Barcelona Could Collapse After Champions League Failure Against Atletico Madrid

VICENTE CALDERON, Madrid — Curiously, Gareth Bale called it. The Real Madrid star doesn’t speak to the media much, but after helping Real Madrid see off Barcelona in the Clasico on April 2, he appeared in the mixed zone.

"Football does funny things to teams when you lose, and you never know what could happen," said Bale.

But even he probably didn’t foresee damage being done to this extent; Barcelona have since been knocked out of the UEFA Champions League by Atletico Madrid at the quarter-final stage and seen their Primera Division advantage reduced to three points.

The Vicente Calderon was ablaze on Wednesday night, as close to 55,000 Atletico fans backed their team to the hilt. “Together toward victory” read a mosaic they created in one stand. All over the city, “never stop believing” was the motto hoist on banners and flown on flags.

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Atletico didn’t, but from the first minute, it seemed Barcelona never did. Part of it is down to Atleti manager Diego Simeone’s genius stifling—and genius-stifling—system, but there is definitely a problem with Luis Enrique’s Barca side at the moment.

He admitted it in his post-match press conference. "We are in a bad moment in both attack and defence," said the Asturian, although he later claimed he was 100 per cent culpable for the defeat in the Spanish capital.

Two goals from Antoine Griezmann saw the Rojiblancos emerge as 2-0 winners, progressing 3-2 on aggregate to earn their place in Friday’s semi-final draw. "Earn" being a word not used lightly.

Simeone’s game plan to conquer Barcelona nearly worked in the first leg, but Fernando Torres’s first-half red card spoiled things, and they ended up with a creditable 2-1 defeat. Nobody deviated from his blueprint here, and he finally registered a win over Luis Enrique.

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At the eighth time of asking, Simeone beat a Lucho Barcelona side, having lost the previous seven matches. It took time, but he worked out how to defeat the treble-winners and world champions.

He was lucky in one regard, though—Barcelona are, like their manager says, in bad form. The international break is widely seen as the start of their malaise, with their three star forwards, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar, all making long trips to South America to play for their respective countries.

However, even in the game before that, they threw away a two-goal lead against Villarreal, the start of their huge advantage in the Spanish top flight slipping. They had been 12 points above Real Madrid, but that’s now four. They're three ahead of Atletico.

Against Atletico, Messi, Neymar and Suarez were missing in action. So too were Ivan Rakitic and Sergio Busquets.

Only Andres Iniesta is able to take any credit from the performance. And even he should have been sent off, allowed to remain on the field after blocking a Filipe Luis cross with his hand to give away a penalty, which Griezmann converted for the second goal.

Iniesta should have had a penalty of his own when Gabi later handled his ball into the box at the death, but if it had been scored, extra time would have been more than Barcelona merited.

The defence was leaky too, with Yannick Carrasco and Griezmann causing big problems.

Looking forward, with no semi-finals to worry about, Barcelona will have more recovery time when it comes to dealing with their six remaining league fixtures. Their fate is still in their own hands.

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Enrique needs to arrest the team’s slide. Defeats by Real Sociedad and Real Madrid along with this beating make it three losses from four games. That's not the form of champions.

Even Sevilla, their Copa del Rey final opponents, will be licking their lips at the prospect of trying to expose the tired legs that have carried the Catalans through more games than any other side so far this season, including an excursion to Japan for the FIFA Club World Cup.

They host Valencia on Sunday night at the Camp Nou, a fixture that could be trickier than it looks.

Pako Ayestaran's side defeated Sevilla last time out and will carry confidence from that game into this one, out to avenge the 7-0 defeat they suffered under Gary Neville in February.

Then comes an away trip to Deportivo La Coruna, who managed a 2-2 draw in Catalonia earlier this season. If they get through the trip to the Riazor unscathed, then things can be considered under control. But right now, Barcelona look vulnerable.

All quotes obtained firsthand.