The inquest into Barcelona’s 4-0 defeat in Paris agreed on one thing – this was not a team losing a football match so much as a club losing its way. ‘This is not Barca’ headlined Diario Sport over the image of Marc Andre ter Stegen and Gerard Pique dumped on the Parc des Princes turf by one of PSG’s four goals.
Only the goalkeeper, Jordi Alba and Neymar were given any sort of mark in Diario AS’s ratings as everyone had the finger of blame pointed at them – some more than others.
‘Whoever put a Balon d’Or clause in Andre Gomes’ contract when he signed for the club deserves an honorary degree’ quipped one comment piece. He had probably been the worst of a bad bunch but most roads in ‘Blamesville’ led to Luis Enrique’s door – he had after all agreed Gomes’ 30m acquisition last summer and picked him in the biggest game of the season. And according to the majority he is the one who has betrayed Barcelona’s sacred playing style.
Barcelona players look dejected as they slumped to a 4-0 defeat in Paris
Lionel Messi and Neymar hold and inquest during the 4-0 drubbing by PSG
Messi looks dejected at the final whistle as he sits on the pitch after the 4-0 defeat
AS said the coach had signed his own death warrant with the a performance completely devoid of any trace of Barcelona’s philosophy. That warrant will not be served until the end of the season but save a miraculous turnaround in the second-leg – which no one believes in – it will most definitely be served.
No club’s supporters care more about the aforementioned ‘style and philosophy’ of the team than Barcelona’s and for a long time now there have been whispers that both had been completely lost under Luis Enrique.
The guns were loaded and pointing his way and if one day results stopped saving him then triggers would be pulled. The words of Sergio Busquets dug the hole his manager was standing in a little bit deeper. He said PSG had ‘surprised’ Barcelona pointing to tactics as opposed to intensity being the key to the defeat.
A team built on the extraordinary talents of its front three and (as the coach’s critics would have it) little else, will be horribly exposed if those three don’t perform.
Messi lost the ball 18 times and had one shot all night and he and Suarez shared just five passes during the game. For most of the night there was no service to them because Barcelona were being swamped at the other end of the pitch by a team far superior tactically and physically.
The Spanish papers were very critical of Barcelona's performance against PSG
Both Sport and AS were equally critical of Barcelona's performance on Tuesday
It did not help Luis Enrique’s cause that he was so out-thought by fellow Spanish coach Unai Emery who until last night had a terrible record against Barcelona with only one win in 23 attempts at various clubs. He set up his team to attack Barça’s weakness and stop the supply line to their strengths and it worked with devastating effect.
Sport said the performance carried the ‘stink of the end of an era’. It remains to be seen if that turns out to be a gross over-exaggeration. If the era in question is the one marked by Luis Enrique then it certainly will end when in the summer he is replaced with Sevilla’s Jorge Samapoli or Athletic Bilbao’s Ernesto Valverde. But it is Messi not the manager who really marks this era and he will still be at the club next season.
It’s now more important than ever for the Barca board that he is not in the last year of his contract when the new season kicks-off. After the almost inevitable Champions League elimination in three weeks time Barcelona will be more obliged than ever to write him a blank check to keep him.
The future of Lionel Messi remains up in the air as he enters the final year of his contract next season
Paris Saint Germain's Angel Di Maria console Messi as he walks off at the end of the game
The empty weeks that take them through to the end of the season – at least during Champions League fixtures – will need to be filled with something, and what better than the announcement of a bumper new contract for the club’s greatest ever player.
He will want far more than the mooted 35m euros a season net – he will want some, albeit subtle, control over the direction the club takes now. He will have an opinion on who the new coach should be – he likes Sampaoli – and he will demand a better class of signing. Not since Barça signed Suarez almost three years ago have they really hit the target with an addition to the squad.
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique looks dejected - could time be running out for him?
PSG's players celebrate as they took a 4-0 first leg lead against Barcelona
The league is still there for them if they can hone in on Madrid and the seven point lead they will have if they win their two games in hand. Madrid might get distracted by their own Champions League campaign but it seems unlikely. They have been more focused than ever this season on regaining the long-lost domestic crown. And now they know Barcelona will not be winning the Champions League it will be even sweeter to land the title and leave them with nothing but the Copa del Rey.
‘Mortally Wounded’ and ‘Disaster’ were two of the other headlines the players and manager woke up to this morning. ‘Angel opens the doors to hell’ screamed Marca. The Madrid half of Spain knows from experience that these Champions League early exits stain a whole season, leave no one untainted, and usually lead to summer upheaval. They will watch the ensuing meltdown with relish.