Kika Stein has been history • President Joseph Maria Bartomeu will also leave in a few months • And not Messi? If he stays, he needs less power and more young people and leaders around him.

• Barcelona players. "We have reached the bottom of the bottom"

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  AFP

1. On Friday night I remembered Seville. Not because there Barcelona last conceded eight goals (1946), but because there Barça experienced one of its saddest nights after losing on penalties in the European Cup final to the humble Esteva Booker (1986). So the death blow was unexpected and rapid. Against Bayern Munich on Friday she was indeed expected, but came after prolonged and merciless torture.

Leo Messi warned in February that if his team continued to play like that, it would not be enough to win the Champions League. Everyone, including the actors, knew he was right, but prayed that something unusual would happen. Well, the unusual happened but in the opposite direction, and Barça suffered the greatest humiliation in its 121 years. Lisbon Stadium of Light sent Barcelona into the dark. "We have reached the bottom of the bottom," admitted Gerard Pique, who has functioned better as president than as a brake, "it's a shame."

During last week, when many asked me about the game, I replied that only a miracle could prevent Barça’s defeat in front of the German machine. Letter Stegen had many more years left to play, but by Friday he had already recorded his worst game of his career, with each of his passes starting an attack by Bayern. The Catalan defense was exposed in its weakness, and Messi disappeared after the fourth goal.

2. Giuseppe Maria Brtomao, one of the worst presidents club had not understood the message that came three years from Turin (3: 0), Rome (3: 0) and Liverpool (4: 0). Winning four Spanish championships in six years and the paucity of losses in the Champions League until the moments of truth blinded the president, who did not have the wisdom or courage to make the big changes, and now needs to be replaced.

I admit I supported the decision to bring in Kika Stein in January, and that's because he brought with him an uncompromising football message from Johan Cruyff and also because under Ernesto Valverda - a better coach - there were already signs of fatigue and sourness. But Stein betrayed his message, and before Bayern ran over him he was run over by the fear of not upsetting some important players. But Stein, who is already history, is not Barcelona's problem.

The failed planning is reflected in the fact that with a budget of one billion euros the club reached the Champions League quarter-finals with a squad of 16 players, four managers in recent years and the three players he brought in Neymar and who cost 400 million sat on the bench - Osman Dembele and Antoine Griezmann near Stein, And Coutinho on the bench for Bayern. The latter, the most expensive acquisition in the history of Barcelona, ​​scored two goals against it, cooked one more and in a few days will stabilize at the Camp Nou because no one is willing to pay so much money for it.

3. And now what? The absorption of eight goals requires a revolution. When there is a fire in the house, it needs renovation according to the size of the flames. The German fire burned the club and it is excellent, because there is no choice but to start building from the ruins and not settle for all sorts of repairs. The problem is that this is not a good time for a revolution - in the middle of the corona crisis, with no money and no time to plan.

Before or after the elections in the coming months Bartomeu will go. The problem is who will be the coach. Fans are waiting for Xavi hoping and expecting him to be the "new Guardiola", but he said it was still too early for him. Taking a "transition coach" would be a mistake, as Barcelona now need a level coach who will identify with the club's DNA and also be a big enough figure in front of a spoiled locker room. The main candidate meanwhile is Mauricio Pochettino.

4. And what about Messi? People around him say he is tired of the management, and after not winning the Champions League since 2015, he is considering leaving in 2021, unless there are drastic changes. Some fans think that at the age of 33 he must leave so that the team can be built from scratch. In my opinion, the problem is not the player's taxes, but his influence as the god of the club where he scored 634 goals. Without the Argentine the team would not have won the last championships, and probably would not have reached the advanced stages in the Champions League. It is the job of the coach to select players according to their ability and not according to their name or proximity to Messi (Luis Suarez or Arturo Vidal, for example). 

Messi needs less power, which he gets naturally because of who he is. What he does need is more energetic youngsters next to him, leaders like Carlos Puyol and pioneers who make the difference far from his rescue. Neymar, for example. True, the Brazilian is not an example of the pinnacle of professionalism, but even what Barça did against Bayern is not professionalism.