The Champions League curse haunts Flick: can Barcelona survive the Aston Villa storm?
Barcelona are living through one of their most worrying European spells. The results tell part of the story. The real damage runs deeper: a psychological and technical obstacle that has come to haunt the team in the Champions League and now threatens their dream of winning the continental title.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, the Blaugrana will look to make up for their harsh 4-2 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain when they host an ambitious Aston Villa side at their stadium. The English club arrive eager to prove they are one of the genuine contenders to win the competition this season.
Before facing them, Hansi Flick has an urgent task. He must solve the problem that has crippled Barcelona in recent weeks: conceding the first goal.
The figures from "Mundo Deportivo" lay bare a shocking record. In Barcelona's last 12 Champions League matches, they fell behind first in nine of them, dragged each time into an exhausting race to recover the result.
Only three times have they opened the scoring. This season against Feyenoord (5-1) through Raphinha, and last season in both second legs against Atletico Madrid (1-2) with a goal from Lamine Yamal and against Newcastle (7-2) with another from Raphinha.
Everywhere else, the Blaugrana were chasing. They trailed against Paris Saint-Germain (4-2) to a Doue goal, Galatasaray (1-4) to Baratakov, Atletico Madrid in the first leg (0-2) to Julian Alvarez, Newcastle (1-1) to Barnes, Copenhagen (4-1) to Dadason, Slavia Prague (2-4) to Kusej, Eintracht Frankfurt (2-1) to Knauff, Chelsea (3-0) to a Kounde own goal, and Club Brugge (3-3) to Tresoldi.
18 matches without a clean sheet
The poor starts are only half of it. The defensive picture is even uglier. Barcelona have conceded in 18 consecutive Champions League matches, a run stretching all the way back to the first leg against Borussia Dortmund (4-0) in the quarter-finals two seasons ago. That was the last time they kept a clean sheet in Europe.
Through that stretch, the Blaugrana's net was breached against Olympiacos (6-1), Paris Saint-Germain (1-2), Newcastle (1-2), in the epic 2015 semi-final against Inter Milan (3-3 and 4-3), and in the quarter-final second leg against Dortmund (3-1).
Shutting out Aston Villa looks a near-impossible ask. The English side have scored 12 goals in their first three matches in the competition and carry a fiery attack.
