Has Barcelona become 'small' in Europe?

After being eliminated yesterday early from the group stage of the Champions League in football, for the second consecutive season, Barcelona continues to suffer financial losses that coincide with the cracking of its prestige as one of the most prominent clubs in the old continent.

Despite the luxurious transfers in the summer period, the Catalan team achieved a painful start to the Champions League season, with its official exclusion on Wednesday, with a humiliating loss at home against Bayern Munich, who had previously qualified, with three clean goals.

A decade ago, Barcelona was at its peak, with a "tiki-taka" style based on possession and short passes, led by the feat coach Pep Guardiola (2008-2012), and the implementation of the Argentine genius Lionel Messi and his assistants Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez, the current coach.

Once again, the club falls prey to the relegation to the European League, by occupying third place in its third group with only 4 points in 5 matches, compared to 15 for Bayern and 10 for Inter.

"We have to face reality," Xavi said after losing against Bayern on Wednesday. "I said we have to grow, and on the basis of disappointments we will develop, and today it was a real disappointment."

He continued, "The season does not end in October. This is a hard blow, but there are more titles to chase. I understand that some are talking about a disaster, but we will do a different analysis. This is a tough way to leave, but if we analyze the matches, I think we deserved better." .

Despite this, Barcelona remains among the five richest clubs in the world.

According to the European Financial League study that Deloitte publishes every year, Barcelona generated 582 million euros in revenue in the 2020-2021 season, more than the French Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool and Chelsea, the English.

Its Camp Nou stadium is still the largest in Europe (99,000 spectators), and is preparing for a beautiful renovation campaign.

The training center for its players remains one of the best in the world, and the two prominent midfielders Pedri and Gavi have recently graduated from it on the continental and international arenas with the Spain national team.

At the age of 18, Gavi has played 12 caps so far and Pedri 14 matches at the age of 19!

With rivals Real Madrid, Barcelona is the most followed club on social media, with about 260 million followers (about 280 million for the royal team).

Acknowledgment of failure

But the stadium's accounts did not match the accounts of the new Barcelona administration, which sought in various ways to balance its financial numbers and cover its debts.

Huge sponsorship deal with Spotify, mortgaging all assets and spending 143 million euros in the last transfer window.

But Blaugrana was again eliminated from the group stage in the richest tournaments.

This has not happened in two consecutive seasons since 1998-1999.

An explicit acknowledgment of failing against the historical rivals Real Madrid, who defeated them 3-1 in the last Clasico at the Bernabeu, and relishes their titles in the Champions League and the Spanish League.

Barcelona fears the worst after returning from the World Cup suspension in Qatar (November 20 - December 18).

Barcelona was greatly affected last season by its early European exclusion, the departure of its legend Messi to Saint-Germain and the economic shocks that hit its corners.

Last spring, he was knocked out of the Europa League quarter-final against Eintracht Frankfurt (3-2, 1-1), who later won the title.

20 million

Euro losses away from the psychological aspect, this exclusion cost a lot.

On October 9 and during the General Assembly, the management presented a record provisional budget of €1.255 billion.

Given that the team will reach at least the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

By exiting the group stage, Barcelona would have lost the rewards of merit from the European Union (UEFA): 9.6 million euros to qualify for the final price, and 10.6 million to reach the quarter-finals.

The total lost profit is €20.2 million and will not be compensated even in the event of the Europa League title (winner's prize pool is €14.4 million).

Not to mention the losses due to poor results in the group stage, the volume of ticket sales and derivative products decreased, given the low interest in the Europa League matches compared to the Champions League.

It is hard to believe that Barcelona will regain its glow even in the event of winning the Europa League title, given that it is still one of the instigators of the launch of the European Super League split from the first continental competition, the Champions League.

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