Introducing the La Liga teams: the new era of Barcelona begins

He was the driving force of Barcelona for 17 long years and led the team to several great successes. However, Lionel Messi’s involvement with the Catalan club has come to an unexpected end. The Spanish team could not afford him due to the poor financial situation and the Argentine had to leave his beloved team as a free agent. His next destination will be the French PSG, where he will be reunited with Neymar. Barcelona is thus at the start of a new journey. How much will they miss Messi?

There is no other team that interests the entire footballing public more at the moment. The saga surrounding Messi’s future at Barcelona has been going on for some time now. Last summer he expressed his desire to leave, but Barcelona managed to keep him despite his dissatisfaction. During the following season, he mended his relations with the management and it was back to being the divine Lionel on the pitch.

After a change of heart and wanted the Argentine striker to stay at Barcelona. However, the latter paid the price for his financial mismanagement, which lasted for several years. The Catalans had agreed to sign a new contract with Messi, but the La Liga management refused to extend it due to the club’s dire financial situation. Thus, the best FCB goal scorer in history had to leave the club of his heart and went to the star PSG as a free agent to join Neymar and co.

Messi’s last season at Barcelona was not ideal. The Argentine continued to put in great individual performances, but it wasn’t enough to finish more than 3rd in the league.

Although Barcelona won the Spanish Cup, they couldn’t be too positive about last season. The team made mistakes defensively and many members of the starting line-up were totally out of form. In the Champions League, the team led by Ronald Koeman already finished in the eighth round when they failed to beat PSG. For the following season, the Catalans definitely had bigger ambitions, but that changes with Messi’s departure.

The team’s strength is rapidly weakened without his presence, which will definitely be felt this season. In the summer, Barcelona did acquire Aguero, Depay, Royal and Garcia, but the first named was immediately injured for 3 months.

Apart from Messi, no important player left the team. However, there are a lot of players in Barcelona who are past their prime, a lot of star players are out of form or perpetually injured, so a change in the playing system will be necessary. Coach Koeman has to deal with all this.

Royal , Aguero, Depay, Garcia

Departures: Messi, Firpo, Todibo, Aleña, Miranda, Fernandes, Monchu, Trincao

Team strengths::

Barcelona will depend on team leaders more than ever. Fresh acquisition Depay has been great and could give the offense a lot of life, and a strong midfield should hold the team together. Their advantage could also be the fact that no one expects much from them this season.

Team weaknesses:

Where to start. Barcelona almost couldn’t buy. The hole left by the loss of Messi has not been filled. Star players like Pique, Griezmann, Dembélé, Coutinho and Pjanic are playing well below their potential. If they don’t improve, Barcelona will be in big trouble.

Barcelona are lucky in that even their biggest rivals are not doing great. Real Madrid are in a similar situation and are facing a rebuilding of their squad. The biggest favourite for this season will be Atlético Madrid again.

In any case, Barcelona will have a difficult season ahead of them. A new era is about to begin and it will be interesting to see how Pique and co. start it.

Source: FC Barcelona