Why is Barça's defeat against Inter different?

BarcelonaA decade without end. 10 years waiting for a final that never arrived. Barça was one step away from returning to a Champions League final for the first time after reaching heaven in Berlin in 2015 by defeating Juventus in that final led by Messi, Neymar, and Luis Suárez. As life goes, Inter's opponent in the Allianz Arena final could be PSG, coached by Luis Enrique, the manager who 10 years ago achieved the treble with Barça. It would be a truly wicked twist of fate.

Of that 2015 European champion squad, only one active player remains, Marc-André Ter Stegen. They have been able to match the feat of that 2015 generation, many of whom have already retired, such as Gerard Piqué (now a businessman), Ivan Rakitic, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi Hernández who is looking for a new team to coach, Adriano, Douglas, Vermaelen, and Jérémy Mathieu who has now moved on to a life in France

Dani Alves has also retired, and Rafinha is pondering what to do after a few months without a team. In Miami, we find five protagonists of the Berlin final, as Javier Mascherano now coaches Messi, Suárez, Alba, and Busquets at Inter Miami, and Pedro coaches Monta, like Neymar at Lazio. Sergi Roberto, currently playing for Como, watched Hansi Flick's team defeat live at the Giuseppe Meazza.

This hasn't been just any decade. Too much has happened at Barça. A decade in which Barça has gone from being an admired club to a shambles, with complaints, lawsuits, thrashings, and strange newcomers. From 2015 to 2025, Barça fans have been forced to take a leap of faith to remain loyal, with frustrating nights on the pitch like the defeats to Atlético Madrid in 2016, Juventus in 2017, and Roma in 2018. Always in the quarterfinals. Manolas' goal in that Roma-Barça clash left Ernesto Valverde deeply shaken, and he would end up seeing his dream of becoming European champions vanish in the 2019 semifinals. On one of Barça's darkest nights, Liverpool overturned a 3-0 deficit despite playing with players missing at Anfield. That English night was the beginning of the journey through the desert, as the worst was yet to come.

75 million euros in consolation prize.

Then came the pandemic and the senseless Barça of that season, a team that would be humiliated 8-2 in Lisbon by Hansi Flick's Bayern Munich. These were the final days of Josep Maria Bartomeu's reign, having become president in 2014 following the resignation of Sandro Rosell, and he failed to manage a triumphant Barça that had both money and talent. His Barça gradually fell apart amid expensive signings that didn't pan out, such as those of Dembélé and Coutinho, scandals like the Barçagate case, and strange decisions in the offices. During the pandemic, Barça was already a broken club, without money or direction, that would fall in the Champions League to PSG in 2021. In the first years with Joan Laporta in the box and Xavi Hernández on the bench, they wouldn't even make it past the group stage in 2022 and 2023.

The rebirth would come from there, with a quarterfinal loss to PSG in 2024 and, finally, the arrival of Hansi Flick. With him, for the first time, the dream of reaching the final was truly a dream. The defeat in Milan was painful, but it's different. If Liverpool's defeat smacked of the end of an era, this one seems to be the beginning of a period that will bring more joy, as can be seen on a financial level. Despite not reaching the final after the cruel extra time at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium, Barça has earned 75 million euros in this edition of the Champions League. The wind is blowing in Barça's favor. This defeat seems to herald a new era led by Lamine Yamal.