Barça's Champions League Achilles heel: Leaking goals like a sieve
Barcelona continue to struggle with defensive frailties in Europe, conceding in 11 straight Champions League matches and often falling behind early.
Barcelona’s European campaign continues to be hampered by their inability to keep clean sheets, with the Catalan giants now leaking goals in 11 consecutive Champions League matches.
Defensive woes continue
The trend continued against Copenhagen at the Spotify Camp Nou, where Dadason’s goal had the home crowd on edge once again. Hansi Flick had specifically mentioned keeping a clean sheet as a priority in his pre-match comments, but his wishes fell on deaf ears - yet again.
This troubling pattern began last season during the quarter-final second leg against Borussia Dortmund, when Guirassy converted from the spot after just 11 minutes. While Barça advanced from that tie, their defensive frailties were further exposed in the semi-finals against Inter Milan, conceding early in both legs before ultimately being knocked out.
This season’s defensive nightmare
The current campaign has been no different, with Barcelona failing to keep a clean sheet in any of their eight group stage matches. Even in their 6-1 thrashing of Olympiacos, they couldn’t prevent the opposition from finding the net.
Other teams that have breached Barça’s defence include:
- Newcastle
- PSG
- Club Brugge
- Chelsea
- Eintracht Frankfurt
- Slavia Prague
- Copenhagen
The statistics paint a grim picture - Barcelona finished the group stage as the most scored-against team among the top eight, shipping a whopping 14 goals. You’d need to look down to 14th place to find a team with worse defensive numbers (Atlético Madrid).
Playing catch-up
What’s particularly concerning for the Blaugrana is that in eight of these 11 matches, they’ve conceded first. This has consistently forced them to play from behind - hardly the mark of a European heavyweight.
Against Dortmund, twice versus Inter, and in matches with Brugge, Chelsea, Eintracht, Slavia Prague and Copenhagen, Barcelona have found themselves chasing the game after conceding early.
If Flick’s men have serious ambitions in this competition, they’ll need to sort out their defensive issues sharpish. As my old man would say, their backline is about as reliable as a chocolate teapot right now. For a club with Barcelona’s pedigree, that’s simply not good enough in Europe’s premier competition.