Do Barcelona have themselves to blame? How Xavi’s side blew their chance for UCL glory | ESPN FC

ESPN FC’s Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens reflect on a frustrating evening for FC Barcelona as PSG took advantage of individual and team errors on the night.
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[@tarunnekkanti7439]

This match reflected badly on Xavi. Rather than accepting the decision and giving his team motivation, he created commotion and got sent off that completely broke the rhythm that Barca had

[@bryanp5843]

I've been a huge defender of Xavi but his theatrics in the 2nd leg really pissed me off. When you are throwing a tantrum on the sidelines and cursing at the officials you're basically conveying loss of concentration which will translate onto the pitch and basically make our players nervous and everything goes south. And when you get that red card you've basically abandoned the players to fend off for themselves and left them to die, it just shows a lack of leadership from Xavi. This isn't just this match, the guy has been consistently getting red cards all season which is Sergio Ramos level stats. The difference between player Xavi and Manager Xavi is night and day. It's ironic how he was always the calmest player on the pitch and could regain control when things started to go south which I think is one of the reasons he feels so hopeless when he watches and cant do anything on the sidelines

[@FoobRMann]

I am a big believer that a coach must exemplify the virtues they want from players. Xavi showed a lack of discipline and self control, and so did his players.

[@dfwherbie8814]

LMAOOOOOOOO they said PSG wouldn’t make it passed their group 😂😭

[@naufalpahlevi8976]

​@@bryanp5843Xavi as a player got Referee President backing so He always felt a good treatment from the referees.. Now when Barca didn't have money to buy Referee's president "guide", Xavi faced the reality that the referee would do their job without any favor.. I won't blame Xavi, I would blame the Barca's hierarchy who paid the Referee's president back then

[@_.Goat21]

Xavi is also to blame, he consistently loses his temper and gets sent off, that is infected into your team. Your team will reflect your manager, reason why Madrid are always calm even when loosing in big games. Xavi shows a lot of immaturity and inexperience, and ultimately is good thing he's leaving. Hopefully he can gain experience and become a calm manager, Barca rn need an experienced coach that is able to keep them level headed in big games.

[@SimplySmythe]

Straight up facts

[@EdmondDantes_64]

Him lashing out is a Manager tactic to put pressure on the Refs. That's why Refs complain

[@naufalpahlevi8976]

​@@xyx982 Wrong.. Xavi always had Referees favor when he is playing because Barca paid Referee's president "guide" back then Now Xavi had to face the reality, when referees don't give any favor for Barca and judge the foul objectively

[@dhirajkh5444]

We have seen so many times that a team successfully defends one goal lead for 20-30 minutes to go even after 1 man down . Barcelona have 2 goal lead to defend for 65 minutes. It was possisble . You have to Question Xavi for his substitution.

[@janmejaysingh1742]

They panicked under pressure .

[@dhirajkh5444]

@@janmejaysingh1742 that's a job of a coach to motivate players. Look how carlo Ancelotti gives freedom to his players. Thats why they always deliver

[@janmejaysingh1742]

@@dhirajkh5444 even our coach panicked and got sent off . You could see that we were too immature to lift that trophy

[@safayathimel]

Lack of experience, and when coaches panic it’s affecting players

[@safayathimel]

@@dhirajkh5444when your coach carlo you give 120% that’s the difference

[@DjCriXta]

The best form of defending is attacking. Choosing to park the bus and take off your best and most creative player is A Negative approach to a football game. We did this to ourselves. We deserved to lose after what we did. Self destruction

[@FoobRMann]

When you have a 2 goal lead in a big game at home... you have to find a way to see it out. Yeah, they were a man down... but you have to bite down and see the game out.

[@heavynightcorer8267]

Name me a team that in a quarter final lost their best defender and were able to maintain the lead against a team with 2 of the fastest players in the world

[@FoobRMann]

@@heavynightcorer8267 "on a Tuesday when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing at precisely 6 MPH..." If you're the kind of team that Barça both wants to be and thinks they are, you find a way to see out a lead against adversity. You put in the work and play with discipline. Barça didn't.

