 For other teams, a 6-1 stomping of PSG would mean the world and leave them with memories for years to come and something to be proud of, and no many Culez remember their emotions after that PSG victory fondly. It did not matter in the end because they could not handle going all the way. They didn't have the mentality to do so after La Rima and Tara. For Barcelona, a win of such magnitude created a veil of invincibility that I believe led to players, coaches, and probably fans taking for granted that they are capable of something like this. Whenever they need, and so they may have gone into each following match with less hunger and drive than they would have before. Maybe that's why after losing 3-0 to Juventus in the first match of the quarterfinals following the PSG match, they weren't fueled with the intensity that they brought into La Rima and Tara. That intensity to put everything on the line for the win, risk the world to get the universe. They just could not do it anymore. That second leg of the Juve split was a nil-nil draw. Seeing that incredible record setting team knocked out way earlier than they would have hoped. However that next season, the veil of invincibility showed itself like no other. After a comfortable group stage, they were able to hold strong against a decent Chelsea side and led off with a 4-1 hammering of Roma, putting them in a good position to move to the semifinals. However, they took their lead for granted. They accepted that they were the better side with a significant lead and were naive to what could happen. Which is ironic because they had just come back from a deficit similar to that the year before. That proved to absolutely not be up for any challenge. And though they had been good against Chelsea, an objectively better side than this Roma team, they let it slide and lost 3-nil in the Italian capital. Dropping out of the Champions League and yet again were stuck watching their bitter rivals Real Madrid stroll to the title for the third year in a row. However, if you can even imagine this, the following year was a lot worse. Barcelona pummeled Lyon, comfortably moved past Manchester and United and initially put up very good numbers against Liverpool. Losing 3 goals away in that first leg of the semifinals. But as Barcelona seems to do, they fumbled the bag, showing us for now the second time since La Remontada that they cannot handle a big lead. Each one of their knockout wins since 2016-17 has had a first leg matchup finishing in a draw or a one goal lead. Anything other than that and they have lost, miserably, as they did against Juventus, Roma, and now Liverpool, losing 4-nil at Anfield. And that phenomenon of the importance of Barca's first leg scoreline exists to this day. In 2019-2020, Barcelona, I guess, successfully drew against Napoli in the first leg and then were able to hold on to win 3-1 in the second leg, only to be battered 8-2 by Bayern in their COVID-affected affair shortly after. At that point in the Bayern game, that invincibility veil that had been existent and hampering Barcelona for so long, completely flipped on its head and turned into this inferiority complex that Barcelona has not been able to shake since. For the vast majority of the past two decades, Barcelona has been up there as one of the most competitive teams for that Champions League title. But since that unbelievable fumble to Liverpool in 2019, you'd be hard pressed to find two matches in a row in that competition where they were strong favorites. And that's created this Barcelona inferiority mindset that fans, coaches, and players probably haven't experienced for this team before. Barcelona has not been facing this adversity well, failing to qualify for the knockout rounds of the Champions League and barely making a run in the Europa League for the past two seasons. Sure, the quality in those sides was not the same as the team that overturned that result against PSG. But there is enough skill and expertise in this squad to be competitive against just about every team in the world. But the mentality to do so is gone. Barcelona is a messy club now and has been pretty much ever since la remontada. A lot of people hoped that Chavi would change that. After all, he was in very important part of the squad leading up to every bit of success they saw before the PSG demolition. Sure, you can chalk that up to injuries, unlucky draws, and malevolent men in power. However, the point still stands. The team is struggling. Chavi has not been able to change enough. But I think he will eventually. The only problem is that it might cost him his job doing so. There are not many managers in the world today, both cut out to play the Barcelona style and willing to join Barcelona at the moment. But more importantly, there may only be one coach in the world that the Barcelona board would be more willing to give more confidence to than Chavi. And he's a little tied up at the moment. So that's a good thing for Chavi. To turn this team around, he needs time. And no one available on the market right now would get that. This team is in recovery from basically eight years of struggle, ever since that incredible comeback. And teams in recovery tend to be very inconsistent. And inconsistent coaches are rarely given time to breathe at Barcelona. That's not to say that Chavi has been incredible. He has shown that he takes more time than a lot of coaches would to make important substitutions and sometimes seems to select players more to ease tensions in the dressing room than for the team to succeed on the pitch. But I believe he has the ability to reintroduce a DNA to this team that has been lacking for a very long time. With consistent confidence and DNA come success at the highest level. That's exactly why Barcelona won La Liga last season. Whether or not they were playing in the Barcelona way or pretty football at all, they knew they could struggle in front of goal because the team was set up to succeed at the back. So they won games over and over again, the only way they knew how, by one goal. However, since they were still in recovery since La Remontada, their inferiority complex in the Champions League held them back in that competition. It's simply what they know. It's how Barca has done for years and that affects players and coaches' mentalities. But Chavi has shown that he can change that. Winning La Liga last season was Barcelona's first league title in four years. And during his tenure, we have seen great glimpses of incredible attacking football, beautiful play through the middle, and a quality on the ball that brings back a mirage of another time. A time before La Remontada. The only problem? Injuries. They are what will cause Barcelona to falter and what will lose Chavi his job. Since Barcelona is a team in recovery, hiccups to their season are much more detrimental to them than to a team with a clear DNA. That's why Real Madrid succeeded this season, even without Courtois and Etter Milletout, because they had a clear way to play. But when Barcelona just began to find their feet this season, scoring an insane amount of goals for the first time in a long time, they lost two of their most important players in the build-up, so the goals dried up and the struggles appeared. But even with these injuries, Chavi will continue to teach his players the way he wants them to play, even if the squad isn't best suited to play in that way, that's why the team is still struggling. However, over time, these players will gain a better understanding of that DNA of the way they're supposed to play, and the team will get better, however it will take a while. I believe Barcelona will make their jump back to the knockout stages in the Champions League this year, and that will bring them a step closer to being that team that inspired kids around the world, that brought excitement to El Clasico and fear to the eyes of the vast majority of teams in Europe. But that just might not happen under Chavi, because recovery takes a very, very long time, and Barcelona may recover so much to a point where they don't necessarily need to recover anymore, and a new coach might be needed to push the team further. Chavi has never been in a position where he necessarily needed to do that. He especially has never been in that position with Barcelona. They've been recovering ever since he joined, so it stands to be told if he is the man for that job. But if Barcelona are still unable to make an impressive run in the Champions League over the next two years, I believe that Chavi will be out of a job. However, that might be the best thing for Barcelona, because at that point they will be free of financial burdens that are currently hampering the squad, and their way of playing their DNA will be much more clear-cut at that point, and they will be much less susceptible to incredible injuries damaging their team and the way they play. They will be a better team with or without Chavi, a much better team more similar to the squad that existed that day of La Remontada. But it's gonna take a while to get there. But since you've just watched a video about a Barcelona recovery story, why don't you check out this video about Frankie De Jong's recovery as a player to being one of the most important players in the squad? But thank you for watching, and I'll see you in the next one. Peace.