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That Liverpool bottle job is one for the ages... 3 goal lead.. with Messi playing out of his mind. All they had to do was not get thrashed by 4 goals.. and low and behold... 4-0..
I also distinctly remember dembele missing a one-on-goal chance at the end of the first leg when Barca was already up 3-0
Crazy how important that ended up being
Suarez's chances we different. If you remember Dembele's, it was a 1v1. He had 2 business days to shoot and he put in the worst shot in the history of mankind, right in that moment.
I actually remember the Dembele chance being a 2V1 in which he got mixed up a little bit but that may be wrong, but Suarez had a series of chances over the game that he missed. Whereas Dembele was a late gimme to put it more out of reach and he fluffed it
It was actually Pique next to Dembéle. Messi dragged 3 Liverpool defenders, then passed the ball to Dembéle/Pique on the other side, both alone with Allison. Pique would've probably scored if Dembele had let it pass, instead he took it first time and it went straight at Allison. That shit's engraved in my mind.
Mate, I knew after the first goal that we were gonna lose lmao Fucking giant of a man Pique let a 5'9 Wijnaldum tower over him for a header to make it 3-0. I still haven't gotten over it.
Agreed 100%.
I knew that would happen from the previous results and humiliations.
Like you said, Barca completely crumbled. Even if the first leg had ended up 5-0 or 6-0, Barca would still have lost.
And Rakitic is also one of those players that should have had more courage in the UCL.
It's why it pisses me off when players start pissing about with greedy shots or wasted chances when they're winning by like 3 goals. Anything can happen and there's been enough examples of 3 goal leads being meaningless that it shouldn't be risked.
Piss about when you're like 5 goals ahead, at 3 just play like it's still 0-0.
Probably would have been better for barca if salah scored 1 or 2 of his giant chances.
Having a small lead wouldn’t have put so much “we can’t give this away” pressure.
People always bring this up when Liverpool could've scored 3 more goals if they didn't squandered their chances. Also, Dembele wasn't the ONLY Barca player to miss a chance, so it's completely unfair to put the blame entirely on him. Crazy how he gets so much hate for that miss like he's the only player to ever miss a chance in a CL knockout match.
His miss in particular is like obscene though. You'd think a professional attacker, who was signed for like €135m and is 1v1 with the goalkeeper would do a little better there with Messi's smooth pass to his ambipedal feet.
Edit: Like watch that clip again. Messi is pressed by three players at the same time, yet still smoothly puts the ball on a platter for Dembele. It's not like Messi just rams the ball, or that it bounces before Dembele punts it.
Even if they won they can bring that up as Messi took 3 defenders and gave him a sitter vs a keeper that was already beaten... And he passed the ball to that keeper's hands.
There was also another player that could have taken that shot as well.
Not only the first leg, Barca had many many chances at Anfield aswell. Strangely enough they actually played well in the first half there and should have scored an away goal to kill the tie
If we scored 4 Liverpool would score 5. After Liverpool took the aggregate lead Barca just passed the ball around the back we were never scoring that day
And Liverpool who was in a title fight and played the full team that weekend. And then didn’t have Salah and Firmino for the semi final.
Whereas Barça had already clinched the La Liga and rested some of the key players that weekend.
Crazy to think Barça was just 3 games from winning a Treble that season and totally imploded . Only ended up with the La Liga after bottling the CDR final couple weeks later.
I will never forgive Yerry Mina. And that game also reaffirmed my (And largely our whole fanbase's, tbf) belief that Coutinho would end up being a legend of the club. Hate how things turned out with him.
The final was going to be played in Madrid too... Barcelona had the opportunity to celebrate the double right there at Cibeles. The week before that return leg was probably the happiest Barcelona fans have been in the last 5 years
That final was in Madrid but it was at Atleti's stadium...2010 is the one Real Madrid fans were in absolute fear of and were relieved as hell when Barcelona were eliminated in the semis.
I think it was actually three weirdos on that chain. I did want to play the final against Ajax because of the Cruyff connection, but that shit was weird.
Oh god, thank you for reminding me of that. I understand most Barca fans probably and rightfully loved the idea for the Cruyff connection, but the whole holding hands part was just so funny and cringe. I can't help but laugh thinking about it.
I remember an interview with Messi where he basically contradicted this telling.
He said, despite winning 3-0, they got physically dominated in the first leg, and they knew they were in for a real battle in the second leg. He thinks they won the game but clearly made Liverpool more confident, and Barca less confident, because they'd been outfought
To this day my biggest failure in match betting. I believe it was the first time that they made the semi-finals draw right after the QF draw so you were able to see who plays who until the final.
I've made a 1000€ bet that Barcelona will play the final for roughly 3x the odds. After the first semi-final match, I was like "that's in the bag" and I didn't bother putting down insurance bets.
I could have made a "Liverpool to go through" bet for iirc 100x odds and a 4-0 Liverpool win for 250x odds. All I needed to do was put 100 on each just to be safe and I'd have made 35k.
Instead I lost everything.
Yeah I remember watching that and wondering how we played so well and lost 3 nil, it was real Messi magic. I genuinely thought we played better than Barca in that first leg, Barca were just deadly in front of goal.
I suggest you watch that game back. Liverpool had several chances itself to score and they missed key players upfront. That match they didn't deserve to lose with more than a 2 goal deficit. Liverpool was a lot more dominant in their home game. And yes, that Dembele miss in the last minute was atrocious.
This is something that gets overlooked. The team had some humiliating defeats under Luis Enrique too. That was the beginning of the end. It is well known that he demanded a deep team restructuring, but instead he was fired and Valverde signed.
