Barcelona’s Defensive Struggles Continue as Familiar Problems Resurface in Another Season

Barcelona and the spectre of the UEFA Champions League go together. The Blaugrana haven't won the trophy in more than 10 years. The reasons behind that are varied, including financial difficulties, the post-Lionel Messi era and lack of transfers. For the first time things were looking up for Hansi Flick, but their two successive losses to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League and Real Madrid in El Clasico have raised the same worries again.

Losing to PSG and then Real Madrid on nervy occasions in the 2-4-1 record was an indication of some weaknesses that still need to be ironed out in the future. Barcelona's attacking footballing star is back under Flick. However, you need to have an excellent defensive line to go with that. Barcelona are lacking there.

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The Catalan giants have already established themselves in domestic games, taking two league titles in the past two seasons, and three in the latter of them. However, it's the Champions League trophy they are keen to see return to Camp Nou.

In 2024-25, Barcelona were in a good position for their Champions League drought to come to an end in a two-legged semi-final, but Inter Milan put an end to their dream with a 7-6 aggregate defeat. The first leg of the series was drawn 3-3 at home for Barcelona before they left for San Siro. The most significant moments of their biggest game of the season were defensive breakdowns late in the game. The hearts of Barcelona were broken by two long distance shots in the first half: with 3 minutes to spare, David Frattesi (99') and Francesco Acerbi (90+3') found the back of the net. Both goals revealed the Barcelona defence's weaknesses as Acerbi had a clear chance with Ronald Araujo badly positioned in the build-up to the Inter attacker's winner and again the Barcelona forwards were unable to handle the pressure they applied on the Inter defence in the build-up to the Inter player's goal.

They had just reached the quarter-finals of the UCL when beaten 2-3 on the whole in aggregate by Atletico Madrid. It was the defence that again proved to be the weak link. Cubarsi was sent off in the first leg and Eric Garcia was sent off in the second for his penalty.

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Since then, Cubarsi has emerged as a solid centre-back, and he has established an outstanding World Cup reputation in his efforts. However, Barcelona can't rely on him to do it by himself. Cubarsi needs an experienced partner. But what has happened is that Ronald Araujo has been sent out on loan to Liverpool, leaving Garcia and Andreas Christensen as the other two choices.

Garcia showed promise at the beginning of the season but picked up an injury prior to the game against PSG. Christensen has had to sit out of action for injuries in his past years. His latest injury has again shown Barcelona's lack of depth in the left centre-back position as they had to go to Gerard Martin against PSG and Real Madrid.

So, Martin was playing pretty well against PSG. He was also playing with the fear of upsetting his injury and Barcelona's defence just crumbled in the final moments. The Clasico brought another reminder of their problems as Martin missed several chances to clear up and Kylian Mbappe's opening goal was as a result.

Barcelona have some good midfielders, with Pedri, Rodri, Frenkie de Jong, Dani Olmo, Fermin Lopez and Gavi. However, their defence is thin on the ground and inexperienced.

They have featured previously with Inter Milan's Alessandro Bastoni, but nothing has happened in the last couple of transfer windows. Maybe it's time to rehash that concept, and add a player that can provide experience and stability for the backline.

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