The keys to a bloodletting that wounds Flick's Barça
That the blaugranes end important matches in Europe with one less man is starting to become a trend
BarcelonaDespite trying until the last second, Barça could not make the comeback against Atlètic de Madrid effective. The script of the match unfolded as expected, with Hansi Flick's team overwhelming Cholo Simeone's players, to the point that at times they opted to place a line of seven players in front of Juan Musso's goal. With the Blaugrana desperately seeking a gap in the defense, one of the most relevant actions of the duel occurred. Marcos Llorente threaded a good pass between the lines to leave Alexander Sorloth with a clear advantage against the Catalan defense. Eric Garcia, who was unable to cut off the attack, brought the Norwegian down when he was the last man, thus earning a direct red card and leaving Barça with 10 men at a crucial moment of the match.
And it is precisely in this action that many Barcelona fans have shown their disagreement, not only with the expulsion, but also with the criteria of the Frenchman Clément Turpin in the return match and the Slovenian István Kovács in the first leg. In both duels, the Blaugranas were disadvantaged by the referees. First, due to the permissiveness they showed in the face of numerous fouls by Atlético, who in the return match did not receive any yellow cards. And second, due to the expulsion of a player in both matches: Pau Cubarsí at Camp Nou and Eric Garcia at Metropolitano. "The referee has robbed us. I want to understand that they are afraid that Barça will win," said Raphinha Dias to DAZN after the match in Madrid. Words for which the Brazilian could be sanctioned by UEFA.
Barça finishing Champions League matches with one man less is becoming a trend. This season it has happened to them three times. Besides the mentioned cases of Cubarsí and Eric Garcia, Ronald Araujo also suffered this disciplinary consequence in the 3-0 defeat against Chelsea in the league phase. The Uruguayan saw his second yellow card in the 44th minute and his teammates ended up losing at Stamford Bridge 3-0. This ease of seeing red stems from the desire to dominate the opponent in their half and to position the defensive line far from the goal. Living on the edge has benefits in attack when the press works well, but it carries risks when the opponent breaks free and wins the space behind the defenders with room to run.
Of the major European teams, only Real Madrid has seen more red cards in the Champions League this season than the Blaugranas (five), although in most cases they were for protests and time-wasting. Manchester City, PSG, and Bayern Munich have only seen two each. Of the English teams, Rodri against Bodo/Glimt for a double yellow and Bernardo Silva for a direct red against Madrid in the round of 16. Of the Parisians, Illia Zabarnyi and Lucas Hernández, both directly, against Bayer Leverkusen and Tottenham, respectively. And of the Germans, Luis Díaz, directly against PSG, and Kim Min-jae for a double yellow against Saint-Gilloise. Other continental heavyweights like Inter Milan, Liverpool, Atlètic de Madrid, and Arsenal have not seen any red cards.
Eric Garcia, leader of the ranking
Barça had never suffered three expulsions in the same Champions League edition. The trend, in fact, has increased in recent years, with a predominance of direct red cards, which can be linked to risky situations. In the 2023-24 season, two players were sent off, Gavi (double yellow) in Porto and Araujo (direct) in the fateful elimination against PSG. In 2024-25, with Flick already on the bench, the figure was repeated. Eric Garcia (direct) in Mònaco and Cubarsí (direct) against Benfica. Adding these three seasons, there have been a total of seven red cards, five of them direct.
The increase in recent seasons brings the figure to 13 red cards, 6 direct, in the last decade in the top continental competition. No other team has seen as many in this period. What's more, since the Champions League format, Barça has seen 23, which means that in just two seasons it has accumulated more than 20% of the expulsions it has deserved since 1993. The last season in which two or more Blaugrana players were sent off was 97-98, with Ruud Hesp and Sergi Barjuan as protagonists. With his expulsion against Atlètic, Eric Garcia has become the Barça player who has gone to the dressing room early the most times in the Champions League (3), followed by Cubarsí, Araujo, and Piqué, all three with two.
Looking at the La Liga data, this season Barça has suffered two expulsions, six fewer than Rayo and Oviedo and five fewer than Madrid. The first red card was shown to Pedri at the Santiago Bernabéu, for a double yellow, and the second to De Jong, who received two bookings against Celta. The previous season, the team suffered three expulsions: Ferran Torres at Montilivi, Casadó against Celta, and Fermín against Sevilla. Finishing with the 23-24 season, there were two (Raphinha and Vitor Roque). As can be seen, in the Spanish competition, with Barça less exposed to do-or-die scenarios, the expulsion statistic is rather low. It is in Europe where the bleeding takes its toll at key moments.