PETE JENSON: Barca finally exited the Champions League with 'honour'

PETE JENSON: Barcelona finally exited the Champions League with ‘honour’ after putting up a fight against PSG… and with Lionel Messi set to stay, teen sensations on the rise and a popular president back, it’s not all doom and gloom at the Nou Camp

  • Barcelona battled to a 1-1 draw with PSG in their Champions League second leg
  • Giants have exited the competition at the last-16 stage for first time since 2007
  • Club are focusing on the positives after being embarrassed in previous seasons
  • Pedri and Ilaix Moriba gave fans a glimpse of a brighter future at the Nou Camp
  • Ronald Koeman and his squad could still complete a domestic Double in Spain
  • It is hoped that Lionel Messi will stay after Joan Laporta returned as president 

If anyone is confused by Barcelona going out of the Champions League at the last-16 stage for the first time since 2007 and not being in mourning over it, the answer is very simple – this was the first time since 2016 that they have exited the competition with their dignity still intact.

The club is doing its best to forget about the loss of around £9million (€10.5m) for not reaching the last eight and instead is trying to savour the feeling of making a proud departure instead of an embarrassing one.

Last year Barcelona were annihilated by Bayern Munich. The year before it was Liverpool who made fools of them, beating them 4-0 at Anfield with a comedy corner routine included. 

Lionel Messi looks on during Barcelona’s Champions League elimination on Wednesday night

In 2018 they lost 3-0 to Roma in the second leg. And in 2017 they failed to score at home to Juventus, having been beaten 3-0 in Turin in the first game.

This was different. They were a Lionel Messi penalty away from really giving Paris Saint-Germain a scare and when Kylian Mbappe requested the shirt of Pedri at the final whistle, it seemed to sum up the respect that had been earned on the night.

Pedri had asked for Mbappe’s shirt first, but the heir to Messi’s Ballon d’Or throne knew the heir to Andres Iniesta’s throne when he saw him and he immediately made it clear he wanted Pedri’s jersey too, even helping him out as he struggled to remove the big coat he had been wearing on the bench to take off his No 16.

Teenage midfielder Pedri (left) impressed during the 1-1 draw with PSG at the Parc des Princes

‘With honour’ was the headline on both the Catalan sports dailies on Thursday morning. It’s not often they pick the same line for the front page but when they do there is usually a good reason.

It summed up the mood of pride and optimism about a young side that will be back again next year with renewed belief in going the distance.

‘A mosaic of brilliant subtle brushstrokes,’ said El Mundo Deportivo in their rating of Pedri, adding: ‘A mazy run when surrounded by rivals that Iniesta would have been proud of’.

Mundo Deportivo covered Barca’s exit with the headline ‘with honour’ on their front page

When Pedri went off he was replaced by Ilaix Moriba, whose Champions League debut was another reminder that there will be no need to treat the 18-year-old with kid gloves – he is ready for the big stage already, totally justifying Ronald Koeman’s confidence in him.

Slightly older than the two teenagers, 23-year-old Frenkie de Jong, was most Barca fans’ man of the match playing in the centre of defence. 

If he were to go on to master the Sergio Busquets role, flanked by Ilaix and Pedri, Barcelona would have a midfield trio for the next decade. 

Koeman, who has blooded Ilaix and Pedri and brought the best out of the versatile De Jong, deserves huge credit.

Youngster Ilaix Moriba (right) came off the bench and did not look out of place against PSG

‘Koeman 13 games from the double,’ read another El Mundo Deportivo headline. 

It was a performance to make supporters believe they can close the seven-point gap Atletico Madrid have at the top of the table, and navigate the April 17 Spanish Cup final against Athletic Bilbao to do the domestic double.

If Koeman wins just one of those two prizes, it seems certain that new president Joan Laporta will stick with him into next season. 

The bold 3-4-3 he started with in Paris was very ‘Dream Team’ and that’s the vision the club wants him to take forward.

Perhaps what is really making Barcelona supporters feel okay about their absence from the last eight for the first time in 14 years is that all this – plus the election of Laporta – will make Messi stay.

There are still hopes in Spain that boss Ronald Koeman could do the Double in his first season

Messi is now expected to stay at Barcelona, having pushed to leave the club last summer

Laporta travelled to the game with outgoing interim president Carles Tusquets and the two had a lengthy meeting at the Pullman Paris Tour Eiffel hotel where they were both staying with the team, to talk about the huge financial challenge now facing the club.

Plans to lease sections of the club’s corporate entity such as Barca Studios and Barca Innovation Hub could bring in excess of £171m (€200m) in capital and they will need the money.

There is pressure from principal sponsors Nike to renegotiate a deal that is due to run until 2028, but was agreed before the pandemic appeared on the horizon. 

These are pressing concerns but there would be a lot more worrying were they not being played out in the background, while the team rises from the flames in the foreground.

New Barcelona president Joan Laporta (left) has vowed to get the club back on track again




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