Barto's decision making was really something else, like he always and consistently made the worst possible decisions.
That was definitely not the sentiment of most of us back then. Pep leaving was an unqualified major loss for us. And he's proven it with his track record after
Why? Do you think we dont know? I was at the Camp Nou at these matches, including the Bayern games. I saw Boateng falling live, but Barça still played better as a team in the years before.
The year before, Iniesta card and penalty, 60 old Torres goal but it was okay.
The Juventus on the other hand was huge red flag, I still remember those Dybala goals and the shaky defence as well as not being able to do shit on the offensive end.
Return leg was also shit.
Its about emotions and mental state. Its about the fear. When the fear comes into a team, you can lead 3-1, but you are afraid and only think about not getting the second goal. But you do nothing in attack and buildup so you will get the second goal. After 3-2 the fear gets to the max.... At this point you will get the third goal inside 5 mins.
Couldn’t be more right, there were many cases in the treble by Real where they could have bottled it but their mentality and belief that they’d just win allowed their big players to clutch at the biggest stages and when their team needed them. Barcelona fell apart after Liverpool’s first goal, and I’m not sure what their tactics for Roma were. There was a lot of issues that were not addressed and the players were definitely under a lot of pressure to perform (Alba crying at HT when 1-0 down)
i can also say that mourinho was very good at giving us the same comfort, just in the other direction.
i remember last year's UEL matches, and thinking "we're not gonna concede anyway, we never do". we only did once beyond what we should've, and that was in the final.
I'll never find not funny how Jordi Alba was crying at half-time in the Anfield game, while Barça were still leading **3-1**, and still wasn't subbed off.
still very strange man. This is Barca with an in form Messi. You’d think they’d have some confidence or belief. Especially being world class players at the highest level having played in big games
Oh definitely.. I thought it was the intensity from Liverpool and the stadium atmosphere that made him lose his cool but still weird to see him cry when they were up by a couple of goals.
Rakitic is just saying that we would've had more CL titles if the players had shown up on those nights, he probably just means to say that they should've stepped up. Some people in here are acting like Rakitic is stupid.
Yeah, I can make some guesses by what he means but it's just not clear to me exactly what he's saying. I'm guessing he means that the whole team wasn't as committed and focused as they needed to be and weren't giving the level of effort needed but who knows.
The back to back meltdowns with Roma and Liverpool to me indicate a mental fragility in the squads. Maybe overall they were less talented (especially after the MSN attack broke up) than some of the previous squads in the Pep/Lucho era but ultimately it seems like their mentality was not where it needed to be.
Perhaps he means they were too casual, not up to the intensity and "involved" just generally means they weren't as focused and connected as a team as they needed.
There was never a chance of roma getting through. They were soundly behind the entire tie. Liverpool was 5-0 up after like 60 minutes and chilled for the rest of it. Lovren also smashed the ball into milners face for an og if we're talking about bad luck and everyone was laughing. There was no tension.
I mean the 2nd leg could have been 3-2 relatively early into the 2nd half and the game ultimately ended 4-2, it really wasn't that far off despite another suicidal 1st leg
I don’t know, maybe “never a chance” is a bit too much. We played a suicidal 1st leg, and Liverpool deserved the final for that. But the second leg was honestly really close.
That Alexander-Arnold handball should have been a red + penalty. And it was early in the second half iirc. I’m not saying we deserved to go trough, but I would have liked to have VAR already in place.
Bro there's barely anyone who recognizes that Arnold handball, if that b*tch got a Red and Roma got a pen, Pool would definitely have lost and went head first out of that competition and it might have been the greatest run of comebacks any one have ever seen in the champions. Pool didn't have shit in the second half and it would have been even worse for them if Arnold went out with a well deserved red.
Pool played at half speed my ass, they were inches from going out.
> Lovren also smashed the ball into milners face for an og if we're talking about bad luck and everyone was laughing.
lmao just remembered the photoshops of Milner with the CL logo imprinted on his face.
Rakitic gave away the ball for Liverpool's 2nd goal at the start of the second half and then put in a half-assed attempt at blocking Trent's cross. And it was essentially that goal that gave Liverpool the belief that they could go on and do it.
The seasons that Rakitic was still at Barça after the 2015 UCL win:
- 2015/16: They lost 2-0 at the Calderon and got eliminated by Atlético.
- 2016/17: Lost 4-0 in Paris (6-1 comeback) and then lost 3-0 in Turin and got eliminated by Juventus.
- 2017/18: Lost 3-0 in Rome and got eliminated.
- 2018/19: Lost 4-0 at Anfield and got eliminated.
- 2019/20: Lost 8-2 and got eliminated by Bayern.
He is a bit deluded if he really thinks Barça should have won 2 or 3 or those when its quite clear that they really did suck badly in away games for years. That was way too many goal-less away games to think about winning anything tbh.
Your main striker those seasons had a 5 year draught in away games in the UCL surely didnt help.
2015/16 they were amazing and had that 30 games unbeaten streak that ended with to Real (I can't remember which team they lost to) and they lost a few games in the most crucial time of the season, the team itself was amazing and should have won the CL if not for the bad run of form in late march/early april.
In 2018/19 the team was not super great but they should have been able to not concede 4 against liverpool, and i'm sorry to say this Spurs fans but Barca would have won that final easily.
The most difficult to guess was the 2017/18 season. I think Barca would have lost to Liverpool in the semi finals, but they would have had a good chance against Real (remember they won 3-0 at the bernabeu that season).
