Injuries and Lewandowski's slump: the reasons behind Barcelona's crisis
Luis Torres
Dailysports's expert
Barcelona amazed everyone at the start of the current season. The young team under Hans-Dieter Flick swept aside everyone in their path, crushing Real Madrid (4-0) and Bayern Munich (4-1) and going unbeaten in La Liga for a long time. However, since November, Barcelona has been in a serious crisis—just one victory in the last seven La Liga matches. As a result, the Catalans have already dropped to third place in the standings.
Dailysports decided to analyze the main reasons behind Barcelona's crisis.
Too short a bench
Barcelona's financial situation has left much to be desired in recent years. The situation should improve when the new contract with Nike takes effect, and the Camp Nou renovations are completed. However, for now, the club has to live under strict austerity.
All summer, Barcelona made only one transfer—Dani Olmo returned from RB Leipzig to his home club. But for this to happen, Barça had to release İlkay Gündoğan as a free agent to free up space on the wage bill.
All this has led to Barcelona forming a specific core of key players, but the squad's depth is severely lacking. For example, the Blaugranas simply have no substitute for Robert Lewandowski. The roster includes young Pau Víctor, but he is suitable only for matches against obvious underdogs.
A similar situation exists on the attacking flanks, dominated by Lamine Yamal and Raphinha. Flick hoped that Ansu Fati could become a worthy alternative to one of them, but he is once again spending more time recovering from injuries than training.
Barcelona also finds itself without options in the defensive midfield position. After Gündoğan’s departure, Flick began trusting 17-year-old Marc Bernal in this position. Bernal started the season strong but then tore his ACL. Subsequently, the main role fell to young Marc Casadó, with Éric García and Frenkie de Jong—both of whom do not naturally fit the role—stepping in as backups.
On the defensive flanks, Barcelona has Alejandro Balde and Jules Koundé, but the alternatives are academy products Héctor Font and Gerard Martin.
As a result, Koundé has played 70 matches in 2024, setting an all-time football record.
Essentially, Barcelona is trying to fill gaps in its roster using graduates of the legendary La Masia academy. Some of them grow into top-level players, but at this stage, they fail to meet the required standards.
Injuries
The first issue immediately leads to the second. Throughout the season, Barcelona players are frequently injured, and adequately replacing them is extremely challenging.
In recent months, Barcelona has been particularly hurt by two minor injuries to Lamine Yamal. Paradoxically, the 17-year-old prodigy has become almost indispensable for the Catalans. And when Yamal began to get injured, Flick tried several replacement options, none of which worked.
The first option was switching to a formation with four midfielders, leaving Lewandowski and Raphinha up front. Flick then tried starting Ferran Torres. The third option was moving Dani Olmo to the wing. However, none of these setups managed to replace Yamal effectively.
Barcelona lost its captain and primary goalkeeper, Marc-André ter Stegen, for the season. His backup, Iñaki Peña, has been impressive this season but struggles to fill the void left by the German.
Resolving this problem fully is difficult, as Flick’s style of football demands maximum intensity and excellent physical condition.
Opponents have adapted to Barcelona's style
At the start of the season, Barcelona's famous offside trap posed a significant challenge for opponents. However, football is a game where tactics can quickly be countered, and that’s precisely what has happened to Barcelona.
The first to exploit the space left by Barcelona's defenders was Las Palmas. The team from Spain's southernmost region scored both goals by running behind the center-backs.
Betis later replicated this tactic, creating significantly more chances than Barcelona in their match, with only goalkeeper Peña's heroics preventing a defeat.
The decline of Robert Lewandowski
Robert Lewandowski is already 36 years old, which is a significant issue for Barcelona. The Polish forward started the season incredibly and was one of the main contenders for the Ballon d’Or. However, like the team, he has experienced a downturn.
Since November, Lewandowski has scored just two goals in La Liga. While his 16 goals still lead the scoring charts, his poor form has had a notable impact on Barcelona’s results.
Plain bad luck
Of course, this point doesn’t apply to every match. However, in some games, Barcelona has thoroughly outplayed their opponents only to leave the pitch empty-handed. Here are some examples:
- Barcelona (xG 2.32) – Las Palmas (xG 0.50) 1-2
- Barcelona (xG 2.67) – Leganés (xG 0.40) 0-1
- Barcelona (xG 2.54) – Atlético (xG 0.63) 1-2
Three consecutive home games in which Barcelona created chances with a combined xG of 7.53. Yet, they scored only two goals. How else can this be explained other than sheer bad luck?
Forecast
Barcelona is currently in a slump, but all indications suggest the team’s situation under Hans-Dieter Flick will improve in the near future. Sooner or later, the Catalans will start converting the many chances they create in every match.
Additionally, players who haven’t played a single minute this season due to injuries—Ronald Araújo and Andreas Christensen—will soon return. This will help ease the burden on the defense and midfield, as Christensen often played as a defensive midfielder last season.
It seems likely that Barcelona will remain in the title race until the very end, overtaking Atlético Madrid. However, they will likely fall short of Real Madrid, which is just starting to hit its stride.