[@heavynightcorer8267]

@@FoobRMann Yeah "discipline" is gonna give a team playing one man down a win, nice one

[@okocha971]

@@heavynightcorer8267 Literally Chelsea against… Barca in 2012 semifinals lol. Chelsea won 1-0 at home for the 1st round. At Camp Nou John Terry was sent off at the 37’ and Barca was leading 2-0. Chelsea managed to equalize and went to the finals (and won).

[@naufalpahlevi8976]

​@@heavynightcorer8267 Madrid beating the top La Liga team 4-0 with Tchouameni and Carvajal as a CB.. With their 3rd choice keeper Lunin as GK.. Injuries happened in every single team, and the manager needs to find a way to minimize the damage.. So it's not an excuse

[@astraydhurion7697]

Nobody understood why Yamal was sent out when he actually was the best player on the pitch for Barcelona and Pedri was definitely useless.

[@rwac07]

Even as a Barca fan watching them and then watching Madrid’s defensive discipline the next day, it’s not even close. Barca have so much more work to do defensively , they’re a mess when anything goes wrong. Not to mention having a moronic coach who makes an already bad situation worse by getting sent to the stands. The team lacks maturity and discipline

[@gama69ful]

Vitinha is the elephant in the room! What a player !

[@littlebigmarc]

That red card and the pen were so unnecessary and avoidable. Rookie mistakes.

[@nevarran]

"The fans were incredible. They threw stones at their own bus..." Haha :)

[@adamdarrar121]

That cancelo mistake killed them. What a horrible decision by him to tackle there 😢

[@notboutit6090]

When Xavi made them park the bus he messed up because cancelo is better at attacking than defending they shoudlve kept on attacking

[@naufalpahlevi8976]

​@@notboutit6090😂 yeah for sure, like every non professional Sunday league games.. I mean a team with no Strikers no real CF would never beat City with Haaland right? And even if there's a team that can beat City they must be attacking City non stop right? 😂

[@nelson_100]

When did PSG become bigger than Barcelona 😂. Use logic, give credit to Xavi for managing a team in a very difficult time for the club financially. Talk about fielding young players like Yamal and Cubarsi against top players.

[@Maza75]

PSG is Bigger than FCB at the moment lol you can’t deny that lol

[@spiritovich]

we saw it with Roma, we saw it with Liverpool, and now with psg. the second leg when we kinda have an advantage, we don't know how to defend and carefully expose the opponent. and this huge pressure of playing in quaters, this emotional pressure collapses us. Is Barca so demandful and media so aggressive? why is club so tense for team and coach

[@abugrimusah6512]

Jules is always bitter and biased towards Barcelona.

[@adrii1868]

His football knowledge is trash😂

[@A_r78]

@@adrii1868he’s French it’s typical

[@St0rrrm]

@@A_r78 so butthurt 😂

[@A_r78]

@@St0rrrm I’m a Madrid fan mate Barca is trash I just don’t like French

[@javmar3794]

I always felt like he favors Barca

[@ferazhosein7626]

The mistakes even themselves out… what an absolutely stupid take. Did PSG have 10 men?😂 These two are so delusional and biased when it comes to analyzing Barcelona this season.

[@GO15238]

Nice Ecuadorian jersey you got there! 😊

[@berg1287]

Xavi is too emotional, there is a lot of room for growth as a coach that's why he should stay. Barca is the perfect project for him.

[@emmanuelrobert208]

Glad Barca lost based on their recent charge for racist behaviour by their fans in Paris.

[@Jerrylaz]

When you list to gab and Jules speak it’s as if they were rooting for Barça when all they have done all season is criticize us even when we play well. PSG did not show any character Jules. Be honest for once!