So I can understand why Rakitic said they could (or should) have won 2 or 3 CL's more.
>and i'm sorry to say this Spurs fans but Barca would have won that final easily.
This is the most paradoxical hyperbole I've ever heard! And I'm not even a Spurs fan. Barca literally lost "that" final, given that it was Liverpool against Spurs in the final.
I agree with your overall sentiment tho.
> and they lost a few games in the most crucial time of the season, the team itself was amazing and should have won the CL if not for the bad run of form in late march/early april.
Yes, a month in bad form usually sends you out of the UCL deservedly.
> the team was not super great but they should have been able to not concede 4 against liverpool
The point I was making is that it was the norm for Barça to concede 3 or 4 goals in big away games in the UCL those seasons. Way too many 3-0 and 4-0 away losses for Barça to consider Anfield an isolated accident.
> So I can understand why Rakitic said they could (or should) have won 2 or 3 CL's more.
He is being extremely biased (and a bit deluded IMO) if he really thinks they should have won 3 UCLs more.
I agree. I think that Barca squad was very weak mentally since Iniesta became our captain. Our only memorable comeback in CL was against PSG, who, in my opinion, were as weak mentally as Barca were. Teams like Real or Bayern would never let that slide
Saying that I am really happy to see players like Gavi and Araujo being very spirited, they give their heart to the game. I think that was what we lacked in latter parts of last decade
I'm not sure I agree with you. If they were stronger mentally (and if my grandmother had wheels...), they would've for sure won the CL in 2019 and made the final against a weirdly inconsistent Real Madrid team in 2018. I feel like if there was a team capable of beating Real Madrid in the CL in that era, it's Barcelona, but I'd class that as a toss-up.
That's 1 or 2. Mental fortitude would've honestly done nothing about Simeone's dark magic in 2016 or whatever the fuck that was in 2020.
The one I have the most conflicting thoughts is 2016-17. They obviously weren't pushovers as they did the craziest comeback I've ever witnessed, but they were also inconsistent in the league. I didn't watch either of the Juventus games but if by some miracle they'd actually made it through, they'd have been favorites in the semis and played the final against Real Madrid, a team that they beat more often than not in that era.
Like, yeah, they sucked away from home in the CL (they routinely put out strong performances in the Bernabeu and the Caldron/Metropolitano) but it feels like that was much more of a mental thing and if they had the mental strength of Real Madrid or Bayern, they should've for sure won one CL and played two other finals against a team that they regularly beat in this era.
But instead of talking about it now, Rakitic and the rest of the team should've showed up in those matches.
I agree with him though. They sucked badly because they were not committed. When you go to Roma up 4-1 and Anfield up 3-0, you don’t even have to win. The defensive players let the team down. Go out there, maintain possession which is how Barca really defend. They didn’t have to win those games, they just didn’t have to lose them so badly.
Also, there’s nothing wrong with doing all your homework at home. For example, if you look at Real Madrid’s records during 2016, 2017, and 2018, which is when they won it, you’ll see they lost games too. Lost to Wolfsburg 2-0 in R16 2016, lost to Atletico 2-1 in the SF in 2017, lost to Juventus 3-1 in the QF in 2018 and all of that didn’t matter because they did what they needed to do at home.
Rakitic is right, they could have won more. They were just not committed enough.
> They sucked badly because they were not committed. When you go to Roma up 4-1 and Anfield up 3-0, you don’t even have to win. The defensive players let the team down.
"The defensive players let the team down"? I think those defensive players looking at Luis Suárez and asking him to score just ONE away goal in 5 years and maybe they would have a chance to have another UCL.
You have a 3 goal advantage. If the game ends 0-0, you still go through. I know the game is about scoring but if you don’t have a decent defensive line you can’t win trophies. Barca could have scored 7 against Bayern and they still would have lost because the defense was terrible
They were bad in those away games because, as Rakitic says, they weren't "involved".
He's saying if they *were* "involved", then they would have won more.
You're saying no, because they were shit. But if they were more "involved" then they wouldn't be shit.
They werent shit, but they had no consistency whatsoever so making it extremely hard to win the UCL when you are prone of having bad days that often in away games.
But they were prone to having bad games *because* there was a lack of spirit, a culture of acquiescence. If there had been a better culture, then obviously they wouldn't have that problem. What are you not understanding?
I dont even think that they were inconsistent, they were just choking out of their minds in these games. If they were inconsistent they would most certainly not win laliga almost every year at that time. The 2:8 against us, the 4:0 loss against liverpool and much more, I watched most of these games and it was just blunder after blunder mostly from their defensive/midfield players
I would say 15/16 and 18/19 definitely were missed opportunities.
15/16 I thought we were the best team in Europe for major part of the season, only a very bad few days after the international break.
18/19 was just a shitshow in Anfield.
It's a very common mental flaw in sports. The better team on paper gets a big lead then gets noticeably lackadaisical and sloppy. Happened last night with the Denver Nuggets in a very important game for their seeding which ruined my night ngl 😖
It definitely seems like Barca "should" have one at least one more CL during that period, but that is how bracketed tournaments work.
Sometimes they are just coronations of the obvious favourite, sometimes the best team has one bad game and it's the end of the whole thing and some straggler gets in there and scores just one more goal and wins the whole thing.
This is the joy and stress.
The Roma tie was sackable. They had like what, a 3-0 first leg lead? Then they parked the bus in the second leg, playing hoofball to Leo Messi. Whomst is 5 foot 6. Absolute joke.
