THE EVOLUTION OF FC BARCELONA

Sebastian Zuccet

For many years, FC Barcelona has been a powerhouse in the soccer world while holding on to some of the greatest talents we’ve ever seen. Players like Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez, Neymar Jr., and of course Lionel Messi, have all played for the “Blaugrana” and played a crucial role in multiple Champions League wins and Spanish La Liga titles. Recently however, people have been watching the rapid downfall of Barcelona, which really started in the 2017-18 UEFA Champions League quarter final. Barcelona were up 4-1 on aggregate when they traveled to the Stadio Olimpico to face AS Roma in the second leg, and it looked like there was no hope for the Italian side. But a remarkable 3-0 win saw Roma progress to the semi finals on the away goal rule that is no longer in place, leaving Barca fans all over the world shocked. The following season proved to be even worse, as they were knocked out in the semi finals against eventual winners Liverpool, with Barcelona being up 3-0, but conceding four unanswered to lose the matchup.

Fast forward to the summer of 2020, when matches started being played for the first time since the Covid-19 outbreak around the world. Barcelona were leading rivals Real Madrid in the league when everything stopped, but ultimately lost the title by five points. The team also found itself making headlines later in the summer following an 8-2 beatdown from Bayern Munich in the UCL quarter finals.

Barcelona were a mess on the pitch but the management and board room of the club was even worse. The pandemic has affected everyone all over the world, but it caused Barcelona to fall into a debt which was reported to be about 1.3 million euros. The club lost an estimated 404 million GBP in the 2020-21 season because there was no income from fans due to restrictions, and a lot of Barcelona players had massive wage bills. This prevented the club from making key signings and had to offload players with high wages in order to pay staff salaries and try and keep Lionel Messi. With problems getting worse both on and off the pitch, head coach Quiqe Setien, director of football Eric Abidal, and team president Josep Bartomeu all left the team after being a part of Barcelona’s first trophyless season in twelve years. The biggest name to leave the club was Lionel Messi, one of the greatest players of all time, and a true Barcelona legend. He made a move to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer on a free transfer and this season started as a train wreck without him.

The hiring of club legend Ronald Koeman as manager was a risky and highly questioned appointment but new president Joan Laporta put all his faith in the new manager to deliver. Koeman had a great start as Barca won their 31st Copa Del Rey against Athletic Bilbao. But that would be the only positives for Koeman as Barcelona took a plunge. With financial issues still lingering, the club was forced to sell and loan several players. The team however, signed a couple big name players in Sergio Aguero, Memphis Depay, and Eric Garcia this past summer- all for free. Sadly Aguero had to retire after only a few games due to a heart condition. The season started off poorly and Barcelona were beaten 3-0 at home against Bayern Munich in their first Champions League game of the season, and then lost 3-0 away at Benfica a few weeks later. Back home in Spain, Barca had fallen as low as 8th place in the table, and lost El Clasico against Madrid. After fan protests, and tons of pressure on the backroom staff, the club finally fired Koeman and announced they would be hiring another club legend, Xavi Hernandez. There was lots of work to do at the club but Xavi is convinced he can turn the ship around.

In December Barcelona were knocked out of the Champions League group stage for the first time in 17 years, being demoted to the Europa League playoff round. The January transfer window was the clubs best chance to reset as a squad and try and improve their league status and win the Europa League. Barca were able to loan out some deadwood players in order to bring in some players that can make an impact quickly, and be leaders for the young players in the squad. Club legend Dani Alves was brought back at 39 years of age on a free transfer, and Barcelona also signed super star striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from English club Arsenal after his contract was terminated by Arsenal. Aubameyang has done very well for the club so far with five goals in six matches, including a hat trick in a 4-1 win over Valencia. Aubameyang became the first player in history to score a hat trick in the Premier League (England), Ligue 1 (France), Bundesliga (Germany), and now La Liga (Spain). The Catalan club also snapped up young Spanish winger Ferran Torres from Manchester City for 55 million Euros. Adama Traore has also been signed on loan and already has five assists. Traore was a youth academy product of Barcelona but they released him in 2015.

Since Xavi took over in November, Barca has lost only four times, only one of those losses were in the league. They took on Napoli in the Europa League playoff, defeating them 5-3 on aggregate, moving onto the round of 16 where they will take on Turkish side Galatasary for a place in the quarters. They have also moved up to fourth in the table ahead of defending champions Atletico Madrid.

So, despite a rocky few years in Barcelona, things are starting to turn around with a great manager in Xavi building an intimidating squad mixed with young talent, and experienced superstars, and people should definitely be picking Barcelona to win this year's Europa League and challenge for the La Liga title next season.