[@majdydanaf6479]

PSG's best signing this season was luis Enrique. This comes from a Barca fan. They deserved to go through not because they played well, but because they capitalized on OUR mistakes. This will be good for the young players, specially Araujo to be more careful, it is not the first time this season he bashes into players and gets away with it. This will teach him maturity and control

[@barca-vibe]

Did you guys thank the ref yet for the psg win?

[@A_r78]

4-1

[@superdzb]

all referees decisions were spot on except maybe the 5050 gundogans penalty

[@sagardhar132]

@@superdzbGundogan’s decision was spot on. He tripped over his own leg.

[@sagardhar132]

Bro sometimes you need to accept the fact that Barca didn’t adapt to the sending off situation and were too open. I saw your reply to another comment where u said “Barca won’t change its style”. And if that’s the case, then this ignorance of not adapting will lead you nowhere. That’s the ultimate truth.

[@MaphulaneKgasi-uy3ci]

You can't blame Barcelona or Xavi for the silly mistake of Araujo school boy error. Araujo could have continued running after PSG player without touching him and leave everything to Ter Stegan . By the way Barcelona was leading by two goals and there was high possibilities that we could more goals, so no matter PSG player had score ,we would still having eleven players.

[@Jukuuuuu]

this pod would be so much better if it was juls with someone else lol

[@javierRcastro]

I would have made 3 changes after the red card. Cancelo would leave for Martinez , Roque for Lewandowski, Fermin for Pedri Play with 3 CBs Kounde , Cubarsi, Martinez 2 wing backs Raphina , Lamar 3 center mid FDJ, Gundo, Fermin 1 ST Roque

[@naufalpahlevi8976]

Exactly like Klopp when his team got 2 red cards against Spurs.. And somehow Klopp only conceded 1 goal after he use 5-3-0 formation

[@Jukuuuuu]

gab always tryna shade mbappe i swear

[@MaDFroG88]

I was at the stadium .... with 2 goals advantage i was seeing 👀 the semifinal and that red card ruined the match.

[@hanishabib2518]

Mbappe was not good in the game. He has done nothing other than scoring a penalty and a rebound

[@RGraph007]

"If those net out, are they deserving?" This guy's a joke. Just say sometimes the undeserving side makes it through instead of catering to your co-host and PSG, this is futbol. Futbol can be unexpected, but Barca gifted PSG a way back with that early expulsion, period.

[@bianalkassem9986]

Xavi is to blame, terrible coach. Taking yamal out and keeping pedri!!, using ferran!!! Why not park the bus after the first goal like real did

[@naufalpahlevi8976]

Xavi is not Carlo.. That's why

[@davidofergals6947]

Barka dogs are barking

[@Yordanis4990]

I love smart people. Thank you Gab and Juls

[@sufh7193]

Dembele and Vitinha saved PSG.

[@4inkid]

Y’all need to hire better sport analysts just saying

[@aroundtheworldwithfootball4460]

the build up was bad. I mean... thoses long passes from ter stegen araujo kounde cancelo and de jong when they face pressing🤣🤣😂😂 . All strong team play fast short passes and positional play(psg leverkusen, city and even real)

[@SimplySmythe]

Not all strong teams play like that😂

[@aroundtheworldwithfootball4460]

@@SimplySmythe easy to laught and beliving u r smarter than the world, but name one great team who throw the ball away everytime they are on pressure ?

[@brandonk387]

That referee was paid, and we all know that, lol

[@BL4CKB1RD50]

lol I think we all saw Barca choke

[@thekraken007]

@brandonk387 Sweet sweet barkalona tears 😂

[@SouthJerzVillains]

Barcelona fans literally gonna be crying forever lmao might never win a cl again

[@naufalpahlevi8976]

Barca blames the referees everytime they made a fatal foul mistakes.. because Barca get used to pay Referee's president for a "Guidance".. Now they didn't have money to pay that "Guidance" anymore, and their fatal foul mistakes got punished 😂

[@mihaimorosan5468]

Every referee decision was the correct one. Read the rules first, then come back

[@gc1.k]

I’m sorry without that red card psg lose that red card changed the game fair to juls he’s a pissg fan but because of that 1 mistake we cut our own head off and gave them the win.

