Enryu 🗿

Facts ✅. All our Champions League era wins came with Messi. In our first ever European Cup/CL win, under Cruyff, 1992. We still struggled. The first round, we lost away to Rostock. The second round we lost away again to Kaiserslautern. In that game (I made a video about it months back), we were lucky and almost crashed out. We won the first leg at Camp Nou 2-0. But the second leg away they came back and were leading 3-2 on agg. It was a lucky header in the last minute by Bakero that saved us, we lost 3-1 but qualified on away goals. We then proceeded to the group stage, won all 3 home games, but drew away to Benfica, lost away to Prague. Only won away vs Kiev. In the final we needed an extra time free kick bombazo from Koeman to win it. Barça play beautiful, pure, systemic football, but its philosophy is not built to dominate in the UCL. We did not build a strong enough historical pedigree in the early days of the competition, I made a video on this before. It affects us till this day. We literally qualified only 4 times in the first 35+ editions. The hostile atmosphere, especially in KO and away games, requires more than just football. It requires grit, pragmatism, luck, dirtiness, mentality, athleticism etc.. Barça usually do not know how to merge all of these. We have always struggled to play when the situation doesn’t make us in control of the game. When the situation isn’t purely about playing football. We are average when the ball is not with us. Hence, in big games, when the opposition will have a similar amount of breaks, we bend. Or in away games, when the atmosphere brings down our physical and mental level, we break. It’s not a managerial problem, it’s a philosophical one. It’s always been there. Pep dominated because he starved the opposition of the ball. He had the players to do it. Was a genius. Maximised the strength of the philosophy. And then, had Messi. He revolutionised a philosophy that teams were not prepared to handle. But even he suffered the away game debacle. In his sextuple winning season we didn’t win a single away KO game. In 09/10 the same thing. Pep didn’t win a single away KO CL game in his first two “dominant” seasons. In our best season, 10/11, Arsenal beat us at the Emirates. Real Madrid in the semis, was Pep’s only away win vs a big team in his Barcelona CL career. And that came through Messi genius after a red card. And maybe Milan in his final season after their red card too, if we consider Milan a big team then. Barcelona have a philosophical problem. It’s institutional. We need to be EXTRAORDINARY with our football to win the CL. It’s not a coincidence why all our 5 titles came alongside a dominant La Liga season. I know this, it’s why I am not CL obsessed. We can always compete for it. We will always compete, but it is not a birthright. Cruyff’s win in 92 is the only one we didn’t have a very DOMINANT La Liga season, still won. One could say we won that CL by luck and fluke. No traditionally “big CL” team qualified that year, coincidentally. No Real Madrid, no Liverpool, no Bayern, no Milan, no Ajax, no Inter. Benfica were there but weakened. So many things need to fall in place for Barça to win the UCL. We need to maximize our home results, very importantly. The season after 92, in 92/93 we crashed out of the 2nd round because we lost the 2nd leg at Camp Nou. We failed to beat Kiev away. Even in the first round we failed to beat Viking away. In 93/94, we got to the final. But in the 1st round we needed a remontada 4-1 win after losing first leg away 3-1 to Kiev. We won 1/3 away games in the group stage and were lucky the semis was a one-off home game. We lost the final 4-0 vs Milan. There is a reason I always want the 2nd leg at home in the KO. Most teams struggle away, but it’s worse for Barça. I still believe we can compete. People just need to realise that it’s not as easy at they think. Our “football first” philosophy is awesome, but a huge constraint in the CL.

