Would Barcelona be able to hang around with PSG or Bayern Munich in a Champions League semi-final?
My honest opinion, I think they may match up better against the giants of Europe than they do against an Atlético Madrid or an Inter Milan.
Ironically, Barcelona is a better team than the latter and not quite on the level of the former. When it comes to an open attacking football match, it’s simply hard to bet against Hansi Flick.
You could look at the question in two different ways.
What can Barcelona
do in the short term to put themselves in a position to win the Champions League next year, versus what can they do to build a sustainable model that guarantees consistency in the competition for years to come. In the end, in such a cut-throat event, luck will always play a role.
Barcelona would be wise to not directly compare themselves to PSG and Bayern Munich.
First of all, money matters. PSG is basically a bank that prints money, while Bayern Munich’s success and financial firepower is a result of a deliberate 50 + 1 business model maintains fan control, while allowing for plenty of private investment at the same time.
Barcelona simply don’t have the capabilities of either, and probably won’t for some time.
What’s important for the Blaugrana is sustainability. They aren’t far away from their top rivals in Europe, but could just as quickly slide backwards, instead of forwards, if the right decisions aren’t made.
Most will agree that Barcelona are lacking a true world-class striker, and need at least one more lock down defender.
Looking to the summer, getting a quality center-forward who is proven is going to cost money, there’s no way around it. On the defensive end, there may be ways to bring in free agent options.
What won’t work is doing nothing, and frankly, in the big picture, that’s what Joan Laporta has gotten away with over the past two years. He’s very fortunate that Hansi Flick has been able to work miracles.
Over the long term, La Masia will continue to be there to fill out the ranks. Barcelona’s academy is one of a kind, and they should continue to leverage it as much as possible.
Center forward, however, is the one position that they really don’t develop well. This summer, they’ll have to go out and pay for someone to be their goal scorer of the future.
Last summer, Barcelona landed Marcus Rashford, when what they really needed was Luis Díaz. It is what it is. There was an unsurmountable difference in spending power.
Barcelona also let Ousmane Dembele walk away and become a Ballon d’Or winner for PSG. In hindsight, the Blaugrana never appreciated the valuable asset that they already had. That comes down to decision making and the ability to assess talent and potential.
These are two examples that encapsulate the difference between Barcelona and PSG and Bayern Munich.
It’s about money, but it’s also about being smart.
Even PSG learned that lesson the hard way. It wasn’t Neymar, Messi, or Kylian Mbappé who put them over the top. It was Luis Enrique, and a team first ethos.
Barcelona is still the mecca of world football. Great players will make concessions to put on the colors.
They aren’t out of the woods financially, but with Flick in charge, and players like Lamine Yamal and Pedri leading the way, winning the Champions League isn’t a dream.
Whether it’s next year, or a few years down the line, Barcelona have the foundation they need to be consistently competitive, and with a bit of luck, to make it the distance.
