On the title of Barcelona – Back on the throne in turbulent times – Sport

FC Barcelona is Spanish champion again after 4 years. But the club made headlines, especially off the pitch.

One dreams big again in Barcelona. The Catalans secure 4th Rounds before the end thanks to a 4:2 against Espayol the championship title early – it is the first triumph in the domestic league since the 2018/19 season. In the end you always had to give way to the competition from Madrid (twice Real, once Atletico).

Coach Xavi’s team wrote one or two successful stories this season. It’s the first league title for a Barça team without Lionel Messi since 1998/99! The Spaniard became Barcelona’s youngest player to make his LaLiga debut with the appearance of Lamine Yamal against Betis Sevilla.

Coach Xavi managed to form a unit from the squad, which was filled with top-class players such as Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha. In particular, the defensive of the “Blaugrana” blossomed into a showpiece. The never-tiring Marc-André ter Stegen was a solid backing in goal, while Jules Koundé, Ronald Araujo da Silva, Andreas Christensen and Alejandro Balde ensured order in front of the German.

The result: Just 11 goals conceded by the 34th minute. Gameday. For comparison: The “Royal” from Madrid conceded 32 hits. Although Real scored 10 more goals, they couldn’t keep the championship race exciting until the end.

Early out in the Champions League

But both athletically and off the pitch it was a season with many discords. On the field, the early failure on the international stage caused discussions. In the “premier class” Barça was already over in the preliminary round. The Europa League adventure also came to an end quickly. Against Manchester United they got stuck in the playoffs for the round of 16.

The Catalans were also negative in the headlines at the start of the season. Although the club was sitting on a mountain of debt of 1.3 billion francs, it invested 150 million francs in new players. To finance this, a quarter of the television rights for the next 25 years were sold, among other things.

In the case of Frenkie de Jong, the Spaniards didn’t make a good trap either. Barcelona wanted to get rid of the Dutchman or at least persuade him to reduce his wages in order to be able to afford the expensive reinforcements. But he didn’t want to know anything about it and was critical of a transfer. During the season, the midfielder then blossomed into a regular.

And in the new year, dark clouds rose again over the Camp Nou: the allegation of corruption became loud. Barcelona were suspected of bribing referees until 2018. In March, the Spanish public prosecutor’s office brought charges, a procedural decision is still pending.

It was a season with ups and downs, which ended with the championship title being at least partially conciliatory. But times are unlikely to get any quieter for highly indebted Barcelona in the future either.