FC Barcelona’s Worst Week Since The Start Of The Season

Embarassment In La Liga

The second blow of Barcelona’s week came on Sunday, during a La Liga game against Sevilla. After the Champions League defeat, the Catalan team needed a good game to clear their minds and return to their winning mentality. Instead, they delivered an absolutely disastrous match.

Barcelona’s problem started quite quickly when, in the 13th minute of the meeting, Sevilla was awarded a penalty. They easily converted it into a goal, moving into the lead in front of their home crowd. Then, to add fuel to the fire, Isaac Romero made it 2-0 to Barca’s disadvantage. Still, the first half wasn’t all bad, as it ended with Marcus Rashford, assisted by Pedri, scoring a contact goal during the added time.

After the break, Blaugrana came back onto the field hoping to turn the day around. They got a great chance to do so when they were awarded a penalty for Sevilla’s foul. Robert Lewandowski, Barcelona’s Polish striker, lined up in front of the goal, ready to equalize the score. Only, instead of putting the ball in his opponent’s net, he missed and ruined his team’s chance of leveling the playing ground.

Things only went from bad to worse as he game progressed. Sevilla scored a third goal in the 90th minute and a fourth one during the added time. The game ended with 4-1 on the scoreboard. When talking about the match after the fact, Flick highlighted the same issues he outlined after the defeat against Paris Saint-Germain.

“We need to focus on the mistakes and the defeat. The most important thing is the direction we’re taking — the system and the structure.”

Barcelona’s Main Problem

How can a team go from playing so well to looking so disoriented and lost on the field? The main issue is, as highlighted by Flick, the lack of structure and the incredibly leaky defence.

The high line of defenders that worked great in the past season became Barcelona’s downfall. There are many possible explanations for the unfortunate turnaround. In my opinion, the biggest contributor is the lack of Inigo Martinez, who left Barcelona at the end of last season, in favor of moving to Al-Nassr. Without him, many other great players, like Pau Cubarsi, seem to lose some of their impressive abilities.

End Of My Barcelona Rant

Two things should encourage the Culers to hold onto hope that there is a better season ahead. First of all, Blaugrana played without some of its stars, like Raphinha or Fermin Lopez, who suffered injuries in the previous weeks. Maybe their input was the ingredient the team was missing.

The second factor is the fact that this isn’t the first time Barca has seen an October/November decline. As recently as the 2024/25 season, they had an abysmal run during the fall, but still managed to climb their way back to the top of La Liga and the quarterfinals of the Champions League. Who says that this season should be any different?