Here is a look at the frontpage headlines and reaction from some of the biggest Spanish newspapers following Barcelona’s 2-8 Champions League loss to Bayern Munich. The Bavarians dominated this game on xG as well, and Barca even had loanee Philippe Coutinho score two against them!
Sport newspaper headline Barca 2-8 Bayern (Humillacion Historica)
Historic Humiliation was the headline from the Barcelona based Sport paper.
Marca frontpage headline (Verguenza) for Barcelona vs Bayern Munich
“Shame” said Madrid based newspaper Marca following Barca’s 8-2 defeat.
Catalonia L’Esportiu headline (S’ha Acabat) for Barca loss to Bayern
Catalan based newspaper L’Esportiu went with “It’s over” on their front page.
Diario AS headline August 15, 2020
AS went with the same headline as Sport (Historic Humiliation) post the Barca Bayern match.
Mundo Deportivo front page headline (Fin de ciclo vergonzoso) after Barca-Bayern August 14, 2020
MD’s front page rued the end of an era, going with the headline “Shameful end to cycle” and a picture of Gerard Pique.
The end of an era indeed. If Messi goes, Barcelona could become what Manchester United were for the better part of this decade after SAF- a middling Europa League club.
Horrendous purchases during the past three years. To mention a few (Gomes, Digne, Alcazar, Coutinho — what they didn’t need is a Griezman type, but a Dembele type who can carry the mail and generate speed and excitement. Re the game, Barca coach in advance knew that Bayern were a significantly faster team: they should have started Fati, Puig and the faster and better defensively Rakatic instead of lumbering Bousquets. Will Ter Stegen, arguably the best shot stopper in the world, ever master the art of long distribution. Since he hasn’t he should have been coached to desist.
Feel for Setien, but his stint at Barca reminds me a bit of Lopetegui at Madrid. Both decent managers, but perhaps better suited to clubs outside Spain’s current big 3.
That being said, Barcelona’s transfer policy has been horrendous. They’ve splashed big money on Dembele, Coutinho and Griezmann (all over 100m), and they were all only fit for the bench yesterday. The lesser spoken about the Braithwaite signing the better. Seems to point to a big management problem.