AS Roma versus FC Barcelona –
UCL 2017-18 - 2nd Leg: Opinion
A
humiliating and painful Loss for Barca
Barcelona went into the 2nd leg with a
4-1 advantage from the 1st leg. But strangely enough they went down
to an inspired and rough Roma 3-0 in the 2nd leg. It was an appalling
and pathetic display – totally atypical of Barcelona.
From the very start, the midfield and defense looked
flustered and tensed. They lacked coordination and were spraying the balls all
over the park. Roma pressed very hard and brought in their physicality to deal
with the Barcelona players and it worked fantastically for them. Dzeko harried
Pique and Umtiti constantly. Semedo and Alba were no match to the towering and
bigger players of Roma and were regularly caught out. The midfield and defense
were involved in clearing the balls desperately, rather than supplying it to Messi
and Suarez. Thanks to the fragile and less than confident Barcelona players,
Roma managed to score all three goals to make it 4-4 and qualify on away goal advantage.
Yes- Valverde made a number of selection errors when
he should have opted for the inform Vermaelen, Denis Suarez, the physicality of
Paulinho and risked Dembele instead of Semedo. Yes – Roma played a better game
and made Barcelona uncomfortable. Yes- the referee was generous with the rough
tactics of Roma and was more intent on giving Barca the yellow cards
whenever they fouled the opposition. It was sad to see that the Referee did not
bother to do anything when Iniesta was being particularly singled out for the special treatment
by the nasty Roma players.
But there can be no excuses for the way Barca
approached this match. The same team managed to put Roma under tremendous
pressure, by attacking, in the last 10 minutes much to the disappointment of
the fans, because by then it was a lost cause.
From the start of this season when a number of failed
and panic purchases brought in a number of new players, the expectations were
very low as it was a new team in the making. Honestly I did not expect them to reach
the knock-out stages of the Champions League this season. But one relentless
little guy was not ready to give up and valiantly pulled them through each
challenge. The team rallied around him and everyone did whatever they can to
help. The impeccable defense of Barcelona and the inspired performances from
Messi saw them progress much beyond anyone’s expectations.
But against Roma the team just caved in. There was
no will to move forward. Rather than the loss it was the way they lost that made it even
more painful. Not blaming anyone or anything in particular, the biggest
disappointment was that Barca did not put in a fight. The Barcelona of this
season was known for its fight backs. But this time they simply sat back, left
it too late and that ended the Champions League this season for them.
Sadly Barca spoiled this 100th UCL game that the legends Iniesta and Messi were playing together. The two little legends deserved better from their Barcelona team mates.But then that's the nature of sports.
Yes there had been bad defeats before, but this one was just inaction at
its best from a team that had defended and attacked well this season.With
due respect, Roma is not a great team. Its a good team. But Barca
managed to make them look like Champions because of their own pathetic
display. The actual Roma and Barca came into the picture in the last 10
minutes of the game. But it was too late by then.
Sadly Barca spoiled this 100th UCL game that the legends Iniesta and Messi were playing together. The two little legends deserved better from their Barcelona team mates.But then that's the nature of sports.
Now, its the same old story of everyone writing off Barcalona after a bad lose and gunning for the heads of Valverde and Messi. But I am never witting off Barca because it’s a team
that is known to bounce back from failures. Let’s hope that FC Barcelona will
come back with more determination and strength next season and provide great
performances, as always.
I
am sure, like me, many fans are either sorely disappointed or seething
with anger. Cheer up buddies! Life doesn't end with one loss. In fact
every challenge will lead to better times. In
the end, its just another game. Win or loss , we need to take it
in our stride. Its just my gut feeling that somewhere this loss will
turn out to be good for FC Barcelona and Messi.
We, the fans, will always back you - FC Barcelona - with all our heart.
Good Luck! Visca Barca!!
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