Around Camp Nou, it was mostly an eerie silence on the final whistle of Barcelona’s 3-3 draw with Inter Milan, as it dawned on the home fans that their club are now almost certainly eliminated from the 2022-23 Champions League already, with two group games still to play.
As Inter’s players, coaches and fans celebrated in their small pockets, most of the 92,302 crowd were stunned and exhausted — as were the Barcelona team, their coach Xavi Hernandez and the club’s president Joan Laporta.
This was not supposed to be happening after Barcelona’s eventful summer 2022, with the noise of a series of financial levers being pulled and the excitement generated by new signings such as Robert Lewandowski. That was all designed to make sure the club were ready for big nights like this with a rebuilt team that could again compete for the top trophies.
Just two months into the season, that theory is looking very shaky indeed. Barcelona’s new team began the season impressively in La Liga, with Lewandowski scoring goals and most of the other new signings appearing to settle quickly.
The last few weeks had brought back-to-back Champions League group defeats to Bayern Munich and Inter, but Barcelona had told themselves that they had been unlucky. On Wednesday, they could turn things back in their favour.
Ninety minutes of huge excitement and chaos later, it became clear Laporta’s plan to mortgage the club’s future to become instantly competitive had not worked.
Barring a miracle over the remaining two group games, Xavi’s team are returning to the
"Exit" - Google News
October 13, 2022 at 04:01PM
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Barcelona’s financial mess: Champions League exit, more levers, Coutinho debt - The Athletic
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