we don't know when to pause. Maybe it's a lesson to learn for the future. We have to find the way to attack better."
Guardiola certainly missed injured striker David Villa against Chelsea, but he also left Daniel Alves and Pedro Rodriguez on the bench, with Alves replacing Gerard Pique only after the Spain defender left with a concussion midway through the first half.
While Barcelona enjoyed 72 percent possession, it's 22 overall shots on Tuesday dwarfed the actual number it had on target: five compared to Chelsea's three. Barcelona had 46 shots over two legs with nine on target, while Chelsea advanced 3-2 on aggregate with just four shots on target.
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