Barca's dream of resurrection shattered

After a sublime season, Barca created for global fans the feeling of a great "resurrection". But in the end, it all stopped at the "feeling" level.

Yamal (right) has declined significantly this season - Photo: REUTERS

Raphinha, one of Barca's two best superstars last season (along with Lamine Yamal), only played 28 minutes in the 0-3 loss to Chelsea. As good as Raphinha was last season, this season, Barca's "angel wings" have become a symbol of failure.

Due to a serious injury, Raphinha has only played 9 matches for Barca this season, with 6 of them starting. The last time the Brazilian striker started was 2 months ago.

Raphinha is not at fault. But Raphinha's persistent injuries partly reflect Barca's problems. Last season, they "worn" him to 57 matches in all competitions, or more specifically, 4,661 minutes of non-stop playing time. The inevitable result was that Raphinha was exhausted when entering the summer.

Raphinha was not the only star to be exhausted. Pedri played 59 games, Yamal played 55. More importantly, they did not have adequate substitutes. Many matches coach Hansi Flick still kept Yamal, Raphinha and Pedri on the field when they were exhausted.

It's hard to blame the German strategist, when he even had to call in "reinforcements" of up to 10 players from La Masia's youth team last season. The financial crisis from the time of former President Josip Bartomeu caused Barca to lose the ability to buy stars in the transfer market for the past 3-4 years.

Even this summer, Barca barely spent a penny on the transfer market. They only bought goalkeeper Joao Garcia for 25 million euros, and earned almost the same amount by letting go of a series of players.

Financial ruin has led to exhaustion. Raphinha has been plagued by injuries since the start of the season and is likely to be back to full fitness by mid-season. Both Yamal and Pedri have faltered, Gavi has been seriously injured, and Barca have lost the vibrancy of a young team.

After all, in the golden generation initiated by coach Pep Guardiola, Barca also had Mascherano, Daniel Alves, Samuel Eto'o or David Villa - stars that they continuously added after each transfer period, in addition to the homegrown stars from La Masia.

Barca of today is still a long way behind those years.

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HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/barca-vo-mong-phuc-sinh-20251127102014692.htm