[@DiamondBack75]

Stop crying please

[@musamanneh8939]

Praising PSG as if they swept barca with 11v11.. No red card barca turned them over

[@barcavibes7514]

Funny how when we lose they make a 15 minute video about it 😂🙏🏽

[@raulh.crespo4102]

The red card was the only reason the tides shifted

[@user-hu3wc7mr8g]

Cancelo was stretched too thin, he’s a left back winger and his job is to support the attack mostly. The red card stretched barca out and killed the game

[@SerGSays]

Thanks Juls for rocking the Ecuador jersey!! Not our best one but still cool to see it!

[@A_r78]

It’s football heritage Barca isn’t built for the champion’s league

[@javierRcastro]

Lol and PSG is? It’s an oil club

[@A_r78]

@@javierRcastro yes psg are bottle jobs and will lose at some point Madrid or Bayern will win

[@JustTrendNow]

PSG without Redcard can never! Defeat this BARCELONA team ....they were lucky 😅

[@anoshsmith9500]

psg qualified against Chelsea in 2014-15 CL while being one down. whereas Barca will blame it on the ref. difference between a big club and a club you think they are big.

[@nelson_100]

When did PSG become bigger than Barcelona 😂. Use logic, give credit to Xavi for managing a team in a very difficult time of the club financially. Talk about fielding young players like Yamal and Cubarsi against top players.

[@adrii1868]

The fowl was so soft, but if I had to sub someone it would've had to be Lewandowski off

[@Josh-ev3tw]

Arujo is only to blame.

[@raz23raz]

Barca is not good enough for semifinals

[@EL_LeonFredo9]

I’m blaming Xavi

[@nelson_100]

When did PSG become bigger than Barcelona 😂. Use logic, give credit to Xavi for managing a team in a very difficult time of the club financially. Talk about fielding young players like Yamal and Cubarsi against top players.

[@EL_LeonFredo9]

@@nelson_100 dude quit on his team in the 1st half I am using logic 😂

[@bossplayaa8165]

Juls lying to death. PSG didn't win the game because the deserved it. The red card was a big factor. 11 vs 11 psg were getting knocked out

[@okocha971]

Game started at 11 vs 11 lol, keeping your composure is part of the game especially at this level. Barca panicked too much and made too many mistakes when PSG stayed calm and did not fumble the bag (like they did so many times).

[@julienperonne2347]

Araujo got sent off after 29 minutes and Barca scored at the 11th... Before the exclusion, the momentum of the game had already largely turned in favor of PSG and led to the red card... The red card made it a lot easier, but so did Luis Enrique's absurd tactical choices in the first leg, which basically gave Barca the keys to win that game and unbalanced PSG with Asensio doing nothing and Lee slowing down the attack. PSG in a proper 4-3-3 with Zaire-Emery and Vitinha in midfield and the Barcola-Mbappé-Dembelé trio upfront, which we saw during the second half of the first leg and during the second leg, is just a better team than Barcelona and outplayed them. Period. PS : That's not to say PSG are great. They might knock Dortmund out but they'll probably get wrecked by whoever comes out on top of Bayern-Real... It shows how bad Barcelona are. They have a few healthy average players players, dilettantes like Raphinha or Joao Felix, and injury-prone top talent that they overplayed like Gavi and Pedri... You don't win much with that, even with Lewandowski or De Jong trying to cover up the overall mediocrity...

[@DiamondBack75]

We were 11 vs 11 in 2021 And what happened ? 4-1 in Barcelona

[@CSTMFC]

@@DiamondBack75 did you see our defense? compared to this season?

