“They have not learned anything”
Liverpool’s victory over Barcelona in their Champions League semi-final second leg on Tuesday night was wild. Nobody expected the five-time champions to mount a comeback against Barca, who came into the match with a 3-0 lead from the first leg.
All Barca really needed was one goal, even with Liverpool’s four, but they were unable to summon any discernible spirit to find a way past the home side, or the home crowd.
As good as Liverpool were – and they were really, really good – Barcelona were abject. A large proportion of this was to do with the fact that Liverpool prevented them from playing their game, but some of the blame rests with the visitors too.
They were clearly arrogant coming into the match, as well as being complacent, and they did not look like a side which had learned their lesson from last season’s similar elimination at the hands of AS Roma, which came after a 4-1 victory for Barca in the first leg.
Understandably, the reaction in the Spanish press to the loss was, to put it kindly, an absolute evisceration.
L’Esportiu, the Catalan daily sports newspaper, led with the front page headline: “They have not learned anything.”
Mundo Deportivo, another Spanish daily sports newspaper published in Barcelona, wrote succinctly: “Feeling ashamed.”
Perhaps the greatest condemnation came from Sport, which led with the simple statement: “The biggest ridicule in history.”
🌪️|The Spanish Newspapers have had their say.
They have not learned anything
[l'esportiu]'Feeling ashamed' [md]
The biggest ridicule in history’ [sport] pic.twitter.com/kho85u9SPs
— The Kopite Podcast (@Kopite_Podcast) May 8, 2019
Harsh? Perhaps. But no less than the Barcelona performance deserved.
