What could have been in the Champions League for Hansi Flick and Barcelona

Hansi Flick and Barcelona are cruising to a title in Spain, and but this season will really feel bittersweet when it’s all mentioned and completed.

If you happen to have been informed two years in the past that Flick would arrive and instantly ship two La Liga trophies, any Barca fan would have been thrilled. That very same summer season, Kylian Mbappe turned Actual Madrid’s subsequent Galactico, and all indicators have been pointing to an unsure highway forward on the Camp Nou, with few sources obtainable to match their rival’s spending energy.

Within the Champions League, Barcelona have been misplaced within the woods. They haven’t been again to a Champions League closing since profitable it towards Juventus in 2015.

For the reason that notorious 8-2 elimination to Bayern Munich in 2020, Barcelona have been relegated to the Europa League twice, the place they have been knocked out early by Eintracht Frankfurt and Manchester United, earlier than making a return to the Champions League knockouts below Xavi, who introduced them simply wanting the semi-finals after a painful quarterfinal elimination to PSG.

That is the place it’s attention-grabbing to revisit the historical past.

Xavi is de facto the supervisor who acquired the membership again on the rails. He received La Liga, and made Barcelona one of many high groups within the Europe once more at a time when many individuals puzzled how a lot farther the Blaugrana might fall.

He was not handled with respect when Joan Laporta gave the Barca legend the sack, and but Hansi Flick got here in, delivered, and rescued the Barca president from severe criticism.

Flick was introduced in largely due to his Champions League pedigree. He was on the sidelines for Bayern Munich the evening Barcelona have been despatched right into a tailspin, and went on to win the competitors.

Certainly he was the proper man to steer the Blaugrana again to mountaintop.

Largely, he has. Barcelona is unquestionably a high 5 staff in Europe, and must be thought-about one of many favorites in Europe heading into his third yr in cost. Barcelona are the place they belong.

The way in which they have been eradicated, nonetheless, towards Inter yr one, and Atletico Madrid in yr two, will increase questions on their skill to go the space sooner or later.

PSG versus Bayern Munich is a worthy closing. Arsenal versus Atleti, alternatively, appeared like a mistake of historical past. Barcelona ought to have been there, after which they need to have been the favorites to make all of it the best way to Budapest. Nonetheless, they discovered a method to make a large number of issues, and right here we’re. Déjà vu once more.

Greater than something, maybe, this is a chance to train humility and to speak about what’s life like given the best way the membership is run in the mean time, and the constraints there inside.

In a nutshell, with out extra depth throughout the board, Barcelona will proceed to be at a drawback. Their beginning eleven can compete with anybody, however over the length of a busy calendar, one during which La Liga will all the time be the highest precedence, the Champions League will proceed to be a giant problem, as a result of all the proper playing cards should fall into place at simply the proper time.

For now, it’s greatest to be thankful for what Hansi Flick and the Barcelona gamers have achieved collectively. They’ve punched nicely above their weight the previous two seasons.

On the membership stage, it might be good to have extra transparency to know the place issues actually stand.

A technique or one other, we are going to be taught lots this summer season.

Hopefully, lastly, Flick will get some backing.

If we’re being sincere although, is it seemingly?