[@MRKS7899]

You can sit there and glaze the oil club all you want but the truth is they didn't deserve to go through because they didn't do anything in either leg. The win was literally handed to them on the plate. They were slapped in the first leg when there was a proper 11v11 game, and they woulda got slapped even harder if that red card hadn't happened. You can come up with all the nonsensical reasons you want, I've been watching football my whole life and I don't believe that should be a red card. Even if according to the "rules of the game" you somehow justify it, then the rules are broken. But hey, if you wanna reward the guy that feels the slightest touch and decides to throw himself on the ground, go ahead. It's no coincidence that football is in decline and that basically no other sport gets this much controversy with its refereeing. It's cuz the technology is there so there's no longer any excuses to justify this stupidity. There are simply too many stupid people among the decision makers in this game

[@sharadmohip6536]

jules and gab always talk nonsense

[@olalekanayinde4017]

PSG only won that match because Barca was a man down.even with Mbape and dembele.Barca would have won with a wide margin.They have to go and pay the referee the money they promised him to give the red card

[@gregb542]

Bruh, no doubt PSG put pressure on but no way do they advance if it was 11 v 11. Let’s not pretend like PSG were looking good before the red card. Araujo and Cubarsi had that center locked down. I think Xavi’s biggest mistake was taking Lamal off. Lamal was shredding up that wing and was an outlet to let out the pressure and create a counter. After he was off it imploded.

[@DiamondBack75]

Bla bla bla bla We crushed them in 2021 4-1 in their own stadium We did the same this time And would have done it without the red card

[@dapperdon2240]

@@DiamondBack75but you weren’t when it was 11 vs 11 you were DOWN 2 goals! STFU

[@kwamesaforoboateng7615]

Who should he have take off then thus was a tough call he can't take of raphinha who basically was involved in all of their goals and playing with out lewandowski would be very difficult

[@dapperdon2240]

@@kwamesaforoboateng7615 I think he should have waited till half time! And then I really think at that point he should’ve taken out Robert. Because they switched to defensive mode and leaving immobile Robert up top was not good, imo

[@ethancoster1324]

That's a pretty bold unprovable prediction to make.​@@DiamondBack75

[@puspenderlather]

Arujco didn't foul him best dive I have ever seen 😂😂😂

[@asifali-hx2dy]

No body is talking about the decisions that were given in favour of psg elbowing neck lawi, taking gudagon out in plenty area without touching the ball. I have watched so many games in which defenders have bragged shirt even hit face with hand elowed but were only given yellow card. It was dive that made it look so bad . Dembele fake it and refee gave plenty.var and refee were helping psg. Why there was no wrong decisions in real and city match because they can run propaganda against them. Refee was paid ucl should conduct inquiries. It was very strange as Xavi said 🤔

[@blay5427]

No one talks about it coz it's the cowards way out. Face the problems directly, matter is, barca has choked every single big European team for the past decade. And majority of those games, barca had the advantage going into the 2nd leg. Blaming the ref's and being ignorant to the actual problems is the issue.

[@pendu.papaperez]

@@blay5427nah, this ref is one of the worst european referees. Guy works in romania and everyone hates him there. How is he qualified to ref a big game like this? Definitely suspicious

[@allan1855]

11 v 11 0% chance for P$G

[@brandonk387]

I agree

[@unknown42999]

Cap. PSG played better than Barca at 11 v 11 even when they were a goal down. I’m not saying psg would’ve 100% gone through , but that 0% chance is flawed

[@darknight-xe1ll]

​@@unknown42999stop watching football from reels barca were much better before the red card

[@allan1855]

@@unknown42999 they were 2 goals down on agrégate and Barça looking dangerous every time they attacked even with 10 men. Barça literally shot themselves in the head in this one.

[@madinamaiga8360]

@@allan1855 Barça shot themselves in the head because PSG was dangerous. The red card comes from a good PSG move that could have led to a goal from Barcola. From there, who knows what would have happened?

[@ohreally8259]

Gab names 5 fatal errors by barcelona players and then asks if PSG are deserved winners? The bias. Assif your mistakes shouldn’t count

[@Redonepunch]

Did you hear the rest of what he said? He said psg made similar errors in the first game. Why do football fans have a persecution complex when it comes to bias?

