The 2019-20 UEFA Champions League final was a nerve-racking, back-and-forth contest that would’ve been greatly improved by both a PSG goal and fans in the stands. While it’s impossible to understand what happened to the finishing abilities of Neymar, Kylian Mbappé and Ángel Di María in Lisbon, we all know exactly why supporters weren’t allowed inside Estádio da Luz.
The retooling of Barcelona is continuing at a frantic pace with the firing of Quique Setién and hiring of Ronald Koeman as manager and the firing of Eric Abidal and hiring of Ramon Planes as technical director, but you can’t say that the club’s specter isn’t still haunting this season’s Champions League with former player Neymar and current loanee Philippe Coutinho set to do battle in the final.
Real Madrid’s latest LaLiga title isn’t feeling as special anymore. At least that’s how Toni Kroos is feeling after watching the horror show of Bayern Munich tearing Barcelona limb from limb in the now infamous 8-2 Champions League beatdown.
Kroos messaged fellow German and Bayern midfielder Joshua Kimmich on WhatsApp saying that the LaLiga title doesn’t feel the same anymore.
BARCELONA — New Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman is expected to oversee a massive overhaul of the squad as he leads them into a new era after their weaknesses were exposed in the 8-2 thrashing by Bayern Munich, president Josep Maria Bartomeu has said.
Koeman, one of Barca's greatest ever players who was confirmed as the club's new coach on Wednesday, will oversee the transition alongside Ramon Planes, the new chief technical secretary after Eric Abidal left the club.
Samuel Eto’o has provided his two cents on how important it will be for Barcelona to retain Lionel Messi amid talks of the Little Maestro wanting out. Whispers and rumors of Messi wanting out escalated to the next echelon of transfer rumors when top football journalist Marcelo Bechler said the Argentine wants out this summer.
The La Liga season restarts Saturday, September 12, and Real Madrid will again be heavy favorites for the title. Los Blancos used a late surge to overtake rivals Barcelona and win the league by five points.
The final 2019-20 La Liga table pic.twitter.com/RBzufwDvDQ
— Goal (@goal) July 19, 2020
The transfer rumor mill has been swirling following Barcelona's embarrassing defeat to Bayern Munich on Friday, as many of the club's top players have been linked with moves away from the Catalan club.
Friday’s 8-2 humiliation against Bayern Munich will undoubtedly see heads roll at Barcelona, from dead man walking Quique Setién to the elderly cohort of Gerard Piqué, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, Luis Suárez and Ivan Rakitić.
But the biggest question mark remains the future of Lionel Messi, who dictates his own future following the most humiliating defeat in Barça history.
Mauricio Pochettino once said he would rather return to his ranch in Argentina than coach Barcelona, yet he is now the top candidate to be their next manager as they look to the future after Friday's 8-2 drubbing by Bayern Munich.
Quique Setien is certain to be sacked after Barca were humiliated in the Champions League quarter-final, a result which completed a miserable season, as for the first time since 2014 they failed to win a major trophy.
LISBON — For the first time in 13 years, there is no Spanish team in the semifinals of the Champions League and the way in which Barcelona were dumped out, with an 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich, emphatically ended the era of LaLiga supremacy.
There was one basic similarity in the way that Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid exited Europe this season — they simply looked too slow.
It is not that their players individually lack speed but that their styles of play lack the intensity and dynamism, the relentless pressing of the top German and English teams.