Might be very painful to hear but Pep Guardiola is the only manager in Barça’s history that has “competed” consistently in the UCL. Never did anything less than the semis. Genius. That team was very very good, the greatest team of all time, the greatest player of all time, handled by the greatest manager of all time. Part of me still think we underachieved. We were better than Inter and Chelsea. We should have won 4 in a row. ✅✅✅✅ But since Pep left, here’s how the ALMIGHTY BARCELONA have fared. In 2012/2013, we dominated La Liga, 100 points, but in the CL we struggled in the few big games, especially away. Lost at San Siro in R16, needed a Messi magic to come back. Almost crashed out in QF vs PSG, but Messi being subbed on changed the game, Pedro scored the equaliser and we luckily qualified to the semis. Got slapped 7-0 by Bayern. ⛔️ 2013/2014, knocked out by Atleti in the QF. But at least we were trophyless. So it’s not a “big game” issue. ❌ 14/15, Treble.. fantastic season by Lucho and MSN. ✅ 15/16, knocked out by Atleti with MSN and our gala XI, in the QF ❌ 16/17, like 13/14, no big away game won. Even in the group stage we lost 3-1 to Man City in England. R16 we lost 4-0 to PSG, pulled a 6-1 remontada, lost 3-0 in the next round to Juve. MSN scored 0 goals vs Juve in 180 minutes. Only Messi had more than 1 shot on target. QF exit ❌ 17/18, again, no big away game win, drew Chelsea and Juve, but smashed them at Camp Nou. QF, Roma, easiest game of all time, we choked. Lost 3-0. Out in QF again ❌ 18/19, severe Messi carryjob. Closest we have come since Pep. We still struggled in away games but did okay. Corner taken quickly. Out in the semis ⛔️ 19/20, 8-2, QF ❌ 20/21, notable results include 3-0 loss to Juve at Camp Nou, and 4-1 loss to PSG at Camp Nou. We had Messi, Dembele, Griez, Pedri, Frenkie, Busi.. Mbappe put three past us, with an attack of Moise Kean and Icardi. Round of 16 exit ❌ MESSI LEFT 21/22, in a group of Benfica, and Dynamo Kiev, we only got two wins, both scrappy 1-0 vs Dynamo Kiev. Failed to win the other 4 games. Benfica, with Darwin Nunez, beat us 3-0, Bayern beat us 3-0, and 3-0 again.. the second leg vs Benfica, 0-0. 4 games, 0 goals. 6 total group stage games, 2 goals, vs Kiev. We were very lucky in Kiev, they were better than us in that game. Top scorer for Barça in the CL that season, Gerard Pique and Ansu Fati, whopping 1 goal each. Group stage exit ❌ 22-23, flexed our muscles against Plzen in the group stage, got our only two wins yet again. Swallowed 3 vs Inter and drew 3-3 (robbed though). The other three games, zero goals. Slapped 5-0 on aggregate yet again by Bayern. Out of the group stage. ❌ Not adding the Europa exits vs Frankfurt and Man United. That’s too much info. 23/24, lucky group of Porto, Shakhtar, Antwerp.. we topped. But still somehow lost 2 games. Including swallowing 3 vs Antwerp in a game where we were outplayed. QF exit vs PSG, although unlucky, we were the better team ❌ HANSI FLICK ARRIVED After Xavi complained rightfully because the club spent only 3 million to sign players in the summer after back to back CL group stage exits. 24/25, Flick first season, less than 60 million spent, reduced the “Bayern are your owners” shame by slapping them 4-1. Finished 2nd in the top 8. We still struggled away though, but we made the semifinal. Best finish in 10 years. Seconds away from the final, but unfortunate and heartbreaking. Maybe if we made stronger defensive reinforcements it’d have been better, we’ll never know. ⛔️ 25/26, less than 30 million spent, mostly on a goalie, even when it’s clear that such promising squad needs support. Abysmal in big games, but another top 8 finish. Back to back red card games vs Atleti, loads of chances missed, excuses yeah.. but facts. QF exit ❌ Barça in the CL are not what you think they are. We have an inherent philosophy that underperforms here. But it’s always okay to demand more.

