MADRID: Xavi Hernandez said the Europa League was not a place where Barcelona was, but another chathening defeat by Bayern Munich on Wednesday showed how far they were from the Champions League Elite.
After six matches playing in Group E, Barca had scored two goals in a 1-0 win over Dynamo Kiev.
Against Bayern and Benfica, two sides of their group, they failed to score one goal and conceded nine, from a dead end at Benfica, and three 3-0 defeat.
When Xavi took over the back of the consecutive victory over Dynamo, there seemed to be a way back, the road that allowed for qualifications.
But it always assumes the arrival of Xavi will start up in that form, actually, has not come true.
Barca suffered Xavi’s first defeat in La Liga on Saturday at home to Real Betis, a fellow competitor for the top four, and now their status as the Champions League club also rises in smoke.
“I want us to compete in this Champions League and try to win it but the reality is we are not at that level.
It’s hard, but that’s how,” Xavi said on Wednesday night.
The direct impact will be especially financial, with Barcelona losing around 15 million euros they will get to reach the last Champions League and that the club has been estimated to be in their account.
To make the same money in the European League, they must win the tournament.
For any club, after a pandemic, unexpected losses like this damage but for Barcelona, still breastfeeding more than one billion euros of debt and trying to launch the renovation of the stadium and training of 1.5 billion euros, it is a bad blow.
There will be an impact on the potential signing, Barca is now even less capable than before and those who might see them now, even more than before, as a freefall club.
Every target in the January transfer window might be wondering whether the seclusion of the Champions League is a blip, or a sign to come.
Will Ferran Torres leave Manchester City for this? Even Lionel Messi who struggled in Paris Saint-Germain could see his former club with a sense of relief was far from it all.
It couldn’t be fully coincidental the last time Barcelona played in the European League was 2003-04, the season before Messi made his Barca debut.
Will definitely be a hit on the morale and confidence of the players, which for whom the status and proficiency of Barcelona has become one of the last resources of the remaining guarantee.
Real Madrid trailing of 16 points that already existed in La Liga may have seen hopes of winning the outages but mostly trusted Barcelona is too large not to defeat people like real Sociedad and fourth real calf.
The trust feels less secure with the team will be thrown into the lottery for the Europa League 32 round on Monday.
There was an irony also in the Barcelona Steadfast commitment to Europe Super League, a project that would oversee the Champions League, the tournament that Barcelona was no longer good enough to play.
For now, Xavi remains relatively noiseless with all this, even though he has missed what would be a welcome encouragement for his authority and praise if he had watched Barcelona passing through.
He also avoids very low possibilities from other insults in the knock-out stages that might even be more destructive.
But in the practical sense, Xavi’s work in the second half of the season has just been increasingly difficult.
He must consider how many of his chips to win the European League without jeaving the chances of his team to qualify for the Champions League next season through La Liga.
Most will expect Barcelona to advance in the Europa League even when spinning but there are many examples of elite European clubs that are burned by the Europa League opponents who are very motivated and often underestimated.
In addition, in the next round, a few will express a lot of trust that Barca will defeat people like Porto, Leipzig or Borussia Dortmund, not to mention Betis, Sevilla or Real Sociedad, even with their strongest line-up.
To win the trophy and a safe Champions League qualification in one fell swoop now is a dream scenario but, just like for Barcelona recovery, the road will be long, hard and unsecured.
Barcelona’s recovery is still delayed because it comes out UCL creates more problems for Xavi
