While FC Barcelona is playing a mediocre season so far in the La Liga, there is still hope for the Catalan side to attain European glory.
Much of Barca’s woes stemmed from multiple factors that have gnawed at the club over the last few years.
Following an overhaul of top management recently, the onus falls really on Dutch manager Ronald Koeman on how to turn things at the club around, beginning with its troubled star player Lionel Messi who seems likely to leave at season’s end.
Conventional wisdom states that even an underperforming Messi remains an essential cog in the Barca engine, despite having scored only four goals in nine games in the La Liga, and three goals in three matches in the Champions League.
Curiously, Koeman has gradually used less of Messi in Europe, saying he needed to rest his captain in two successive games that Barca both won: against Dynamo Kiev (4-0) in Ukraine and Hungary’s Ferencvarosi (3-0) in Hungary.
Barcelona will face fellow knockout stage qualifiers Juventus in its last group match on Tuesday, Dec. 8, at the Camp Nou.
With 15 points, Barca is poised to win Group G ahead of second place Juve (12 pts.) unless the Series A champions win via a ridiculously huge margin. Winning the group would give Barca a favorable draw, and Koeman must welcome any slight advantage that comes the club’s way in the knockout stages.
Koeman isn’t lacking in talent especially up front, with Ousmane Dembele, Antoine Griezmann, Martin Braithwaite, Ansu Fati, Philippe Coutinho and Pedri among his many options. The question now is how an unsettled Messi would fit in the equation so that Koeman could overturn a tumultuous season. Or, does Koeman have other plans on how to win the Champions League trophy without Messi?