Luis Enrique that Hansi Flick haters are glazing, had a similar “big game situation” in his treble winning season at Barcelona. He was almost sacked in January. Here’s what happened: When he arrived, the club signed two goalies for him, two CBs, Rakitic, and Luis Suarez. He had Neymar, Messi, Iniesta, Busquets, Dani Alves, Piqué, Masche, and Alba all within their primes. We were winning all our “small” games in La Liga comfortably, 6-0, 5-0, 3-0 etc, until we faced PSG in France. Lost 3-2. In fact, it was the first time the team conceded a goal. We were 23-0 in 9 games. We continued winning our “small games” and then one month later, we had our next big test against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, lost 3-1. Then the game after Real Madrid, we lost against Celta at Camp Nou for the first time in history. We beat PSG at Camp Nou in the second group game with MSN scoring, then we met a big test in January against Real Sociedad at the Anoeta. We hadn’t won there in 5 games, Lucho rested many key players including Messi and Neymar, and we lost that game. All hell broke loose as Barça missed a chance to go top of the table. (Side note: Lucho failed to win any of his three La Liga games at the Anoeta in his 3 seasons as coach). There were rumours that Messi didn’t like the benching, chaos occurred in the Barça camp, sporting director Zubi was fired, Puyol stepped down, Barto called for elections… Twitter was hell on that day. But then, the dressing room was filled with matured players, the captains, the coaching staff, all came together and resolved the issue and kept their heads up high. And from there the season turned around. Next game was against Atletico Madrid, La Liga defending champions, knocked Barcelona out of the CL the previous season, wiped them 3-1 for that famous MSN celebration as they all scored. Beat Real Madrid in the second leg, beat Atleti again, beat Atleti home and away again in the Copa quarterfinal. Beat Man City home and away in the CL R16, the PSG that beat us in the group stage, we beat them home and away in the CL QF. Knocked Bayern out of the SF. Beat Juve in the final. Won the treble. Lucho wrote his name in the history books. Lesson of the story: blips happen. Team just need to learn and keep going. And we need to keep on supporting. Visca Barça 💙❤️

Pep Guardiola, the greatest manager of all time, won 1 Champions League at Manchester City in 10 years despite all the resources. Didn’t win once at Bayern. Sir Alex Ferguson won 2 CL in 22 years at Man United. Only 4 managers have won the UCL for Barcelona in the 70-year competition history. Three of those managers had the greatest player of all time in the squad. The other one was great but, like almost every other CL winners, needed a huge amount of luck. He then got to another final two years later and lost 4-0 to an inferior team. But we still love him because he embodied what the club stood for. Fell out with the club and was sacked, mostly because they got spoiled. 1 La Liga title in 14 years, then he came and won 4 La Liga in a row, won the club’s first ever CL, playing unique football. They got spoiled. “Tired of La Liga.” The club won zero La Liga in 13 years, he came as a player, and won their first Liga in 14 years. 14 years later, the club could only win one La Liga, until he came again as coach to win four in a row (the only time Barça won four in a row). I’m echoing it, because something similar is happening now. The club has a philosophy that sadly isn’t built for these huge knockout competitions. These competitions can have one-off swings based on luck, refereeing, etc. We should always go for it, make little tweaks, but don’t damage the club’s philosophy for too much pragmatism. The club don’t even know how to be pragmatic so it’s even less likely we will win the CL playing that way. This is not 2009 anymore, you hardly can “control” a game just because you want to, against big teams with sophisticated aggressive pressing tactics. This is why most teams play the 4-2-3-1, to be more direct, rotational, and physical. Play your way, and win your way if possible. And most importantly, if Barça don’t win the CL it shouldn’t be used to render the entire season a failure. It’s the manner of competitiveness from the team that matters. The CL is not our birthright. The team is still way more immature than other big teams. In terms of maturity we’re not even top 5, so this whole CL craze is baffling to me. Barça only has its football. It’s usually not enough. We just have to keep on supporting the team and hope that football will wins, whilst understanding that it doesn’t always win.