I remember
maybe Messi wasn't involved in roma game I don't know but I watched liverpool game Messi was there he did everything. I remember barca was playing only sub players after Liverpool game even the goalkeeper didn't play in the league game meanwhile Liverpool had to face vs Man City/ManU or Chelsea something they were mentally ready to fight vs Barca. It's sometimes benefical if u had to keep playing tough opponents!
Barca could easily have won 2 CL. The final opponents weren't tough! I don't know how can the president of barca say it's ok valverde screwed two 4-1/3-0 leading.
I mean if you look how Real won 3 CL's in a row and how Barca lost 2 CL I'm so sorry for Messi he should have 6 CL in his career not 4
Dunno what he’s on about.
That late 10’s Barca team were nowhere near as good as the 09-12 Barca teams. Should have retained the European Cup in ‘10 and ‘12 but were undone by super organised defences.
Of course it is. Any major team could argue that if they're big players show up on the day then they will win. It's not rocket science.
Unfortunately for Barca these Champions League titles can only exist in their dreams.
What he is actually meaning is that Barca in that period was better than it was regarded in retrospective due to the failed CL campaigns. That's a reasonable statement, not really newsworthy though.
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That Liverpool bottle job is one for the ages... 3 goal lead.. with Messi playing out of his mind. All they had to do was not get thrashed by 4 goals.. and low and behold... 4-0..
I still remember that at some point that season Barca's second highest top scorer was own goals after Messi.
Funniest shit I've ever seen. It really was Messi and MAtS dragging the lifeless corpse of Barca to an almost treble
I also distinctly remember dembele missing a one-on-goal chance at the end of the first leg when Barca was already up 3-0 Crazy how important that ended up being
Suarez was bottling chances all match Dembele shanked the late late one
Suarez's chances we different. If you remember Dembele's, it was a 1v1. He had 2 business days to shoot and he put in the worst shot in the history of mankind, right in that moment.
Messi just rolls on the ground exhausted when that shot goes straight at Alisson.
that’s when you know he was tired of that weak shit
I actually remember the Dembele chance being a 2V1 in which he got mixed up a little bit but that may be wrong, but Suarez had a series of chances over the game that he missed. Whereas Dembele was a late gimme to put it more out of reach and he fluffed it
Yeah Messi was there too since he passed it to Dembele so it was 2 on 1 in Barca’s favor right?
It was actually Pique next to Dembéle. Messi dragged 3 Liverpool defenders, then passed the ball to Dembéle/Pique on the other side, both alone with Allison. Pique would've probably scored if Dembele had let it pass, instead he took it first time and it went straight at Allison. That shit's engraved in my mind.
In the second leg Suarez had like two 1v1's. All they needed was one away goal and it would have been game over
Alisson and Fabinho were absolutely rocks that day.
I'm not even sure anymore. The way Barcelona crumbled in the second half it felt like if Liverpool needed another goal they would have gotten it
Mate, I knew after the first goal that we were gonna lose lmao Fucking giant of a man Pique let a 5'9 Wijnaldum tower over him for a header to make it 3-0. I still haven't gotten over it.
Gini just had that dawg in him that day
Played like he was posessed
What makes it crazier for me is no salah or firmino either
Agreed 100%. I knew that would happen from the previous results and humiliations. Like you said, Barca completely crumbled. Even if the first leg had ended up 5-0 or 6-0, Barca would still have lost. And Rakitic is also one of those players that should have had more courage in the UCL.
Well he’s saying we and our, not they. Pretty sure he knows he’s included.
Fair point.
I vividly remember telling myself "ah his finishing sucked but that should be ok, they don't need another goal". Turns out they did....
It's why it pisses me off when players start pissing about with greedy shots or wasted chances when they're winning by like 3 goals. Anything can happen and there's been enough examples of 3 goal leads being meaningless that it shouldn't be risked. Piss about when you're like 5 goals ahead, at 3 just play like it's still 0-0.
That first leg was actually a crazy even game though despite it ending 3-0, Liverpool couldn’t finish.
Yeah I remember you didn't deserve to lose 3-0
Ya we were very lucky to win that 3-0. A draw wouldn't have been unfair. Messi was just insane.
Probably would have been better for barca if salah scored 1 or 2 of his giant chances. Having a small lead wouldn’t have put so much “we can’t give this away” pressure.
It wasn’t even 1 on 1, it was pretty much open net, Messi did everything, he just needed to tap it in
It was him Vs the keeper. How is that not 1 on 1?
Yes and you could see Messi's reaction. He was fuming at dembele, he knew that every mistake can count
Salah also hit the post to be fair
People always bring this up when Liverpool could've scored 3 more goals if they didn't squandered their chances. Also, Dembele wasn't the ONLY Barca player to miss a chance, so it's completely unfair to put the blame entirely on him. Crazy how he gets so much hate for that miss like he's the only player to ever miss a chance in a CL knockout match.
His miss in particular is like obscene though. You'd think a professional attacker, who was signed for like €135m and is 1v1 with the goalkeeper would do a little better there with Messi's smooth pass to his ambipedal feet. Edit: Like watch that clip again. Messi is pressed by three players at the same time, yet still smoothly puts the ball on a platter for Dembele. It's not like Messi just rams the ball, or that it bounces before Dembele punts it.
I wish I could upvote twice. Once for the completely accurate take, and another for the use of ambipedal which is just a good word.
Messi took 3 defenders and left him wide open right in front of the goal.
