Barça leaves Europe humiliated again

Despite having the tie on track -at least it was even from the first leg and had the advantage of playing at home-, he succumbed with justice, with indisputable clarity, reopening the complexes that were believed to be outdated at the Camp Nou. The blow, due to the frequency with which it is suffered (one every year) multiplies the damage to the culé spirit.

The resurrection has reached the limit. The team has risen to second place in the League, and very possibly will get into the next Champions League, but in Europe it is not enough, which prevents it from reaching the semifinal of the second European competition either.

He has not achieved it since Liverpool kicked him out in the 2018-19 campaign with that lacerating 4-0. The English are still there, in the same place, while Barça rolled down the steps. Ter Stegen prevented the score from being repeated or even exceeded. The VAR annulled the first goal of Busquets, but not the second that did not clean the dishonor. Neither is the one in Memphis. So clear was the debacle.

The extension of the Europa League ends in the quarterfinals, which granted third place in the Champions group. There he was fired by Bayern, who have just lost to Villarreal, and here he was finished off by Eintracht, a more established and compact team, which plays at a higher rate than Barça.

For many revolutions that the eleven azulgrana wanted to impose, overexcited from minute three when he took on Eric’s absurd penalty with a slab, which clearly grabbed Lindstrom right under the nose of Artur Dias. The Portuguese referee did his part to keep the Barça tension exceeded.

The excess of revolutions was detrimental because it clouded the team, plagued by youngsters (Araujo, Mingueza, Eric, Gavi, Pedri, Ferran…) who did not know how to process a setback. They turned it into an insurmountable tragedy. With 87 minutes to go, they wanted to run to match Eintracht’s faster pace, when its virtues are others.

Without pausing to think better of it, they went to give and take and had to multiply to go back and avoid kickbacks and not forward, where they hit a wall with no cracks. Or they couldn’t find them. Santos Borré’s great goal was a layer of imperforable cement.

Dembélé constantly struck down the right wing and the indecipherable French winger acted as leader, with all that this entails. An adventure. His teammates gave him all the balls: the ones that corresponded to him and those of Gavi and Pedri, locked up in those squares between the centrals and the opposing interiors that are also prisons. Aubamenyang did not reach the top two centers.

Barça did not know how to face the match, nor the team from penalty (It came from the three suffered in the Levante field) nor the directive, indicated by the profusion of German fans in the stands, clearly excessive despite the voluntary resignation of the subscribers. All those who gave the card, went to the hands of the Eintracht fans.

Barça also played away from home in the second game, with thousands and thousands of white shirts staining almost the entire upper ring and staining areas in all the stands. The culés shouted like never before so that their boys felt some heat, less than usual in any case. ANDKostic’s goal was shouted with the volume with which one by Ferran would be celebrated. The second of the side portrayed the decomposition of Barça. The ball came to him from a throw-in from the opposite side and he hit it with finesse and precision.

Trapp, the goalkeeper of PSG 6-1, returned to the scene and was able to remove the thorn. That martyrdom was unforgettable and will always accompany him, but he was able to leave, despite the two goals, with immense satisfaction, at last, and with the tie won.

Barcelona: Ter Stegen (8), Mingueza (5), Araujo (6), Eric (4), Alba (4); Gavi (5), Busquets (4), Pedri (4); Dembelé (7), Aubameyang (4), Ferran (4).

Technical: Xavi Hernandez (4).

Changes: F. de Jong (6) by Pedri (d. 46); Dest (6) by MIngueza (m. 62); Adama (4) by Aubameyang (d. 62); L. de Jong (5) by Eric (d. 70); Memphis (sc) by Ferran (d. 80).

Eintracht: Trapp (6); Knauff (8), Touré (7), Hinteregger (6), N’Dicka (6), Kostic (9); Jakic (5), Rode (6); Lindstrom (7), Borre (8), Kamada (7).

Technical: Oliver Glasner (7).

Changes: Hauge (sc) by Lindstrom (d. 80); Hrustic (sc) by Rode (d. 80); Hasebe (sc) by Touré (d. 99); Chandler (s. c.) by Knauff (d. 99),

Goals: 0-1 (m. 4), Kostic transforms a penalty committed by Eric on Lindstrom. 0-2 (m. 36), Borré enters and releases a right hand to the squad; 0-3 (m. 67), Kostic controls a ball and shoots low and crossed;: 1-3 (m. 99), Busquets releases a whiplash from outside the area; 2-3 (m. 101), Memphis takes advantage of a penalty.

Referee: Artur Dias (4), Portuguese.

Cards: Eric (m. 3), Jakic (m. 24), Gavi (m. 28), Hrustic (m. 83), Dembélé (m 94), Xavi (m. 95), Glasner (m. 95), N’ Dicka (d. 93), Knauff (d. 94), N’Dicka (d. 95 and 100).

Red cards: N’Dicka (d. 100).