Xtra Time Web Desk : 8th December, Wednesday was really a dark day for FC Barcelona and their fans as they were battered 3-0 by a strong Bayern Munich side to get dumped into the Europa League for the first time in 17 years.
The season started in a negative way for the Blaugrana in the Champions League as they lost consecutively to Bayern and Benfica in the first two match days by a 3-0 margin. As a consequence of worse results, the former Barca coach Ronald Koeman got sacked to get replaced by club legend Xavi. But that didn’t change much.
The Spanish giants only scored two goals and conceded nine in this season’s Champions League group stage before bowing out to the Europa League. Although a couple of wins came against a weak Dynamo Kyiv side, but that was not enough for a last 16 spot for the Catalunyan club. As a result, they finished third in their group which would now lead them to play the Europa League play off match, which the fans couldn’t even think of even in their worst nightmare.
In the Spanish league too, Barcelona are nowhere close to a top 4 finish right now which would again lead them away from the Champions league next season.
FC Barcelona’s future although looks bright because of the coming up of youngsters like Pedri, Gavi, Nico and Ansu Fati but their present looks dark, a major reason of which is Messi’s absence. The Argentine himself has scored 5 goals in this season’s Champions League and more importantly Barca didn’t have to play as long as he was at the club.
Now, with the Ballon d’Or winner’s absence after 17 years, it will be interesting to see how Xavi copes up with the current situation at FC Barcelona.