Former Barcelona defender Samuel Umtiti has been on punditry duty and has given his verdict on Tuesday’s Champions League defeat to Atletico.
Barcelona won 2-1 in the Spanish capital but lost 3-2 on aggregate in the quarter-final tie. Umtiti admitted he was disappointed to see his former team lose and highlighted their problems in defence.
“Everyone thought Barça would easily knock out Atlético,” he said on RMC Sport.
“They get into trouble and almost always end up the same way. And you realize that
yes, they take risks playing with a very high defensive line, but you realize that every time there’s an attack from the opposition, they’re late, and every delay costs them dearly and ends with a red card. That can’t be.”
Barcelona lost Pau Cubarsi to a red card in the first leg, while Eric Garcia was handed his marching orders in the return. Umtiti feels if Barcelona had avoided the red cards, they would be gone through.
“I think that over two legs, if they were eleven against eleven, it wouldn’t necessarily be a contest and Barça would have won both matches. I’m a little disappointed about that,” he added.
