"It is intolerable and a disgrace": Laporta explodes after elimination

Madrid"It is intolerable and a shame the refereeing yesterday," Joan Laporta stated this Wednesday after the team was eliminated from the Champions League. "In the first leg, Cubarsí was sent off, which was a yellow and not a red. In the second leg, the same with Eric. Neither of them are reds. There's an aggression against Fermín, a penalty against Olmo...", complained the top Barça executive who even considers that Ferran's 1-3 should not have been disallowed. Laporta gave voice to the feeling of injustice that was felt in the locker room after being eliminated at the Metropolitano. Barça fell with pride intact and their heads held high, but they fell. And in the Champions League, it's been like this for eleven seasons now.

No one can reproach a team that has one of the youngest starting elevens in the competition, full of home-grown players who give their all and who not only want to win the Champions League, but want to do it wearing the Barça colors. Nor can Hansi Flick be reproached, as he managed to get the most out of a squad that seemed broken after a final season to forget with Xavi, when he lost the trust of Laporta, who had been his main supporter, and of the president's right-hand man, Alejandro Echevarría, and the sporting director, Deco. The arrival of the German has been a breath of fresh air that has managed to polish up footballers who were performing below their level -Raphinha-, make personal bets -Gerard Martín- and continue to trust Xavi's debutants, such as Lamine Yamal, Cubarsí or Fermín.

The path forward

The Tarrasa coach was the first manager -after a few months of ill-fated memory of Ronald Koeman's end on the bench- who had to face the restructuring of Barça after more than a decade of Leo Messi as an icon. In the summer of 2022, the one with the levers, the team was reinforced with figures like Raphinha -Deco's signing-, Kounde -at Xavi's request- and Lewandowski -operation managed directly by Laporta. With new faces and retaining players who even then held an untouchable starting status like Busquets, the team won a League against a high-level Real Madrid, and also defeated them in the Super Cup final. The pending subject, however, remained the same: the Champions League. The team did not get past the quarter-finals.

Flick arrived to take the reins of a team that was showing signs of decline again, but which had the main stimulus of the homegrown youngsters. They set the way forward, but although last season no one expected to reach the Champions League semi-finals and the squad achieved a small miracle battling against a much more established Inter Milan, it has become clear again that it is not enough. The positive side for Barça is that, often, Champions League winning squads have a core of established players who have played together. Barça's youngsters are accumulating more and more miles at the elite level. Having recovered Gavi and Bernal for the cause is hopeful.

Squad depth

The Blaugrana squad has one of the best starting elevens in Europe, but is very limited in terms of depth. As soon as a couple of key players from the starting team are out, the squad suffers and Flick cannot always find solutions, especially in high-demand European scenarios. The team suffered the loss of Iñígo at the start of the season and the German solved it with a Gerard who is performing at a very good level in the heart of the defense, but when there have been notable absences like Raphinha's -against Atlético almost all the offensive production had to be assumed by Lamine- or Pedri's, the coach cannot always find the magic potion.

The team is still over the fair play limit and, apart from the aforementioned summer when it was possible to sign at the cost of compromising club assets in the long term, it has no financial muscle to go out and compete in the market. Atlético's starting eleven is not better than Barça's, but the differences in squad depth are stark. Cholo was able to bring on Sorloth and Baena, Barça did not have players like that on the bench. Lewandowski has had good peaks of performance and good overall figures with Flick, but it is symptomatic that in the match where you play for everything in the Champions League, the theoretical new

starter is a substitute. Ferran is useful and performed at a high level at the Metropolitano, but Barça has a problem in this position since the departure of Suárez in 2020. There are no academy miracles here.

The referee's balance

It is so true that the Blaugranas have not had enough aim compared to Atlético -until the second half of the second leg, the Mattress Makers had scored 3 goals in just 4 shots throughout the tie-, but it is also true that while Barça has had to accept two expulsions after VAR reviews, the Mattress Makers have known how to exploit the permissiveness of Champions League refereeing. Excessive at times. Koke should have seen a second yellow card at the Camp Nou, to cite an example. As well as the penalty -absurd, but penalty- not awarded to Pubill for hands or the possible penalty from Musso to Fermín. Among other actions.

Barça Studios journalist Marc Brau has shared a damning statistic: "It has been 13 years since Barça was awarded a penalty in their favor in the Champions League quarter-finals or semi-finals. And there have been 3 red cards in the quarter-finals of the last 3 years." UEFA dismissed the club's complaint after the first leg, and Laporta has assured that they will ask for explanations and will make a new complaint. "It is inadmissible".