[@ohreally8259]

I don’t think PSG made as bad mistakes as Barcelona in the tie, in the end they out scored them so why even doubt if they deserve to go through? Does this weak Barcelona team deserve to be the Champions league semi-finals?

[@safayathimel]

If you’re not from Lamasia or Spain normally they treated you outsiders…except Neymar and Suarez because they’re Messi’s friends… still they kicked out Suarez, Eto and Yaya like cowards. Bar

[@deathfromabove4605]

Overhyped la liga shits like VARcelona and Atletico bottled leads to weaker inferior teams no one talks about it, epl clubs narrowly very narrowly losses to 14 UCL winners and 6 UCL winner clubs who both have combined won 7 UCL since 2014 haters losses there minds😂😂😆😆😆

[@cornelthomas4076]

EPL = kick and run

[@deathfromabove4605]

@@cornelthomas4076 la liga=media hype and nothing else

[@RickEYI]

@@deathfromabove4605 I think you did misspell Premier league

[@cornelthomas4076]

@@deathfromabove4605 go and check Spanish teams achievement EPL overrated rugby league

[@wiysenyuystanislas3355]

is a shame Jules is happy with that results we all so it as a match fixing for some psg feature nonsense

[@saswatsenapati7870]

Barcelona is average European team. They were a good team during Leo Messi days but now they are back being avg team

[@nelson_100]

When did PSG become bigger than Barcelona 😂. Use logic, give credit to Xavi for managing a team in a very difficult time for the club financially. Talk about fielding young players like Yamal and Cubarsi against top players.

[@dapperdon2240]

One lucky goal 1 penalty, he was shutdown! 11 vs 11 PSG is not winning this! Thanks the ref not psg staff or players. Fing larpers

[@dapperdon2240]

Ref was horrible!!!!

[@moyopedro2557]

If mbappe tells Julien to twerk he probably will💀good games vs bar?

[@phantaminum6133]

What did he do wrong? He linked up play, created chances, and scored when needed. That’s a good game

[@moyopedro2557]

@@phantaminum6133 bruh we know when mbappe has a good game. That wasn't a good game. If cancelo wasn't being dumb all he scores is a rebound. Don't even get me started on the 1st leg

[@Chukz05]

@@moyopedro2557mbappe does not have to dribble past 3-4 players and smash it into the net to have a good game. You have no ball knowledge. Mbappe played well he linked up well with his teammates made good runs dragged defenders away to create space made some good passes that should have been assists scored a high pressure penalty and was clinical enough to score his second goal which was a half volley so it wasn’t all that easy. His 2 goals sent psg through. If that is not a good performance then I don’t what is. People like u prove that football fans of this generation are the dumbest.

[@adriandantedanosos4146]

​@@moyopedro2557what is considered a good game

[@moyopedro2557]

@@adriandantedanosos4146 I won't answer that. If u watch mbappe, u know what a good game is. I'm not saying he played bad but for julien to say mbappes quarterfinal across the 2 games was good, he's definately twerking if he gets that call

[@rwac07]

As good as he is, Araujo has always been a little bit of a foul merchant. And on this occasion he got exposed for the way he defends

[@kamarbailey502]

FC Barcelona for life 🧬🧬🧬

[@SkatePvP10]

Xavi has to stay now

[@AlexSandernyc]

Juls i know you're a PSG fan but come on stop lying. That was a flop by Barcola, that was a flop by Dembele, Cancelo hit the ball first, there was a penalty for Gundo. Just stop lying

[@kylegill4932]

Can’t afford to pay the refs anymore…… how is EUFAlona going to win?

[@Soccerkid84]

First

[@ghostkill_0682]

Robbery

[@cornelthomas4076]

Just like the Newcastle game

[@gary617]

Common guys, they lost defender in the beginning of the game. PSG with Mbape in front had eaten them.

[@mangloreanwithabeard]

Barca fans should get used to Mbappe 🤍👑🏆