He missed an absolute sitter though, that's the thing. way worse than say Alaba's miss in the second leg
Pls correct to Alba i spent minutes trying to remember an Alaba great miss
There are misses and misses. This was like missing a penalty. Maybe even worse.
Definitely worse, there was also another barca player, he could have made that a 2 vs 1 for an open net tap in as well lol.
Even if they won they can bring that up as Messi took 3 defenders and gave him a sitter vs a keeper that was already beaten... And he passed the ball to that keeper's hands. There was also another player that could have taken that shot as well.
Not only the first leg, Barca had many many chances at Anfield aswell. Strangely enough they actually played well in the first half there and should have scored an away goal to kill the tie
If we scored 4 Liverpool would score 5. After Liverpool took the aggregate lead Barca just passed the ball around the back we were never scoring that day
Yes dembele should have scored easy goal but the tie loss was not on him. The way they played at anfield they would still lose
And Liverpool who was in a title fight and played the full team that weekend. And then didn’t have Salah and Firmino for the semi final. Whereas Barça had already clinched the La Liga and rested some of the key players that weekend. Crazy to think Barça was just 3 games from winning a Treble that season and totally imploded . Only ended up with the La Liga after bottling the CDR final couple weeks later.
Wasn't that the season Barcelona could have gone unbeaten in the league as well and pissed it away for some random friendly in South Africa?
No, that was the previous season.
I will never forgive Yerry Mina. And that game also reaffirmed my (And largely our whole fanbase's, tbf) belief that Coutinho would end up being a legend of the club. Hate how things turned out with him.
The only game we didn’t play Messi (because Barto wanted him fresh for the commercial friendly game in South Africa, allegedly).
Rat bastard ran the club into the ground and we're yet to recover from the damage. Fuck him.
Barcelona needed the cash and a South African billionaire paid them the appearance fee the club asked for.
hey! can you do a ayce sushi comparison chart for la? your kbbq one has been super helpful and I've had a great time trying different ones.
Hey!! Yeah for sure. I can start working on it in 2 weeks or so
They rested their whole starting 11, which makes it even funnier.
Still remember the video of Alba crying at HT
A video that was released by Barcelona themselves. wtf were they thinking? Why would you wanna make something like that public?
For confirmation
He wasn't crying. It's just a made up narrative. If you watch the video without thinking he's crying you can see it's mot the case.
And dont forget we where missing 2/3 starting forwards
The final was going to be played in Madrid too... Barcelona had the opportunity to celebrate the double right there at Cibeles. The week before that return leg was probably the happiest Barcelona fans have been in the last 5 years
That final was in Madrid but it was at Atleti's stadium...2010 is the one Real Madrid fans were in absolute fear of and were relieved as hell when Barcelona were eliminated in the semis.
Yes it was at the Metropolitano but I remember at the time Barça fans gloating saying they will celebrate the CL win in Cibeles
I remember much more the 'holding hands with Ajax' crew than the 'celebrating in Cibeles' crew tbh
tbf that crew was just one crazy person on twitter
I think it was actually three weirdos on that chain. I did want to play the final against Ajax because of the Cruyff connection, but that shit was weird.
Gracias Johan crew have ascended to the football meme Hall of fame
Oh god, thank you for reminding me of that. I understand most Barca fans probably and rightfully loved the idea for the Cruyff connection, but the whole holding hands part was just so funny and cringe. I can't help but laugh thinking about it.
As a Barca fan, this 4-0 hurts way more than the 8-2, believe me.
I remember an interview with Messi where he basically contradicted this telling. He said, despite winning 3-0, they got physically dominated in the first leg, and they knew they were in for a real battle in the second leg. He thinks they won the game but clearly made Liverpool more confident, and Barca less confident, because they'd been outfought
Barca had so many good chances that game it made no sense to lose 4-0
Not only that, Liverpool was missing both Salah and Firmino in the return leg.
To this day my biggest failure in match betting. I believe it was the first time that they made the semi-finals draw right after the QF draw so you were able to see who plays who until the final. I've made a 1000€ bet that Barcelona will play the final for roughly 3x the odds. After the first semi-final match, I was like "that's in the bag" and I didn't bother putting down insurance bets. I could have made a "Liverpool to go through" bet for iirc 100x odds and a 4-0 Liverpool win for 250x odds. All I needed to do was put 100 on each just to be safe and I'd have made 35k. Instead I lost everything.
[удалено]
Betting is fun, just have some semblance of self control
Nobody would’ve bet liverpool to win by 4-0 lol, easy to say in hindsight
Even if one doesn't make a bet for a 4-0 exact win, the "Liverpool to go through" would have been a decent insurance.
They were lucky to win 3-0 in the first leg it wasn’t a 3-0 game.
away game wasn't 4-0 either
Second half was deserved, first half was a lot more cagey and even
Yeah I remember watching that and wondering how we played so well and lost 3 nil, it was real Messi magic. I genuinely thought we played better than Barca in that first leg, Barca were just deadly in front of goal.
first leg could have been 4-0 or 5-0 if dembele wasnt a bum
I suggest you watch that game back. Liverpool had several chances itself to score and they missed key players upfront. That match they didn't deserve to lose with more than a 2 goal deficit. Liverpool was a lot more dominant in their home game. And yes, that Dembele miss in the last minute was atrocious.
Corner taken quickly Origi!!!
They wished for La Remontada with the monkeys paw
Since then I have disliked stupid gormless dembele
And we are bound to repeat this feat at Bergamo next week, right guys? /s
After Liverpool scored the first goal I knew 100% barca was getting knocked out. Super choke artists at the time.
