Everything about the end of this game was surreal.
Hansi Flick clapped a crowd that had long since fallen silent. The area of Barcelona’s home stadium that usually houses their noisiest, most partisan fans was empty anyway, with the supporters usually in those seats still banned as the club are yet to pay fines totalling €21,000 (£17,450; $22,214) imposed on them by Spain’s La Liga and UEFA, European football’s governing body, for the behaviour of some in that section. Then there was the kick-off time, with a team more used to starting games at 9pm being asked to begin here at 2pm.
And, of course, there was the scoreline.
Rewind 10 minutes and Flick, having glanced at his watch, looked back towards the home dugout and shook his head as if to acknowledge to his coaching staff that this was not going to be their day.
Las Palmas had not won at Barcelona for 53 years. This was no way for Barca to celebrate the club’s 125th anniversary the day before, though, in truth, perhaps we should have seen an upset coming; after all, they lost to Mallorca as they commemorated their centenary on this same weekend in 1999.
Nothing came off here, with the mood of celebration falling completely flat.
Barcelona wore the red and blue halved shirts and white shorts of the club’s early years, and even unveiled a new mascot — a cat, called “Cat” (short for Catalan) — and trumpeted their new 125th anniversary anthem, but they were still beaten. All the emotion that had been built up at the gala celebration held in the city’s Liceo theatre on Friday evening petered out. Nothing could get the team going.
Cat is Barcelona’s new mascot (Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
A fixture that had looked straightforward ended up proving anything but. The 2-1 defeat means Flick’s side have now gone three La Liga games without a win having failed to see off Real Sociedad, Celta Vigo and Las Palmas — all relative low-lights in Spanish football’s top division.
This was the first time summer appointment Flick’s team had lost at Montjuic, the 1992 Olympics venue Barca are using for home games during extensive renovations at their iconic Camp Nou stadium, and the first time a visiting side had managed two goals against them there.
The impressive start instigated by their German manager this season is tailing off badly. This team are on a downward trend.
Where has the lead over Real Madrid gone?
Remember when everything around Barcelona felt rosy? That fantastic week in late October when they established their status as the team to beat in La Liga by thrashing Real Madrid 4-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu, having demolished their European bete noire, Bayern Munich, in the Champions League a few days earlier. The memories of those giddy occasions are already fading fast, and they happened barely a month ago.
Flick’s team were six points ahead of Carlo Ancelotti’s team after that win in the capital and it looked like the title was effectively sealed. Barca were playing at an excellent level, too; their offside trap was catching out opponents, they were pressing high and effectively, and the squad had bought into a fast-flowing style of play. They were on a different level to last season under Xavi.
Yet, in the games since those eye-catching wins, the momentum and belief have drained away. Against Las Palmas, the team lacked those qualities completely.
A frustrated Flick checks his watch (Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
The side from the Canary Islands went man-to-man in midfield early on yesterday, and Barcelona could never break free of their shackles. There were no effective combinations and, even when the visitors relaxed their approach, Flick’s players were still slow and imprecise in their movement and passing.
As an example of the home players being below their level, take Robert Lewandowski.
He has been having a spectacular season. He is La Liga’s top scorer with 19, hit the 100th Champions League goal of his career in midweek and is only four away from equalling his La Liga tally for all of last term. But here, the 36-year-old echoed all his toils of 2023-24. He drew a blank against Las Palmas even when Pau Victor, who came on for the last few minutes, found him alone and in front of goal at the death. The Pole took too long to control the ball and, by the time he had gathered his composure, defenders had swarmed around him.
Barcelona have taken just one point from nine and all the advantage gained at the Bernabeu has disappeared. If Madrid win there against Getafe today and away to Valencia in their game in hand, they will top the table.
“We will have to accept that Madrid can go above us,” Flick said after the match. “If any player is disconnected, the team doesn’t function as it should. We have quality. The team tried for 90 minutes but, today, we came up short. We didn’t know how to score and we will have to have a different attitude.
“We have to accept that November was a bad month. We have to hope that it will be different in December.”
Lewandowski drew a blank against Las Palmas (Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Do this team lack quality depth in wide areas?
How short Barcelona are in wide areas in the absence of Lamine Yamal, who has been out for three weeks with an ankle injury but returned yesterday, has been exposed over this dismal run of form.
Pablo Torre started against Las Palmas. He is a player with great ability, but there is still a drop-off in quality compared with Yamal. On the right, Raphinha scored again. But he did not offer his usual threat. Neither did Jules Kounde, the right-back behind him. The group had found a way to overcome Yamal’s absence — and the reality that this team have come to lean so heavily on a 17-year-old — to prevail against visitors Brest in the Champions League in midweek but, here, familiar problems appeared.
Yamal made a welcome return, but this team have come to rely on him too much (Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Yamal did come on for the second half but, understandably, was rusty. He lacked accuracy in his passing, like the rest of the side. Barcelona will be delighted to have him back, but they cannot rely on him as they have grown to. The lack of viable alternatives has been exposed in his absence.
Can De Jong turn this around?
There is an elephant in the room at Barcelona: Frenkie de Jong.
“I didn’t expect anything like that, but I’m very happy with the way people are treating me,” De Jong told Movistar TV back on October 1, after finally returning to action after 163 days out with an ankle injury. That day, against Swiss visitors Young Boys in the Champions League, the fans applauded him when he took the field at Montjuic. The reception took a weight off the Dutch midfielder’s shoulders. He was aware he had yet to convince many Barcelona supporters, despite being at the club for over five years now, but that show of affection suggested he could still turn the tide.
Two months later, against Las Palmas, he was whistled by a Barca crowd for the second time in a week.
De Jong was heckled again (Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The supporters demand an attitude and leadership from him, as one of the team’s captains, that he has rarely shown at this club. So much had been expected of him when he arrived from Ajax in his home country in summer 2019. But he has never found an ideal position in Barcelona’s system — whether as a holding midfielder, a more advanced role or as one of a double pivot — despite many of his team-mates, Joao Felix and Joao Cancelo among them, stating publicly that he is the player who impresses them most in training.
De Jong is also one of the club’s highest-paid players, and a legacy of former president Josep Maria Bartomeu’s time at the club.
In the last few games, he has rarely stood out. His displays have been eclipsed by those of Pedri and Marc Casado, with the Netherlands international looking so tentative. He seems troubled by his ankle problems, someone playing within himself. And that has cost him a key role in the team.
“I know it’s very important for him to have minutes, but we analyse every game and the important thing is to win,” Flick said of De Jong at his pre-match press conference. “I want the best possible team and that’s how we make decisions. And that’s why he might not get as many minutes as he would like or as much as we would like.”
He was introduced just before the hour against Las Palmas and, as mentioned, was greeted with whistles.
It was notable, too, that Raphinha did not hand him the captain’s armband, having done that on previous occasions this season. Maybe patience is wearing thin.
What next for Barcelona?
Tuesday, December 3: Mallorca (A), La Liga, 6pm GMT, 1pm ET
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(Top photo: Josep Lago/AFP via Getty Images)
