Barcelona’s shocking loss to Shakhtar casts doubt on the team’s future, even though they still have a chance to qualify.
Although they had control over the situation, Barcelona made a mistake at the most inopportune time. It was not expected to lose to Shakhtar Donetsk in Hamburg, but overall, the Ukrainian triumph is reason for celebration.
Similar to their performance in San Sebastian, Barcelona once more put on a lackluster show with few opportunities.
Much of the story is told by the fact that Marc-Andre ter Stegen was his team’s best player once again.
Barcelona may suffer more long-term consequences from this loss than just a genuine threat to Los Cules’ ability to advance to the next round.
Xavi’s team was playing with fire as they defeated Real Sociedad, Porto, Sevilla, and Athletic Club, but their flaws were exposed to a worrying extent against Shakhtar and in the Clasico.
Xavi probably believed that the sooner he secured his spot in the final 16, the better, as qualification was getting close. For this reason, he started with a pretty familiar starting lineup, with Marcos Alonso at left back being the biggest surprise.
Not losing was enough to qualify, but there is also the financial bonuses that the team missed. Even if it is minimal, the club needs all the money they can get, and a victory against Shakhtar would have been a boost.
The state of the pitch at Hamburg’s Volksparkastadion, where Shakhtar play their home games, was poorly maintained, which did little to help the flow of the match.
The Ukrainian strategy was very clear: wait at the rear and launch a swift counterattack whenever the chance arose. When Matviyenko got in front of Ter Stegen, the game’s first real opportunity presented itself, but the German goalkeeper once more produced a game-winning save. similar to last Saturday in San Sebastian. The Blaugrana attempted long-range shots from Raphinha and Ilkay Gundogan, but they were unable to pose a serious threat to the hosts.
In response, Marino Pusic’s squad played out of the back whenever possible in a methodical manner with the ball. Occasionally, it appeared self-destructive, as errors compelled goalie Riznyk to execute multiple hazardous passes to evade the approaching pressure.
The game was approaching half-time and everything seemed to indicate that it would be goalless, but it was not to be. A fresh move by the home side ended with a change of play to Gocholeishvili and a measured cross from the latter that Sikan headed in with precision to make it 1-0.