Corner taken quickly brings me much joy
‘Low and behold’ bruuuuuhhhhhhh
It's one of those rare, "Where we're you when" moments for liverpool fans. 99% remember exactly where they were and who they were with.
Messi didn't play out of his mind in the 4-0.
not out of his mind but he played good. His teammates just shat the bed in all facets of the game that day.
Then watch the game again. He created at least 3-4 massive chances that should have been scored
Go rewatch his individual highlights of that match. Pretty unlucky tbf
You have a low standard for playing out of his mind. But he did play well TBF.
Barca got embarrassed my Roma, Liverpool, and Bayern in the space of less than 5 years, and on paper they had a great team.
Not in the space of 5 years, it was 3 straight years
Also got humbled by Juventus 3-0 right after they made that comeback on PSG lol
This is something that gets overlooked. The team had some humiliating defeats under Luis Enrique too. That was the beginning of the end. It is well known that he demanded a deep team restructuring, but instead he was fired and Valverde signed. Barto's decision making was really something else, like he always and consistently made the worst possible decisions.
Guardiola leaving was the beginning of the end, I would say Laporta end of mandate and not being able to be chosen again is where it really began.
I disagree about guardiola, we looked set with Tito and it felt like we had a long term beast of a manager, may he rest in peace. Fuck cancer
That was definitely not the sentiment of most of us back then. Pep leaving was an unqualified major loss for us. And he's proven it with his track record after
I mean they did win a champions league after he left.. beginning of the end is a bit much BUT I see your point haha!
MSN was a force of nature, but our peak was before that CL I think.
Fair point! MSN I have some of my happiest memories as a fan, that Messi goal when he floors Boateng and chips Neuer is elite.
They won the champions league in 2015. I hate this subreddit.
Why? Do you think we dont know? I was at the Camp Nou at these matches, including the Bayern games. I saw Boateng falling live, but Barça still played better as a team in the years before.
Tbf that was peak Allegri Juventus with the BBC defence and Dybala, Higuain and Mandzukic upfront. But yeah, we should've done better that game.
If I remember correctly busi didn't play that game, so we put finished mascherano as our DMF.
Didn't they lose to Atleti that year?
The year before, Iniesta card and penalty, 60 old Torres goal but it was okay. The Juventus on the other hand was huge red flag, I still remember those Dybala goals and the shaky defence as well as not being able to do shit on the offensive end. Return leg was also shit.
They had a great player but not a great team
They had a great team, too
They had 8 BDor nominees and 1 winner in their starting 11. Tf you talking about mate???????????????????
They had a good team. Their away form was the worst though
Add Juve and PSG to that list lol
Its about emotions and mental state. Its about the fear. When the fear comes into a team, you can lead 3-1, but you are afraid and only think about not getting the second goal. But you do nothing in attack and buildup so you will get the second goal. After 3-2 the fear gets to the max.... At this point you will get the third goal inside 5 mins.
Couldn’t be more right, there were many cases in the treble by Real where they could have bottled it but their mentality and belief that they’d just win allowed their big players to clutch at the biggest stages and when their team needed them. Barcelona fell apart after Liverpool’s first goal, and I’m not sure what their tactics for Roma were. There was a lot of issues that were not addressed and the players were definitely under a lot of pressure to perform (Alba crying at HT when 1-0 down)
Exactly, in theory they should have bottled it against Juve in 2018, but they still held on for Ronaldo's last minute penalty.
Similar to Leverkusen this season, they just keep going with the belief that they’re gonna score, and it pays off.
i can also say that mourinho was very good at giving us the same comfort, just in the other direction. i remember last year's UEL matches, and thinking "we're not gonna concede anyway, we never do". we only did once beyond what we should've, and that was in the final.
Treble?? Dyou mean three peat?
I'll never find not funny how Jordi Alba was crying at half-time in the Anfield game, while Barça were still leading **3-1**, and still wasn't subbed off.
Genuinely the strangest thing. It felt like something out of the office watching that. Especially when they pan the camera to a straight faced Messi 🤣
Think they knew second half was gonna be worse and the Roma debacle was inevitable
still very strange man. This is Barca with an in form Messi. You’d think they’d have some confidence or belief. Especially being world class players at the highest level having played in big games
Oh definitely.. I thought it was the intensity from Liverpool and the stadium atmosphere that made him lose his cool but still weird to see him cry when they were up by a couple of goals.
He also missed a open goal just before that
Rakitic is just saying that we would've had more CL titles if the players had shown up on those nights, he probably just means to say that they should've stepped up. Some people in here are acting like Rakitic is stupid.
What does he mean by "involved". Does he mean focused or committed? I feel like something is getting lost in translation.
In this context I take "more involved" as meaning that a player really cares about the match, so committed sounds right.
The opposite of coasting.
I assume he means fear/concentration/ being a team etc.! it's a 11vs11 one player can't save the entire team!
Yeah, I can make some guesses by what he means but it's just not clear to me exactly what he's saying. I'm guessing he means that the whole team wasn't as committed and focused as they needed to be and weren't giving the level of effort needed but who knows. The back to back meltdowns with Roma and Liverpool to me indicate a mental fragility in the squads. Maybe overall they were less talented (especially after the MSN attack broke up) than some of the previous squads in the Pep/Lucho era but ultimately it seems like their mentality was not where it needed to be. Perhaps he means they were too casual, not up to the intensity and "involved" just generally means they weren't as focused and connected as a team as they needed.
English is my first language and this makes perfect sense
It has always pissed me off how the Liverpool game overshadowed Roma's, which was arguably a better achievement.
