Got nothing to do with aggression or having too many choir boys. Our players just aren't good enough.
Did Bayern out play us because they fouled and shouted in our face? No, they were just better.
When you have Segunda level players on your starting lineup that's probably more the cause of why you are bad then the fact your players aren't 'mean' enough.
Today, our players are so bad that we are losing because of a lack of quality.
But we discussed this for years, when we had a better team.
For example, imo, Barca was for years the most underperforming team when you analyze a level of talent in a team and invested money versus end results in Europe.
Even during MSN, we lost 3 times in quarters.
Or another point, Barca is for 30 years the worst European top team on away KO matches.
I made stats once a few years ago, and for example, Bayern, Real, Juve, all had 30-40% of wins on away KO matches.
While Barca even during Pep had iirc 22% of wins, while Cruijff had something like 16% of wins.
So:
1. either it is just a bad luck (no way)
2. either it is a tactical thing with our system which is suicidal away from home
3. or it is again Barca DNA thing where we lack leaders, mental strength, fihters.
I mean, Alba cried on halftime vs Liverpool, Samper our DNA boy cried and refused to play in segunda division when Barca B faced relegation bevause he loved the club too much and the pressure was too high. Our other DNA boy, Bartra asked a coach NOT to play in 2013 vs Bayern because the pressure was too high.
Check the pattern with Samper and Bartra = all nice, well behaved, clean shaven local choir boys.
I don't even want to mention Messi's sulking for years whenever we would concede for 0:1 (Rakitic even told to Croatian NT coach before a World cup 2018 match vs Argentina: we just need to score and Messi is not the same player after that).
Should I evdn mention the funniest set of team captains in Messi, Busi, Pique, Roberto.
Should I mention Mats and his mental strength where he concedes every shot once when we enter KO phase?
Imo, that is connected with our DNA and footballimg culture. Go and read articles about La Masia. A huge part of it is education and turning players into humble people.
But then, top sport is combative and that world is a jungle.
On the highest levdl, opponents will push you, pull you, kick you, provoke you, use cheating tricks.
In the 80th minute at 1:1 and when the stakes and provocations are high, would you rather have a combative players like Van Bommel, Davids, Puyol, Etoo or Frenkie, Puig, Busi, Mats?
In the last few years, we went full retard with choirboys.
To some extent, Pep has the same type of players. Good techically, but more or less ultimate chokers on the hughest level.
You can't have nice guys Kevin DeBruyne, Jesus, Bernardo and David Silva and expect not to crumble and get bullied in the semis and a final.
Even Cruijff himself said that he bought Stoichkov bevause he was wild, crazy and fuck and a troublemaker.
He said that he needed a balance.
His team was filled with too many nice guys and needed a fire of someone crazy like Stoichkov to lift the whole team.
In 2006, we haf at least 4 combative guys in Etoo, Puyol, Van Bommel, Motta.
Today our only player who would be able to physically fight with someone and not being bullied 24/7 is Gavi (ok, and Mingueza here and there).
So, yeah, we lack technique, pace, physical strength, leaders and some bad boy-fighting spirit attitude from at least a few players.
And then Xavi wants Sterling, Bernardo, Olml and Ferran.
Can you pick nicer boys than that?
In a world without rules, our players would gdt beaten and robbed on the street after 5 minutes.
No one would ever return a kick towards bullies and thiefs.
And that's exactly how they play on a field in tough moments when the stakes are high.
If you think that this is all nonsense, remember that the best CL team in the last 10 years, Real Madrid had less technique and skill than us, but they had guys like Casemiro, Ramos as leaders and guys who will fight with others paired with never give up attitude from Cr7.
At Barca, we have none of that.
When we buy players, we don't care about pace, height and psychology.
All we care is that a player has a good technique.
We lag 15-20 years behind current top teams in everything.
