Beaten on the ground of Manchester United (1-2), Thursday, FC Barcelona was eliminated at the gates of the knockout stages of the Europa League. It’s yet another European disappointment for the Catalan club and its fans.
Thursday evening, the Catalan club left the Europa League almost at the round of 16 by conceding a defeat on the ground of Manchester United (1-2; 2-2 in the first leg). A new European disappointment that completes a collection of disappointments in the past.
It has now been eight consecutive seasons, since the coronation in the Champions League in 2015, that Barça has had a string of disappointments on the European scene. This triumph gave way to years of European disasters.
First there were three consecutive eliminations in the quarter-finals of the C1, with failures against Atletico Madrid (2-1, 0-2) and Juventus Turin (0-3, 0-0) then the memorable setback against AS Roma. Winner 4-1 in the first leg, Barcelona lost 0-3 on the return trip to Italy.
In 2018-2019, Barcelona still cherished the dream of a final, but their journey ended with another stunning elimination against Liverpool, a year after the nightmare of Rome. Winners 3-0 in the first leg, the Catalans fell heavily 4-0 in the return.
Before that, there was the monumental slap against Bayern Munich in the quarters (2-8), then the elimination against PSG (1-4, 1-1) in the 8th. But the worst was to come with eliminations from the group stage of the C1 for the past two seasons, and an inability to bounce back in the Europa League.