With the 3-0 suffered Wednesday night against Benfica on the second day of the Champions League groups, Barcelona are last to zero points in their group, even surpassed by Dinamo Kiev. In the two games played so far, he has conceded six goals and hasn’t scored one, also because in 180 minutes he hasn’t shot on goal once.
In Lisbon, on the pitch with a team made up mostly of twenty-year-olds and second-picks, she suffered the worst defeat in her history against a Portuguese opponent. Seeing it like this, it doesn’t seem possible that Barcelona were the most envied football team in the world until a few years ago: winning, talented and spectacular like few others in history, perhaps none.
The performance of the team, however, is nothing compared to the disastrous company situation, so in difficulty that to fear that the replacement of the current coach, the Dutchman Ronald Koeman, is not covered by the funds left for this season: his contract provides for a penalty of 6 million euros in case of exemption, not counting the monthly payments that would remain to be pay until June and the salary of the new coach.
Gavi, Frenkie de Jong and Oscar Mingueza after the Lisbon defeat (David Ramos / Getty Images)
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The sale of Lionel Messi to Paris Saint-Germain has served to relieve the financial pressure on the club, which however remains in an extremely complicated situation. As explained in August by president Joan Laporta – elected last March – the latest budget showed losses of 481 million euros, while the total debt amounts to 1 billion and 350 million euros.
In the summer, the company was forced to ask for a loan of 80 million just to pay current salaries, and to conclude market transactions that were beyond logic only to cut expenses as much as possible. This is the case of the transfer of Antoine Griezmann, bought in 2019 by Atletico Madrid for at least 120 million euros and given back to the same team on loan with a ransom set at just 40 million euros.
While Spanish newspapers speak of a Dubai fund interested in buying the huge debt incurred by Barcelona in recent years, the Spanish league imposed on the club a salary cap of 97 million euros per season, the same as a newly promoted team in the English Premier League and almost 700 million euros lower than the limit granted to historical rivals Real Madrid.
In the league, things are not going much better. The team is sixth, with three wins and three draws, and on Saturday they will go to play in Madrid against reigning champions Atletico. Some players, such as Dutchman Frenkie de Jong, said they were against Koeman’s exoneration, because he would not help an already struggling group. Koeman himself said he feels the support of the team, but not that of the management, which will meet on Thursday afternoon to discuss his stay.
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