Barcelona adds four disappointments in a year

EFE

Barcelona suffered its fourth European elimination in a year and 77 days in the Europa League, counting this season’s in the group stage of the Champions League and the two last year in the same competitions.

The Catalan team was eliminated from the Champions League on December 8, 2021 after losing to Bayern Munich (3-0) in the group stage and the same thing happened to them in the Europa League quarterfinals against Eintracht Frankfurt ( 2-3) on April 14, 2022. This season, Inter Milan’s victory against Viktoria Pilsen on November 26, 2022 eliminated them again from the ‘Champions’ group stage.

In these last four appearances in European competitions, Barcelona have achieved six wins, six draws and eight losses in the 20 games they have played with a total of 25 goals for and 33 against.

In the current season, Xavi Hernández’s team has not managed to keep a clean sheet in any of the eight matches they have played between the Champions League and the Europa League, conceding a total of 16 goals (2 per game).

These numbers are in stark contrast to those of La Liga, in which Barcelona lead by eight points over second-placed Real Madrid, having conceded just seven goals in 22 games. Furthermore, Marc-André Ter Stegen kept a clean sheet in 17 of these games.

In fact, Real Madrid, with a 3-1 victory in the first round of the League, is the only team that has managed to score more than one goal against Barcelona in regular competition. On the other hand, in Europe the Catalan team has conceded more than one goal in six of the eight games played.

Bayern Munich on two occasions (with two and three goals achieved), Inter Milan (three), Viktoria Pilsen (two) and Manchester United also in two games (two and two) managed to beat Ter Stegen more than once in the same game.

After this new elimination in Europe, the Spotify Camp Nou will not witness a European competition match again until, at least, the 2024-2025 season, when Barcelona is expected to return from exile at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium while they They carry out the remodeling works of the Barça fiefdom.