Barcelona Season Review: Adversity and the victory of the working man | OneFootball

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Season Summary

It’s been a long year at Barcelona, who slogged between three different stadiums, injuries to almost the entirety of their starting XI, and what at times felt like a constant struggle to produce the football of last season. It began with hopes of a Champions League run, with an ambitious young squad often voicing their desire to bring home ‘Old Big Ears’, and that was also how it ended, but nevertheless, Hansi Flick and Barcelona’s fans can take plenty from it.

Within the opening two months of the season, Barcelona had their ambition checked by a 2-1 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain, and the losses of Lamine Yamal and Raphinha to injury, while Ferran Torres was showing the form that Robert Lewandowski has usually exhibited in the first half of the season. While Barcelona were coping, the alarm bells began to ring when Real Madrid won El Clasico in late October, and a month later, Chelsea brushed Barcelona aside at Stamford Bridge. One Hansi Flick phrase kept being repeated: “Egos kill success”.

In the summer, Director of Football Deco brought in Joan Garcia, Marcus Rashford and Roony Bardghji, and the former pair were getting them through games in which Barcelona showed more desire than football. Barcelona emerged out of the Clasico with a run of nine straight La Liga victories which set the tone for the season. Not only had Barcelona recovered top spot in La Liga, but they beat Real Madrid in the Spanish Supercup, and the hunger looked to be back.

An unfortunate defeat to Girona was followed by 14 wins out of 16, steamrolling their way to the league title. Yet those two blots on their run, a 4-0 loss to Atletico in the Copa del Rey, and a 2-0 loss at home in the Champions League, cost them their shot at the cup competitions. With Raphinha and Frenkie de Jong often absent, Pedri unfit, Jules Kounde and Alejandro Balde out of form, Barcelona felt like they were capable of periods of impressive play, but were unable to either sustain it, or to blow teams away in swift fashion, which had made sense of the risks they were taking at the back.

Verdict: B+

As the season wound down, Flick admitted that it had been a ‘difficult’ season, and that ‘many things did not go as planned’. Yet he was full of praise for how his side responded, and how they kept their focus on winning. Even if, in hindsight, Real Madrid looked like they were disintegrating, they did so because Barcelona barely let them breathe. Without melting the press into poetic lyrics about their bravery and bravado, Barcelona were on course for a 100-point season before they celebrated a little too hard before the final two games.

Therein lies the great merit for Barcelona this season, one that never fully found their flow, but showed the maturity, professionalism and grizzled edge to win La Liga, illuminated of course by the irresistible genius of Lamine Yamal, and anchored by the wise young man, Pedri. The former with 42 goal contributions in 45 games, despite battling a sports hernia for a couple of months, was the star of the show.

Last season, he was accompanied by a lethal Lewandowski and an explosive Raphinha, but this year it was a more modest cast of supporting actors that time and again flew the flag for commitment and consistency. Among that crew were Eric Garcia, Fermin Lopez and Gerard Martin, backed up by the phenomenal Joan Garcia, who was to Barcelona in La Liga, what Thibaut Courtois has been to Real Madrid in Europe.

Their eliminations at the hands of Atletico sting. Listening to the miffed Barcelona players after both, the sense was one of injustice, and not just because of perceived refereeing decisions. Like last season in the Champions League, Barcelona believed they had deserved more, and it was football’s cruel humour that saw them eliminated on both occasions. What is becoming more evident is that Barcelona need their best XI available for the latter stages of the competition, otherwise their flaws are laid bare.

Player of the Season: Lamine Yamal

Whenever you pick the most talented player or the biggest star, there is a tendency for it to feel a little lazy. Yet the 18-year-old showed why he is so highly regarded by everyone in the game this season. Without his preferred cast of velociraptors around him, Lamine Yamal time and again took the responsibility on his shoulders to make the difference, and often his excellent work went unrewarded.

Too often this season, Barcelona funnelled the ball to Lamine Yamal, and most of the time, he found his way out of the dark underpass with it. Without him, Barcelona found it tough to chew through defences, and he was the main reason they had a chance against Atletico in both second legs. The figures, top for assists and top for goals, aren’t even half the magic he brings to this side.

Equally, you could make your argument for others, Pedri, Fermin Lopez or Joan Garcia, and we wouldn’t argue too stubbornly, but Lamine Yamal can’t be described as undeserving.

Pleasant Surprise of the Season: Gerard Martin

Even if Joao Cancelo’s form in the final three months seemed completely implausible for those who had watched his first spell, Gerard Martin is undoubtedly the owner of this award. During Barcelona’s long winning runs in the second half of the season, Martin provided a reliability and determination next to Pau Cubarsi that was sorely lacking in the first half of the year. By the end of the campaign, Martin looked comfortable, battling number nines and reading the game well to keep his side from suffering too much.

Flick’s trust in Martin appears to be infinite, and whatever limitations Martin may be working with, he continuously shows a willingness to rise to every challenge. What was Barcelona’s biggest issue in the first half of the season, felt like it was no longer such a large problem.

If only we could have had more from: Jules Kounde

Earlier in his career, it appeared that Jules Kounde took every step up in his stride, showing personality, and ability to stand up and be counted whenever called upon. Whether it be fatigue, or caused by something else, Kounde struggled from start to finish, with occasional exceptions to prove the rule. The Frenchman had an argument to be one of the best right-backs in Europe last season, providing a solid seal behind Lamine Yamal to allow the teenager to attack, and add the element of surprise where necessary. Going the other way, he was stoic in a team that bounded forward at every opportunity.

The comparison this year has been hard to watch. Perhaps the example that sticks out is Vinicius Junior tying him in knots in the Supercup final, but regular watchers will be aware that the Brazilian was part of a large cohort of wingers up and down the league that twisted Kounde into uncomfortable positions. Barcelona renewed Kounde’s contract after last season, and less than 12 months later, there is a major question mark over whether he can be a starter in this side.

On the horizon, you see…

A third attempt at a Champions League run. Barcelona’s players made no secret of their priority last summer, but this time round it does seem that the Catalans will have the chance to improve through the transfer market beyond Joan Garcia. How they spend it will be crucial – ‘we must avoid stupid mistakes’, Flick cried from upon high, warning Sporting Director Deco and Joan Laporta. Either Barcelona need to find a way of being as lethal as they were in Flick’s first season, to make their style of football effective, or they must balance their approach with a more miserly backline.

This of course does not necessarily have to come through the transfer market, and the mere presence of Garcia allows Barcelona greater margin for error. The hope for Flick, above all, will be to have all of his key players free from injury, which would represent a clear route to improvement. European glory to a degree, without an unlimited budget, will rely somewhat on chance, form and fitness, but the real challenge will come in La Liga.

Only Pep Guardiola and Johan Cruyff have retained three straight Liga titles at Barcelona, and Flick has also warned that the coming year will be tough. Can he and this young squad stave off the feeling of being satiated domestically? Real Madrid will be better in terms of quality, and grow hungrier by the day.