Suffering six goals in five days in two marquee matches against Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid isn't anyones' fault, it simply comes down to poor squad planning. Hansi Flick has once again been put setup for failure after Joan Laporta, Deco and a board who expect their manager to perform miracles with a battered backline in his third season in Catalunya.
Everyone knows Flick's system suffers from an extremely high defensive line. That means they need elite, physical recovery defenders to survive against the best teams in Europe. However, instead of addressing an obvious weakness in the squad over the summer, Barcelona's management turned a blind eye, and they suffered greatly this week.
Missing out on Bastoni & Cuti Romero and leaving Araujo un-replaced
The main issue for Barcelona this summer has been missing out on some of the best centre backs in the world. Alessandro Bastoni of Inter Milan and Cristian Romero of Tottenham Hotspur have both been strongly linked with a move to Spotify Camp Nou. In fact, Cuti openly admitted he was interested in moving to the Blaugrana. This would have provided Pau Cubarsí (19) with a terrifying partner.
However, Deco and Flick didn't want to bring in any high profile reinforcements. On top of this, the board also allowed the likes of Ronald Araujo to leave on loan with no real financial gain and no proper starter to replace him. Leaving Barcelona without their main physical presence and not signing anyone of a high calibre is some serious sportsmanship.
Gerard Martin and Andreas Christensen
Instead of investing in quality, Barcelona's management have taken a huge gamble, betting the whole season on Gerard Martin becoming an elite centre back and Andreas Christensen being able to play.
Putting their faith in Martin has come back to bite them. Martin is a very hardworking professional but his ceiling is very low. He can be used as a rotation option in low key games against the bottom half of La Liga. However, expecting a converted full back to play against PSG at the Parc des Princes and Kylian Mbappe in El Clasico was an absolute disaster. He couldn't even clear the ball properly in the first half to gift Real Madrid their opener.
Putting their faith in Christensen was ridiculous. The Dane has spent most of the last two years on the treatment table. As expected, he broke down again in September having only played 402 minutes. You cannot create a defence to win the Champions League if your main man can't play.
Hansi Flick's own beliefs
Although Laporta and Deco should take most of the blame for giving their manager some poor defensive options for the third year running, Flick can't be left out of the spotlight. The German has some beliefs which have gone south.
By agreeing with Deco's decision to not look at any centre backs and that they can make changes internally to hide the lack of elite defenders, Flick dug himself a hole. Over the last three years, Barcelona's board have relied on Flick's genius as a coach to outscore any defensive issues.
However, this week has shown us that this isn't the case. You can't win the biggest trophies in European football using rotation players and injury prone older players. Until Laporta, Deco and Flick admit the truth and invest in elite defenders, Barcelona will continue to let their brilliance down against elite opposition.
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