No game, no sanity. Nonsense reigns, and even the decision makers around the manager seem unsure how to separate the field from the penalty box. A mess in front of the goal, where one wound up wondering if anything can be built at all or if something has simply collapsed. The situation has become a stark symbol of the club’s emotional and strategic breakdown, a squad caught in a web of shame.
Barça lost to this opponent in Antwerp. Van Bommel, who had not secured a single point before the Blaugrana arrived, watched as the team’s managers hemorrhaged funds, 2.8 million euros in losses, chasing deficits with money that looked more like fiction than finance. Xavi, too, saw his credit take a hit as the players underperformed and clung to the belief that the fault lay with the environment or a higher force rather than with choices on the pitch.
Surrealism has long had a home at the club. Events in recent hours bordered on the ridiculous. A star forward named Lewandowski appeared unfazed by the mood, as if the usual drama followed him by decree, irrespective of the coach or the president. What difference does it make to the outside world? Protesters have little future in a Barcelona where Joan Laporta commands wide latitude. The choice is simple: applaud and accept, or deny and walk away. At board meetings or on the bench, Xavi and Deco played a tense game that only highlighted the absurdity. Lewandowski lasted 70 minutes and did not finish the match.
Gundogan, expecting a quiet spell, found himself needed on Monday, traveling to the bench to rest a hip before returning to the field after Xavi weighed options. He was present as well as Araujo, though he was wisely left off the final list. By the fire there was only mercy De Jong.
Patchwork ‘Eleven’
Pressure from the board to claim UEFA’s €2.8 million prize for a win did not sway Xavi from assembling a starting XI crafted from scraps. After the collapse against Girona, only four players in the starting lineup remained familiar: the non-substitute goalkeeper Iñaki Peña, the two defenders Koundé and Christensen, and Lewandowski, who kept fighting from his corner in the hope that Vitor Roque would soon arrive and give the squad a boost.
The real issue facing this Barcelona team may not lie in the individual value of the pieces but in how they function together as a unit. Xavi’s tactical reads appeared out of date, and the players, drawn from the same squad, seemed to drift through Antwerp as if disconnected from the moment. The youngster Hector Castle, a La Masia product, faced the worst possible start to his debut. In less than a minute he lost a ball that left the hosts perilously close to taking the lead.
Oriol Romeu, the mirror of terror
The game began with Iñaki Peña attempting to link up with the midfield triangle that included Oriol Romeu. The midfielder’s gifts were on display in a rough moment where confidence looked misplaced, and his feet and head failed to respond to the heightened pressure. This wasn’t a test of form alone; it was a stark reflection of the team’s nerves. Vermeeren, an 18-year-old from Antwerp, exuded early promise and seemed ready to finish the job.
The opening 1-0 score did little to wake Barça. Sergi Roberto and Romeu’s shielding did not provide the necessary depth, while Lewandowski’s unlucky day was evident on his face. The only spark appeared from Lamine Yamal, who tried to craft something from the right flank and found Ferran Torres with a finish that tested the goalkeeper but did not break through the wall of resistance.
Later, Romeu’s routine errors echoed an old fear: the ghost of Busquets hovered as he gave the ball away again, and Janssen struck. The decision to go to VAR for offside around Koundé’s drifting run added to the momentum of a night that grew increasingly chaotic. The French defender also disrupted a late moment for Marc Guiu, dragging Barça into trouble and ending in a troubling, awkward finish.
– Guiu leveled the score in the 90th minute. – And then…
George Ilenikhena capitalized on the chaos, scoring what felt like the final blow that unleashed a storm in Belgium. The night carried the weight of a dramatic, unsettling match. A sense of disarray hung over the team as Barcelona faced the reality of an uncertain path forward in the competition.
The only signal of relief came in a faint glimmer: Barça’s qualification for the knockout rounds, still tied for first place, seemed possible only through a late rally that would require everything to align. Not a moment for excuses, but a moment to acknowledge the blush of a performance that did not meet expectations.
No tea. No belief. Antwerp’s second goal was a stark reminder of the gap between intent and execution. The clash was a reminder that in football, as in life, momentum can swing with a single mistake and a single moment of clarity can be enough to change a night entirely.