Barcelona‘s 1-0 defeat at Atletico Madrid on Saturday evening was the first time the Catalans have lost against a team coached by Cholo Simeone ever.
It was a bad result, one that leaves Barcelona in 12th place.
The Azulgrana are currently 12 points behind league leaders Real Sociedad and just four clear of bottom-placed Celta Vigo. It’s mid-November and Barcelona are three times closer to the bottom than to the top.
“The realisation that Barcelona is a team orphaned of any leadership came when the game ended at the Wanda Metropolitano and the players retired from the field with their heads down, depressed and dazed,” wrote Santi Gimenez in Diario AS.
“They left as they played, without any hint of rebellion or pride.”
To compound matters, the player delegated after the game to speak to the cameras and face up for the defeat was 17 year-old Pedri. Not Lionel Messi, the club captain, but an inexperienced teenager.
It’s not an isolated incident. After El Clasico, back at the end of October, media duties were given to another teenager, the 19 year-old full-back Sergino Dest who can’t yet speak Spanish. Continue reading