LONDON • It is arguably the worst European defeat in Barcelona's history and coach Ernesto Valverde is unlikely to survive what Catalan newspaper Sport headlined "The biggest farce in history" on its all-black front page.
All season, the three-goal capitulation to Serie A side Roma in the Champions League quarter-final last term hung like a dark pall.
Tuesday night was supposed to have been the opportunity to exorcise those ghosts from Italy.
Again they held a three-goal lead from the first leg at the Nou Camp. And again they imploded, this time more spectacularly, 4-0, for their heaviest defeat against an English side in all European competitions.
While the inquest into their latest European failure at Liverpool will be swift and far reaching, Valverde, who signed a new contract in February, albeit only until 2020, appears set to pay the price despite his domestic successes.
The Spanish champions are favourites to lift a second straight double with the King's Cup final against Valencia to come on May 25 but the fans have never particularly taken to his pragmatic tactics, deeming them to be a "betrayal (of) the Blaugrana DNA based on possession and control of the game".
The Roma thrashing had been a stick to beat him with, but after their collapse at Anfield, the Spanish media believe he no longer has a leg to stand on. The headlines screamed for his head yesterday as Barcelona's wait for a first Champions League final since 2015 goes on.
Sport called it "the darkest page in their history", saying: "Without doubt, Valverde holds a lot of responsibility for this disaster, because when the moment of truth arrived, he made the same mistakes as last year.
"The Champions League is too big for Valverde."
Marca, which is pro-Real Madrid, labelled the hammering as "a historic failure", while L'Esportiu declared that "the consensus is clear and is expected to bring consequences for everyone".
17
Number of times Lionel Messi was dispossessed.8
All Barcelona's shots came through Messi, who attempted five strikes and created three.
Valverde, 55, admitted in the aftermath that "the coach has to take responsibility". He added: "I do not know how it's going to affect me. It's very painful for us, especially for our people, it's the second year they've come back like that."
Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu accepted questions would be asked of Valverde's future following the "disastrous night", alluding to "time to reflect and explain".
The players were not spared either. Like Marca, Sport gave no player more than three marks out of 10, while Ivan Rakitic and Philippe Coutinho were both rated zero by the latter.
Former Liverpool favourite Luis Suarez, who was mercilessly booed by the home fans, conceded they had no place to hide and "have to be ready for all the criticism that is going to rain down on us now".
The forward, who spent three years with the Reds from 2011 to 2014, said: "For their fourth goal, we looked like schoolboys... We are very sad. We have to do a lot of self-criticism because this is the second time that the same thing has happened to us."
Teammate Sergio Busquets, who appeared tearful, could only apologise to the travelling fans, saying: "I just want to say sorry. We didn't want this to happen again... It's hard to say anything else."
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
Spanish media call for Valverde axe, Football News & Top
And according to Spanish news outlet Don Balon, who often make bold claims, Messi has told Valverde to alter his starting line-up. They sensationally say the Argentina talisman wants Valverde to drop Gomes for tomorrow night's clash at the Nou Camp. Gomes, 24, has struggled to impress at the Nou Camp following his move to Barca in 2016.
Coutinho set for Barca axe | ClubCall.com
Lionel Messi tells Ernesto Valverde to axe five Barcelona stars this summer - report LIONEL MESSI has told Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde to axe five first-team stars. The Catalans are flying
Chelsea News: Lionel Messi tells Ernesto Valverde to axe
Need to translate "axe" to Spanish? Here are 4 ways to say it. How to say axe in Spanish What's the Spanish word for axe? Here's a list of translations. Spanish
Axe in Spanish | English to Spanish Translation - SpanishDict
Thank you for visiting the Axe website. If you are reporting a problem with one of our products, please be sure to include your address and a telephone number where you can be reached during the day so we can contact you for further information. Unilever does not collect personal information from children under 13.
AXE Media TV Review - digitalcashkings.com
Spanish media call for Valverde axe. Barcelona's Lionel Messi reportedly broke down in tears in the dressing room after his team's 4-0 loss to Liverpool, and 4-3 on aggregate, in the second leg of
The Straits Times - Breaking News, Lifestyle & Multimedia News
Call of Duty Mobile; ESL India Premiership Many fans and pundits were clamouring for Valverde to get the axe after Barcelona's embarrassing Champions League semi-final exit at the hands of
Hello and welcome to my AXE Media TV review.. Is AXE Media TV a scam? This is one of the questions that we are going to look into and share my thoughts. We are also going to discover information about the company and who owns it, the products or services they offer and the compensation plan and how you get paid.
Barcelona News: Club President confirms Valverde stay
Learn Spanish with Fluencia, the easiest way to learn Spanish from the creators of SpanishDict Explore SpanishDict We've combined the most accurate English to Spanish translations, dictionary, verb conjugations, and Spanish to English translators into one very powerful search box.
Contact Us | Axe
Spanish media call for Valverde axe. May 9, 2019, 5:00 am. Sport Stories . Little red dot hails 'amazing' mighty Reds. Valencia to home in on Arsenal's poor away form.
Lionel Messi tells Ernesto Valverde to axe five Barcelona
The Spanish champions were dumped out of the Champions League despite taking a 3-0 lead to Anfield and the fall out could be serious for Coutinho and for coach Ernesto Valverde as well. Some
How to say axe in Spanish - wordhippo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment