It was a one off terrible result though, they’ve hardly lost a game all season and are still the cup! It’s like Man City, a couple of off days and people are eulogising about their downfall.
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"Historical debacle," announces Mundo Deportivo. "Another ridicule," blasts Sport. "The Fall of Barca's Empire," trumpets Marca. "Without football or fight," laments El Pais.
There is certainly a consensus among the Spanish media: Barcelona got what they deserved in Rome on Tuesday night, suffering elimination from the Champions League at the quarter-final stage for the third consecutive season after an abject performance.
Having a 4-1 first-leg lead overturned by a Roma team 21 points off the pace in Serie A was the last thing Barca expected, and it will take a while for reality to sink in as the Catalan giants come to terms with one of the most shocking results in the club's recent history.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43720569
It was a one off terrible result though, they’ve hardly lost a game all season and are still the cup! It’s like Man City, a couple of off days and people are eulogising about their downfall.
That’s the nature of a knock out competition isn’t it? Bit silly to say it’s the end of an era if a team isn’t winning the champions league isn’t it? They’ve only won the thing 5 times in their entire history despite being one of the best teams around for most of it.
It's not a one off though. I know their results have been good in La Liga but anyone who has watched them this season will tell you that without Messi they'd probably be about 8th in the league this season.
Paulinho, Gomes, Vidal, D Suarez are all nowhere near the standard required. Dembele has been injured and hasn't got going but had panic buy written all over it. They're a bit like Man United towards the end of the Ferguson era where they tried to reinvent themselves but ended calling on the old guard of Giggs,Scholes etc even though they were way past their best cos they were still better than what they replaced them with.
Yet they’ve still walked the league, is it any shock they’re worse without the best player in the world playing for them?
They obviously aren’t at the same peak they were under pep and their transfers haven’t been great but they’re hardly in a crisis.
Only in the time of clickbait and 24 hour news would a team who are about to win a domestic double be labled as being in crisis.
they need to swap Messi with CR7
They've been dreadful haven't they? The old guard are seriously on the wane but Paulinho is burnt out, he's played without a "summer" for about 2.5 years now. He's just knackered. Dembele has a serious attitude problem as well, and they keep buying players that don't improve the team. On the quiet, they've been terrible in the transfer market for a good few years, their team has hardly changed since Pep left, if you exclude the "can't miss" Neymar and Suarez.
Whilst there can be no doubt that Ronaldo is by far their key player to call them a one man team is totally inaccurate. The defending was a shambles yesterday without Ramos who in a different way is almost as important. Then you add in players like Marcelo, Kroos, Modric, Isco, Benzema (prior to this season) and a fantastic supporting cast of Asensio, Vazquez, Bale and they are far from a one man team, no more than Barca are with Messi.
It's all in the Champions League performance graph, Barcelona are past their peak, while Read Madrid are in the ascendancy after their acquisition of Ronaldo. Messi is still there, so Barcelona's lack of Champions League dominance can't be down to him, so I'm putting forward the idea that Xavi and Iniesta at their peak were an integral part of their success. Care to explain it in a different way besides accusing people of talking shit?
Xavi and Iniesta in "good at football" shocker
Your claim that Real are Ronaldo + 10 others and that they are in the ascendancy following the acquisition of Ronaldo isn't really backed up by your graph. If it were, Real would have started winning Champions League titles in 2009/2010, when he joined, when in fact they won La Decima some years later in 2013/14. Real Madrid have built a team centred around European success and it isn't just Ronaldo who's bringing home the titles. Of course Xavi & Iniesta were integral to Barcelona's success, in the same way Bale (was), Ramos, Kroos, Casemiro, Modric atc are integral to Real Madrid's success
If Barcelona are so past their peak why are they 11 clear at the top of La Liga and 15 clear of Real Madrid?