Barcelona crashed out of the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday night at the hands of an Ousmane Dembele-inspired Paris Saint-Germain. While Xavi has said the referee was "a disaster" on the night, the Spanish club and its head coach should hang their heads in shame.
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At 1-0 up in the second leg and 4-2 ahead on aggregate, and just 60 minutes of football left to be played, Barcelona were very much favourites to progress ahead of PSG. The Catalan giants were at home in the reverse fixture, looking to get to the semi-final stage of Europe's biggest club competition for the first time since 2019.
A moment of madness from Ronald Araujo derailed all of their efforts, however. Their 3-2 victory in the first leg, Raphinha's goal in the 12th minute at the Olympic Stadium, all of their good work undone. Whether the Uruguayan's challenge on Bradley Barcola outside the box warranted a straight red card can be debated, but Barcelona only have themselves to blame.
Kylian Mbappe failed to capitalise on the free-kick in that moment, but Araujo's sending-off ultimately proved to be the moment the Spanish giants mentally lost the battle. Xavi Hernandez and his colleague Jose Ramon de la Fuente, who were both shown reds of their own later, only made the night more humiliating. The pair had become incensed after going a man down, disagreeing with referee Istvan Kovacs' call to give the defender his marching orders, but officially threw their toys out of the cot early in the second half when PSG were awarded a penalty following a foul in the box from Joao Cancelo and after Barcelona's penalty pleas were shut down only minutes later at the opposite end.
Looking at the two separate incidents, Cancelo's sliding tackle on Ousmane Dembele in Barcelona's box was entirely needless. The Portuguese lunged at the Frenchman, probably in an attempt to play the ball, only to catch the France winger's left boot first. He lost his cool and his head on a big European night – unforgivable for a player with his experience. Cancelo's foul came when the Ligue 1 giants were leading 2-1, after Dembele equalised in the 40th minute and Vitinha put his side in front with an effort from outside of the box on 54 minutes. The Portuguese midfielder's goal might have only drawn the aggregate score, but it was clear Barcelona were out of the game at that point, and they had nobody to point fingers at but themselves.
At the other end, Ilkay Gundogan's going to ground in PSG's danger area could have easily been blown up. In fact, had the match official blown his whistle, the Video Assistant Referee might not have thought the referee's call was one they should overturn. However, Vitinha, the player who was behind him in that moment, didn't move his leg towards the Germany international. It was rather a case of Gundogan's leg catching his opponent's. Xavi, furious on the touchline, was sent off soon after Barcelona were denied a penalty as their self-implosion was confirmed, with his colleague De la Fuente later following him down the tunnel, before a late brace from Mbappe.
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Barcelona showed inexperience and desperation. Xavi, speaking after the game, called the officiating "strange" and said he would avoid using the word or words he deemed more appropriate, comments that suggest the Spaniard believed something more sinister was at play.
Will this be a learning curve?
Potentially, but the 44-year-old won't be at Barcelona next season, so it'll be up to his successor to pick up the pieces of what will be long be remembered as one of the messiest nights in the Catalan giants' European history.
Opinion by @KurtLaduma
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