Group stage CL matches are nothing special for Barca. We went to Spurs and bashed them around (and Suarez was very good despite not scoring) and after that it was just a march toward the inevitable. I am trying to recall that stressful of a CL group round and I really have to think on it. (Still really pissed at the horrible tackle on Rafinha by Nainggolan however, I think this really changed his career.) CL games are not really played differently, not usually at a footballing level of league games vs Madrid or Atleti. Problem has been march-april form and energy swoons--best Barca more years than not peaks early, and Suarez has been one of the biggest signs of it.
As long as he is fresh he will be pressing on the ball relentlessly and will be involved in creating goals whether he gets credited with goals scored or not. I am not worried about Suarez so long as Valverde forces substantial rest on him.
This is an excellent post.
Our GS performance for more than a decade has been absolutely awesome. We have just been waltzing the GS stage year after year, regardless of opponents. We have not finished 2nd in our group since 2006/07. Only year when there was drama, was in 09/10 (Inter, Kazan, Kiev) but we still came out on top.
As I see it, we clearly peaked early in 15/16, and then run out of gas in the business end of the season. Not only did we get eliminated by Atleti for the 2nd time in 3 years, but we almost blew a 13 point lead at the top of La Liga.
In 16/17, I think that we were terribly unlucky against Juventus. That 3-0 scoreline was one of the most unfair results I have ever seen in top level football, everything went Juve's way that game.
Last season was a total embarrassment, one of the worst in the team's history (probably even worse than crushing eliminations to CSKA Moscow & Dynamo Kiev in the 90s) where we catastrophically showed no respect to AS Roma. It was an epic debacle that will haunt us for ever.
