Without Messi and Griezmann, and even Dembele – Barca have never been less dangerous for opponents’ defences. One goal in the opening two games under the command of Xavi Hernandez cannot be the subject of a deeper analysis of what the legendary midfielder did at the beginning of his coaching term, but that ‘lonely’ goal confirms the thesis that this is really the weakest Barcelona in the last decade, maybe even 15 years. In every way.With 22 goals in 18 competitive matches so far – Barca are going through their worst attacking spell at this time of the season in the past ten years. Compared to last season, the difference is so evident that it speaks of serious issues in the attacking third.Money, watches, jewellery – all gone! Ansu Fati’s house was robbed with his relatives insideIn Ronald Koeman’s first season, Barcelona scored 39 goals in first 18 matches, as many as 17 more than now! Barcelona are left without Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele (who is constantly injured) and those three players are the ones who provided the 17-gola-difference. If you include Philippe Coutinho, who hasn’t been taken seriously at Camp Nou for some time now – the tally goes to 20 goals more than in the current one.A year ago, Messi already had eight goals, Griezmann five, Dembele four, Coutinho three. Now, the best scorer is Memphis Depay with seven goals, followed by Ansu Fati, who returned to the pitch after a severe injury and collected four, while Sergio Roberto, Martin Braithwaite and Gerard Pique shook the net twice. It is evident that last season’s and Barcelona in this campaign are almost incomparable.Last year, after five rounds of the group stage of the Champions League, Barcelona scored 16, this season – only two goals! Pique and Fati one each, both against Dynamo Kyiv.##NAJAVA_MECA_6000353##Truth be told, this year’s Barcelona were broken by injuries, Sergio Aguero did not play almost at all, and when he returned from an injury, it soon became clear that he would need to end his career due to heart problems. Injury magnets Ousmane Dembele and Ansu Fati are more often than not out of the equation.Looking solely at the 2021/22 competitive year, Barcelona did not score in six of the 18 games! Bayern (0-3), Cadiz (0-0), Benfica (0-3), Atletico (0-2), Rayo (0-1) and Benfica (0-0). Memphis, as the best scorer of the team, scored all the goals in the championship, four out of play, three from the penalty spot. Defense and midfield contributed with only three goals, unlike last year’s nine.Pedri is the 2021 Golden Boy!To make things worse, their star midfielder Pedri is done for year 2021. Winner of the Golden Boy award ended the calendar year due to a muscle injury and according to the Spanish AS, he will not return to the pitch until 2022.Although it was previously speculated that this year is over for him in terms of playing, now the official confirmation has arrived. He will have to start his recovery from scratch. Pedri has played only four games this season, two each in La Liga and the Champions League. Last year young Spaniard collected incredible 75 matches for club and country.As part of Champions League group stages last round, Barcelona face Bayern Munich. A good result against the Bavarians will mean nothing if Dynamo Kyiv manage to keep Benfica to at least a point. In case Barça lose or even draws, and Benfica defeat Dynamo, Xavi’s team would move to the Europa League, although both teams would have the same number of points. The reason is that head-to-head results decide who goes through. Given the fact that Benfica defeated Barca at home 3-0 and two evenings ago the score was 0-0 at Camp Nou.
