Things have been pretty manic both on and off the pitch for Barcelona over the last couple of seasons now. There’s no doubt that they’ll be extremely disappointed to have missed out on the La Liga title for the second season running, and whilst they can take some pride in winning the Copa del Rey, the fact that the league title is glistening in Atlético Madrid’s trophy cabinet instead of theirs will hurt the Barça players.
With a presidential change and the club helping form the European Super League, which they are still avid supporters of, it’s certainly been a controversial season off the pitch. However, as football fans we care more about what happens on it. So, without further ado, let’s take a look back at Barcelona’s La Liga campaign. Read on to find out more!
Terrible start to the season
It’s fair to say that Barcelona didn’t get off on the right foot under new boss Ronald Koeman. In fact, it was quite the opposite. The Catalan side made their worst start to a La Liga campaign in 30 years, picking up just four wins in their first 10 games, whilst losing to Real Madrid, Atléti, Getafe and Cadiz. The mere 14 points they had gained from those opening 10 games meant that they already trailed Diego Simeone’s side by 12 points.
19 games without defeat
Following the lows of losing 2-1 to Cadiz, Barça finally seemed to flick the switch and find something of their usual immense standards. The Camp Nou side went on a 19-game unbeaten streak spanning from a 1-0 victory over Levante on December 13th right until a 1-0 win over Real Valladolid on April 5th. 17 victories in those 19 matches meant that Barça had closed the gap on Atléti to just two points and suddenly sites like Betdaq were favouring Koeman’s men to win the title.
Terrible end to the campaign
All the hard work put into that 19-game unbeaten streak was quickly undone with a string of poor results to end the season. It was Real Madrid who ended their lengthy unbeaten streak, but it looked like nothing more than a minor blip as Barcelona bounced back with three more victories on the spin. With four games left, Barça and Madrid were neck-and-neck on 74 points, just behind Atléti on 76. It really was anyone’s title, and Barcelona seemed confident as they broke covid protocols to have a BBQ at Lionel Messi’s house, where chants of ‘campeones’ were heard.
However, Barça failed to win three games thereafter, drawing with Atlético Madrid and Levante before a home defeat to Celta Vigo mathematically ended any title hopes. A 1-0 victory away to Eibar on the final day of the season was nothing more than a consolation as they ended the season closer to Sevilla in fourth than the top two.
Top scorer
It’ll come as no surprise that Messi ended the season as not only Barcelona’s talisman but the overall top scorer in La Liga. The 33-year-old bagged 30 goals in 35 games to secure his eighth Spanish top-flight Golden Boot and his fifth successive La Liga top scorer accolade.
