Football Season Guide

Barcelona’s 2019/20 campaign started poorly and ended disastrously. They returned from the coronavirus lockdown with a lead in the LaLiga table, but ended up losing the title to Real Madrid by five points and were then humiliated 8-2 by Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals. That heavy defeat started a post-mortem at the club, with Quique Setien sacked and Ronald Koeman brought in. Barcelona want to move on several players this summer and build a younger squad, although they’re having trouble selling many of those they want to push out. They also had to go through an off-season drama with Lionel Messi, although the captain has ultimately decided to stay after expressing a desire to leave. Messi staying means he is Barcelona’s main strength, while Barcelona remain a team capable of dominating possession and of creating chances. However, they have many weaknesses too. Perhaps the biggest weakness they had last season was the high average age of the starting line-up and the lack of depth, leaving them looking exhausted towards the end. They’re looking to correct this by bringing in young and fresh faces like Trincao and Pedri, while they’ll be expected to lean on teenage star Ansu Fati even more in 2020/21.