Barcelona executives did their calculations – and made a mistake. At least for now. They reconstructed the team, brought in expensive reinforcements – whether it was compensation amounts or salaries – but they did not achieve their goal. The Catalans finished the competition in the Champions League in third place in the group with Bayern, Inter and Viktoria Plzen and will play in the Europa League in the spring. For the second year in a row.They will look longingly at how some of the guys who left the Nou Camp stadium this summer are still in the elite. Whether it was because they didn’t get the opportunity, or because there was a financial interest in leaving, only four footballers will have the privilege of continuing the elite competition just a few months after they said goodbye to Barca, which was then considered, for individuals, a step backward.##NAJAVA_MECA_6778889##In the foreground is Ferran Jutgla. It was not really realistic for him to stay in Spain after the signing of Robert Lewandowski, he was sold to Club Brugge for 5,000,000 euros and he flourished in Belgium. He was one of the main protagonists of Brugge in the matches with Atlético and Porto (a goal and an assist in both matches) and only because they failed to defeat Leverkusen in the end, Brugge were left without first place in a demanding group, but it is still a massive success and on Monday they will be in the draw for the round of 16 of the Champions League.There will also be Chelsea, who at the end of the summer transfer window accepted Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, whom Barca could no longer keep on the payroll in order to sort out the financial books. In the club from London, he plays regularly in the Champions League, he also scored two goals, and maybe the Nou Camp regrets that they had to sacrifice him, even though Lewandowski is on fire, but with more options in the attack, maybe the results would be better.Ivorian woe: Kessie faces six weeks outBarcelona remained without two defenders during the previous transfer window. One is Sergino Dest, a right-back sent on loan to AC Milan just two years after being bought from Ajax for 21 million euros and has played some part in the first four rounds, while on-loan Tottenham stopper Clemont Lenglet equalized at the Velodrome to fire up Antonio Conte’s side towards an upset over Marseille, worthy of first place in the group.Of the four that Barcelona got rid of, three are in teams that ended up where the Catalans saw themselves – first in their Champions League group.
