Why did Barca lose to Liverpool?

In the Quarterfinals last season, after leading Roma 4-1 at home, Barca let the home team at Olympico reverse the situation with a 3-0 victory in the second leg.

It wasn't until the shocking loss to Liverpool that people saw Barca's problems, but because of their impressive achievements in La Liga and the Champions League, those problems were temporarily forgotten, until defeats like the one they just lost to Liverpool appeared, and Barcelona's "dark corners" appeared clearly again.

1. Messi does not fulfill his role as captain

Messi cannot protect his teammates, cannot keep his spirits up when the team is in trouble and cannot transmit enthusiasm to those around him. Photo: Skype.

No one can deny Messi's talent and class, he deserves to be the best player in the world right now, but that has absolutely nothing to do with his leadership qualities. Messi does not have those qualities, this has been proven many times in both Argentina and Barcelona.

Typically, in the second leg against Liverpool, Messi could not protect his teammates, could not stabilize his spirit when the team was in trouble and could not transmit enthusiasm to those around him.

2. Over-reliance on Messi

The team with impressive achievements in La Liga is showing its weakness when it is too dependent on Messi. Photo: Skypsort.

This is not debatable when the team has a great genius like Messi, but the downside is that when Messi is completely blocked like in the last match, the rest of Barcelona becomes disoriented and out of sync. Throughout the match, every player when receiving the ball looks for Messi, even when the ball is very close to the opponent's goal, they still only think about "serving" Messi instead of putting the ball into the net themselves.

When Messi cannot shine, Barca stagnates and becomes harmless. Against determined opponents like Liverpool or Roma last season, this weakness is thoroughly exploited, Messi is locked down and Barca loses before the opponent scores.

4. Spirit

It was not until they conceded the second goal against Liverpool that it became clear how easily Barcelona's spirit collapsed. The players almost completely lost their concentration. They started the match with confidence, but when they conceded a goal, they became pessimistic. There was almost no strong personality on the pitch that could inspire confidence in the whole team.

5. Ernesto Valverde's tactical mistake

Coach Ernesto Valverde. Photo: Skypsort.

“No one bathes twice in the same river” but Valverde has twice led his team “into the trap” in two extremely important matches when they had the full advantage in their hands. A scenario repeated almost exactly at Roma’s Olympico stadium a year ago, except that this year Barcelona suffered an even heavier defeat. It is clear that Ernesto’s tactical thinking is very problematic, he has learned absolutely nothing from the loss to Roma last season.

In the particular match against Liverpool, Barca showed nothing but confusion in their build-up play. The team’s forte is attack and attack, they possess one of the best attacks in the world, and at the same time they possess one of the best… attacking defenses in the world. That said, no matter the situation, they should only play attacking football. The consequences of choosing to play defensively when they are not really good at it have been swift and disastrous.

Barcelona’s problems will continue to exist as long as Messi is playing. They can still dominate La Liga, go far in every tournament they participate in. But when the decisive matches come, it is very likely that these “dark corners” will be exposed many times again.