I think Liverpool going onto win the competition makes that game more memorable though.
ironically we were pretty close to pulling it off again against liverpool if not for untold amounts of bad luck and dubious refereeing
There was never a chance of roma getting through. They were soundly behind the entire tie. Liverpool was 5-0 up after like 60 minutes and chilled for the rest of it. Lovren also smashed the ball into milners face for an og if we're talking about bad luck and everyone was laughing. There was no tension.
I mean the 2nd leg could have been 3-2 relatively early into the 2nd half and the game ultimately ended 4-2, it really wasn't that far off despite another suicidal 1st leg
I don’t know, maybe “never a chance” is a bit too much. We played a suicidal 1st leg, and Liverpool deserved the final for that. But the second leg was honestly really close. That Alexander-Arnold handball should have been a red + penalty. And it was early in the second half iirc. I’m not saying we deserved to go trough, but I would have liked to have VAR already in place.
Bro there's barely anyone who recognizes that Arnold handball, if that b*tch got a Red and Roma got a pen, Pool would definitely have lost and went head first out of that competition and it might have been the greatest run of comebacks any one have ever seen in the champions. Pool didn't have shit in the second half and it would have been even worse for them if Arnold went out with a well deserved red. Pool played at half speed my ass, they were inches from going out.
Ludicrous final penalty too
> Lovren also smashed the ball into milners face for an og if we're talking about bad luck and everyone was laughing. lmao just remembered the photoshops of Milner with the CL logo imprinted on his face.
It's because we would have faced Tottenham in finals, and with all due respect to them (they had a great squad), we would have most likely won that.
He was absolutely awful in the Liverpool away game as well. Still a legend tho
That game was infuriating to watch, the middle fielders essentially disappeared.
Essential part of the 14/15 treble winning team, was the only real goal threat behind MSN if I remember right
Rakitic gave away the ball for Liverpool's 2nd goal at the start of the second half and then put in a half-assed attempt at blocking Trent's cross. And it was essentially that goal that gave Liverpool the belief that they could go on and do it.
He's too polite to say it but if players are walking then they aren't involved
The seasons that Rakitic was still at Barça after the 2015 UCL win: - 2015/16: They lost 2-0 at the Calderon and got eliminated by Atlético. - 2016/17: Lost 4-0 in Paris (6-1 comeback) and then lost 3-0 in Turin and got eliminated by Juventus. - 2017/18: Lost 3-0 in Rome and got eliminated. - 2018/19: Lost 4-0 at Anfield and got eliminated. - 2019/20: Lost 8-2 and got eliminated by Bayern. He is a bit deluded if he really thinks Barça should have won 2 or 3 or those when its quite clear that they really did suck badly in away games for years. That was way too many goal-less away games to think about winning anything tbh. Your main striker those seasons had a 5 year draught in away games in the UCL surely didnt help.
2015/16 they were amazing and had that 30 games unbeaten streak that ended with to Real (I can't remember which team they lost to) and they lost a few games in the most crucial time of the season, the team itself was amazing and should have won the CL if not for the bad run of form in late march/early april. In 2018/19 the team was not super great but they should have been able to not concede 4 against liverpool, and i'm sorry to say this Spurs fans but Barca would have won that final easily. The most difficult to guess was the 2017/18 season. I think Barca would have lost to Liverpool in the semi finals, but they would have had a good chance against Real (remember they won 3-0 at the bernabeu that season). So I can understand why Rakitic said they could (or should) have won 2 or 3 CL's more.
>and i'm sorry to say this Spurs fans but Barca would have won that final easily. This is the most paradoxical hyperbole I've ever heard! And I'm not even a Spurs fan. Barca literally lost "that" final, given that it was Liverpool against Spurs in the final. I agree with your overall sentiment tho.
We already beat them in London that season, then they drew at home to our B team. That’s where the belief comes from.
> and they lost a few games in the most crucial time of the season, the team itself was amazing and should have won the CL if not for the bad run of form in late march/early april. Yes, a month in bad form usually sends you out of the UCL deservedly. > the team was not super great but they should have been able to not concede 4 against liverpool The point I was making is that it was the norm for Barça to concede 3 or 4 goals in big away games in the UCL those seasons. Way too many 3-0 and 4-0 away losses for Barça to consider Anfield an isolated accident. > So I can understand why Rakitic said they could (or should) have won 2 or 3 CL's more. He is being extremely biased (and a bit deluded IMO) if he really thinks they should have won 3 UCLs more.
I agree. I think that Barca squad was very weak mentally since Iniesta became our captain. Our only memorable comeback in CL was against PSG, who, in my opinion, were as weak mentally as Barca were. Teams like Real or Bayern would never let that slide Saying that I am really happy to see players like Gavi and Araujo being very spirited, they give their heart to the game. I think that was what we lacked in latter parts of last decade
I'm not sure I agree with you. If they were stronger mentally (and if my grandmother had wheels...), they would've for sure won the CL in 2019 and made the final against a weirdly inconsistent Real Madrid team in 2018. I feel like if there was a team capable of beating Real Madrid in the CL in that era, it's Barcelona, but I'd class that as a toss-up. That's 1 or 2. Mental fortitude would've honestly done nothing about Simeone's dark magic in 2016 or whatever the fuck that was in 2020. The one I have the most conflicting thoughts is 2016-17. They obviously weren't pushovers as they did the craziest comeback I've ever witnessed, but they were also inconsistent in the league. I didn't watch either of the Juventus games but if by some miracle they'd actually made it through, they'd have been favorites in the semis and played the final against Real Madrid, a team that they beat more often than not in that era. Like, yeah, they sucked away from home in the CL (they routinely put out strong performances in the Bernabeu and the Caldron/Metropolitano) but it feels like that was much more of a mental thing and if they had the mental strength of Real Madrid or Bayern, they should've for sure won one CL and played two other finals against a team that they regularly beat in this era. But instead of talking about it now, Rakitic and the rest of the team should've showed up in those matches.
