According to reports, Barcelona’s season has been marked by an attacking storm, but if there is one consistent weakness that has brought the team to its knees in crucial European moments, it has been their defensive fragility.

Barça was within touching distance of their ninth Champions League final, but a last-minute goal from Achraf Hakimi shattered Catalan dreams with a draw that led to bitter extra time. The four goals conceded last night at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium against Inter Milan in the Champions League semi-final second leg marked the peak of a worrying trend: Barça has conceded 16 goals in their last seven official matches.

The trend that explains everything began in Dortmund, during the Champions League quarter-final second leg. Hansi Flick’s team, after a 4-0 first-leg victory, took the field too relaxed in Signal Iduna Park and conceded three goals in Germany, raising doubts about the defensive balance of the system. Instead of correcting, mistakes multiplied: in Montjuïc against Celta, despite a 4-3 win over the Galicians, Barça once again showed a fragile defensive line. Only against Mallorca did they manage to keep a clean sheet, and even then with a narrow 1-0 victory.

The Copa del Rey final against Real Madrid in Seville, with two goals conceded after halftime, was another example of defensive weakness in set-pieces, which was only compensated by attacking prowess and team spirit that overcame Mbappé’s strike and Chouaméni’s headed corner.

In the first leg of the semi-final against Inter, Barça again conceded too many goals (3-3), with a goal from Thuram in the 30th second and two from Dumfries, which, like the match against Real, doubled doubts about aerial solidity.

Apart from the match against Valladolid (1-2), the final blow came in Milan, where the Catalan team not only got eliminated but was under pressure in the first half and, in critical moments, conceded four goals, exposing the structural shortcomings of their defensive system. The shocking fact: Inter scored seven goals from ten shots in this stage.

A System Without Defensive Safety Net
In the second half, with central defenders on yellow cards, Araújo replaced Iñigo. The Uruguayan defender’s performance was disastrous, as he played a negative role in both of Inter’s goals; first with a mistake in covering Hakimi and then in Thuram’s final goal, which completely destroyed Barça fans’ dreams under the Milan rain.

Szczęsny’s performance in this knockout stage is a separate story. The Polish goalkeeper, apart from one notable save in the second half, unlike Sommer for Inter, failed to compensate for Barça’s defensive weaknesses. His form, which has been declining since moving to Saudi Arabia, burned out like a cigarette between fingers.

The cruelty of the Champions League and Inter’s deadly precision placed Barça in front of a ruthless mirror. This time, the reflected image was of a team that couldn’t hold onto the ticket they had in their hands until two minutes before the end. Munich and the sixth trophy slipped away.