Recently, UEFA released their 2024 club rankings, which would ultimately decide the seeding of clubs in the new Champions League format. Though, as expected, clubs like Manchester City, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich would top the charts, what was a bit surprising was that clubs like Villareal, FC Porto, and Benfica finished above FC Barcelona.
Barca stood in an all-time low 18th position in the club's history. However, it shouldn't be shocking, as the Catalan club has failed to perform as per the expectations of Culers. After finishing the last three seasons with only two trophies added to their cabinet and twice without silverware, the Blaugrana camp has seen its fair share of struggles in the previous few seasons.
While there could be many reasons possible for their decline, some of the most notable ones are:
Financial difficulties at Barca
Though money and football performance aren't directly related, money does give a club the opportunity to add their desired players to the roster. Barca's financial condition has been on the decline since Brazilian superstar Neymar left the club.
Decisions like overspending on a 20-year-old Dembele, bringing unrequired players like Antoine Griezmann for a massive sum of money, and doing hurry signings have all contributed to the club's decline. Though things did change for the better when Joan Laporta became the club's president again, considering the magnitude of damage that had been done, it still requires effort to come back.
According to recent sayings of La Liga President Javier Tebas, Barca is heading towards the 1:1 financial fair play rule, and hopefully, under Hansi Flick, the club progresses to make mindful spending decisions on player transfers.
Lionel Messi's Barca exit
Suffered by financial difficulties, FC Barcelona was unable to register Lionel Messi with La Liga ahead of 2021/22, forcing the club to lay off the Argentine legend. Ever since Messi's exit, things have not gone smoothly at the Catalan club.
Though the club had to leave Messi some time or another, his sudden exit left almost no time for Barca to fill in the void left by Messi. Since 2021, the club has managed two trophies in three seasons and gone trophyless twice. Messi's unceremonious exit left the Barcelona board to brainstorm for the right-wing position, which had been their most consistent performing position, requiring no thinking.
Although the last season saw the rise of the La Masia prodigy, Lamine Yamal, at the Catalan club, it will be challenging for the Spaniard to fill in Messi's shoes. Lamine Yamal has been showcasing his brilliance at the Euros, and thus, Barca hopes that he will return to Barca carrying the same rich vein of form.
Multiple coaches, Multiple problems
The early 2020s felt disastrous at the club, and with Ernesto Valverde's exit in January 2020 came the era of Quique Setien. Though it looked as if he could provide some relief to the Catalan problems, his tenure multiplied the existing problems.
Even though Ronald Koeman's appointment provided some stability at the charge of Camp Nou, financial problems didn't help the Dutch manager either, as this era saw cub legends like Luis Suarez leave, and some disappointing signings worsened the issue. With Xavi's return, it all felt that the problems would eventually be eliminated, and it did happen to some extent. However, given the extent to which problems had arisen at Barca, Xavi's contribution of two trophies as manager feels significant.
With Hansi Flick, a new era has started at FC Barcelona as the German manager looks forward to bolstering his prominence and working wonders in La Liga the way he did at Bayern. Moreover, with talents like Lamine Yamal, Pedri, and Gavi surfacing at the La Masia academy, there is hope that Barca will be able to establish their dominance again on the European stage.