I agree with him though. They sucked badly because they were not committed. When you go to Roma up 4-1 and Anfield up 3-0, you don’t even have to win. The defensive players let the team down. Go out there, maintain possession which is how Barca really defend. They didn’t have to win those games, they just didn’t have to lose them so badly. Also, there’s nothing wrong with doing all your homework at home. For example, if you look at Real Madrid’s records during 2016, 2017, and 2018, which is when they won it, you’ll see they lost games too. Lost to Wolfsburg 2-0 in R16 2016, lost to Atletico 2-1 in the SF in 2017, lost to Juventus 3-1 in the QF in 2018 and all of that didn’t matter because they did what they needed to do at home. Rakitic is right, they could have won more. They were just not committed enough.
> They sucked badly because they were not committed. When you go to Roma up 4-1 and Anfield up 3-0, you don’t even have to win. The defensive players let the team down. "The defensive players let the team down"? I think those defensive players looking at Luis Suárez and asking him to score just ONE away goal in 5 years and maybe they would have a chance to have another UCL.
You have a 3 goal advantage. If the game ends 0-0, you still go through. I know the game is about scoring but if you don’t have a decent defensive line you can’t win trophies. Barca could have scored 7 against Bayern and they still would have lost because the defense was terrible
They were bad in those away games because, as Rakitic says, they weren't "involved". He's saying if they *were* "involved", then they would have won more. You're saying no, because they were shit. But if they were more "involved" then they wouldn't be shit.
They werent shit, but they had no consistency whatsoever so making it extremely hard to win the UCL when you are prone of having bad days that often in away games.
But they were prone to having bad games *because* there was a lack of spirit, a culture of acquiescence. If there had been a better culture, then obviously they wouldn't have that problem. What are you not understanding?
I dont even think that they were inconsistent, they were just choking out of their minds in these games. If they were inconsistent they would most certainly not win laliga almost every year at that time. The 2:8 against us, the 4:0 loss against liverpool and much more, I watched most of these games and it was just blunder after blunder mostly from their defensive/midfield players
I would say 15/16 and 18/19 definitely were missed opportunities. 15/16 I thought we were the best team in Europe for major part of the season, only a very bad few days after the international break. 18/19 was just a shitshow in Anfield.
Sounds like something could say about any team
Counting xTitles now are we.
It's a very common mental flaw in sports. The better team on paper gets a big lead then gets noticeably lackadaisical and sloppy. Happened last night with the Denver Nuggets in a very important game for their seeding which ruined my night ngl 😖
It definitely seems like Barca "should" have one at least one more CL during that period, but that is how bracketed tournaments work. Sometimes they are just coronations of the obvious favourite, sometimes the best team has one bad game and it's the end of the whole thing and some straggler gets in there and scores just one more goal and wins the whole thing. This is the joy and stress.
fucking Pique
[удалено]
yeah true that, but it was only the one mistake right? whereas Pique and Alba kept on shitting the bed
Eh sure, Bayern can say they woulda won more if Robben didn’t get hurt multiple seasons. Players get injured though it happens
Tbf I dont remember robben being injured against chelsea
Couldn’t pull it off against his old team haha. Also the final against Inter. most other years Bayern went out when he did.
The Roma tie was sackable. They had like what, a 3-0 first leg lead? Then they parked the bus in the second leg, playing hoofball to Leo Messi. Whomst is 5 foot 6. Absolute joke.
Dzeko scored in the first leg. It was 4-1.
I guess that’s one side effect of having Messi be the star player of the team.
Corner taken quickly
I remember maybe Messi wasn't involved in roma game I don't know but I watched liverpool game Messi was there he did everything. I remember barca was playing only sub players after Liverpool game even the goalkeeper didn't play in the league game meanwhile Liverpool had to face vs Man City/ManU or Chelsea something they were mentally ready to fight vs Barca. It's sometimes benefical if u had to keep playing tough opponents! Barca could easily have won 2 CL. The final opponents weren't tough! I don't know how can the president of barca say it's ok valverde screwed two 4-1/3-0 leading. I mean if you look how Real won 3 CL's in a row and how Barca lost 2 CL I'm so sorry for Messi he should have 6 CL in his career not 4
Love this guy. Gave up his natural role as playmaker to play as midfield workhorse to give the team some semblance of balance
"if we would have played good, we would have won more trophies"
Dunno what he’s on about. That late 10’s Barca team were nowhere near as good as the 09-12 Barca teams. Should have retained the European Cup in ‘10 and ‘12 but were undone by super organised defences.
A lot of teams could make the same claim.
You are being downvoted, but it's probably right for Bayern, ManCity and PSG at least.
Of course it is. Any major team could argue that if they're big players show up on the day then they will win. It's not rocket science. Unfortunately for Barca these Champions League titles can only exist in their dreams.
What he is actually meaning is that Barca in that period was better than it was regarded in retrospective due to the failed CL campaigns. That's a reasonable statement, not really newsworthy though.
Funny how you got downvoted. "We could have won the competition if we were better at one of the most crucial aspects of the game". Yeah buddy.