The game was not scheduled as a final, but just an off-the-shelf game: a Saturday in December, the 18th round of 38 in the Spanish league, 2024/25 season. But everything that happened on Saturday evening in FC Barcelona’s alternative stadium on the city’s Montjüic mountain brought back memories of finals: the passion with which the game against Atlético Madrid was played; the different but essentially identical will of both teams to win at the end of the year; Finally, this foreseeable cruelty that was supposed to be the end for the players and supporters of FC Barcelona. It should provoke exactly the kind of reaction you would expect from finals.
Because when Alexander Sörloth, Atlético’s Norwegian attacker, turned a counterattack into a merciless shot in stoppage time to make the final score 2-1, everyone dressed in burgundy-red and blue shirts collapsed. Most of them instantly and literally, as if the sky had sent lightning bolts onto the lawn. “I’m proud of my players, but disappointed with the result,” said Hansi Flick, who has been coaching FC Barcelona since the summer and had to leave the coaching to his assistant Marcus Sorg. Because Flick served a suspension in the stands against Atlético. “Good night and Merry Christmas,” he said, still smiling, before getting up, straightening the chair and leaving.
:How Flick perfects the offside trap as a tactical tool
The German coach has set a European record with Barcelona: his defense has successfully set offside traps more than a hundred times this season – the risky maneuver follows a clear strategy.
It will be a quiet celebration for him, that was confirmed again a few hours before the start of the game. At an extraordinary general meeting at which a billion-dollar contract with a sporting goods supplier was approved, club president Joan Laporta praised the former German national coach as a savior.
“Hansi Flick gave us hope back. “FC Barcelona is playing for everything again,” said Laporta. Viewed objectively, this cannot be refuted. Although it is not Barcelona, but Atlético Madrid, that will start the year 2025 as the Spanish leader, because Atlético has one game less, the three point lead can still grow to six points. Barça is also far ahead in the monster league table of the Champions League (second place behind Liverpool FC), and the Catalan club has not intervened in the cup so far this season. But there are a number of numbers that, not to Flick (“I’m not the best when it comes to statistics”), but to some Barça supporters, make them doubt whether the club is at a crossroads after all.
The defeat against Atlético was not the first home game that was lost, although Barça should have won it, but the third in a row after the defeats against UD Las Palmas (1:2) and CD Leganés (0:1). Barça history only knows such a series from the years 1965 and 1987. From the last seven games, the club only got one win and a total of five out of 21 possible points. This adds up to the worst run since 2008: At the end of that season, coach Frank Rijkaard had to leave.
In the last 20 years, Barça have only recorded fewer points in three seasons
Barcelona have 38 points after 19 matchdays, Flick’s predecessor Xavi Hernández had collected 41 points at the same time last season. In the last 20 years, there have only been three seasons with fewer points. And yet: “We have blind trust in Hansi Flick,” explained Laporta before the game. The defeat against Atlético will not have changed that because Barça played one of the best games in recent years. This was particularly true for Pedri, who pushed his team to create chances and was the main responsible for the fact that Atlético goalkeeper Jan Oblak had to stretch himself to a world-class performance.
Nevertheless, Pedri called for a restart: “We need a reset.” That was less true for him, who took the lead in the 30th minute with a great goal after a one-two with Gavi. But especially for the big earner Robert Lewandowski. The former Bundesliga attacker, 36 years old, will end 2024 as the best Barça shooter of the calendar year (40 goals). After shining at the start of the season with 14 goals in eleven games, he only managed two goals in the last eight games. The way he missed the ball three meters from the goal after Rodrigo de Paul’s equalizer (60th) looked Chaplinesque. Above all, it seemed as if a pattern could be deduced: Word has long been circulating in Barcelona that dissatisfaction among colleagues is growing because Lewandowski’s latent refusal to press and defend in solidarity could not be offset by goals.
Lewandowski’s goal drought is not the only concern these days. Whether former Leipzig player Dani Olmo remains eligible to play remains to be officially confirmed. The former Leipzig professional is currently only allowed to compete because of a special permit that expires at the end of the year. During the week, the club assured Olmo that he had nothing to worry about. That’s not the worst news for Flick – especially when he considers how Pedri and Olmo harmonized in the half hour they were allowed to be on the pitch together. “We’ll be back,” said Flick.
#Barcelona #loses #Atlético #Spanish #top #game
