One month before the shock against PSG, Barça remains in doubt

The exclusion of Lionel Messi, as a symbol

If Lionel Messi continues to write his history with Barça this season - he has exceeded Pelé in the number of goals scored for a single club -, it can be blackened by some dark spots .

The Supercup final is one of them.

In addition to the defeat, the Argentine was excluded at the very end of the match for a bad gesture.

A first with his club forever (he has already collected two red cards with the selection).

As a symbol, while Lionel Messi seems to be dragging his spleen since his true-false start last summer and no longer hides obvious signs of frustration.

The six-fold Ballon d'Or remains the main blaster of his team, more dependent than ever on the dazzling feelings of the Pulga.

Problem, when Messi is wrong, nothing is right ...

Red card for Messi ... # lequipeFOOTpic.twitter.com / a9sGVUPjmJ

- the L'Équipe channel (@lachainelequipe) January 17, 2021

Animation on the road to redemption?

Without the inspirations of his master to play, the Barcelona attackers have all the difficulties in the world to triumph over adversity.

The lack of movement and resulting connections are symptomatic of this.

The departure of Luis Suarez has not helped, as the costume seems too big for his replacement Martin Braithwaite.

Coutinho's absence for the next three months is also detrimental in terms of offensive variety. 

Back from injury, Ousmane Dembélé signs him interesting services and seeks to combine with his compatriot Antoine Griezmann.

Another sign of hope, the former Atlético signs a start to the year of choice and seems to remove the doubts accumulated during his first 18 months at Barça.

Double scorer in the final on Sunday, after a double in Granada (4-0, January 9) and three other assists, the Blues striker perfects his relationship with Messi and could hold the keys to Catalan redemption.

Marquinhos, Kimpembe & co are warned.

And this is the double for Antoine Griezmann!

# lequipeFOOTpic.twitter.com / Ffk05ebLbc

- the L'Équipe channel (@lachainelequipe) January 17, 2021

A less sovereign team in the middle

In great difficulty against the big ones, Ronald Koeman's men generally give the feeling of having much less control.

With the notable exception of the victories in Granada (4-0, January 9) and Valladolid (3-0, December 22), the Catalans always come out with narrow successes when they have not lost points since December.

With an average ball possession of 60% in all competitions and a return to institutional 4-3-3, Barça suffers from a less sovereign midfield.

Frenkie De Jong struggles to repeat the high-level performances while Miralem Pjanic fails to find an indisputable starting place.

While Sergio Busquets begins to feel the weight of his years (32 years old), the young Pedri (18 years old) seems to take over.

Problem, the attacking midfielder suffers from the sequence of matches (9 starts in a row), evidenced by his final against Athletic Bilbao.

Defensive instability: you miss only one being…

The Blaugrana may have one of the best goalkeepers on the planet in the person of Marc-André Ter Stegen, their defensive stance sounds like a distant memory.

Decisive in the Supercopa semi-final against Sociedad with six saves and two penalties stopped, the German was not enough in front of the assaults of Bilbao on Sunday (2-3, ap).

Responsibilities are shared, already at fault against Eibar (1-1), Ronald Araujo was slow to come out on Williams twice, leading to two Basque goals.

The inexperience of the Uruguayan is to be compared with that of Oscar Mingueza (both 21 years old) while Jordi Alba and Sergino Dest, who arrived at Barça this summer, are full-backs with a risky defensive withdrawal.

While Samuel Umtiti comes out of a successful match against Granada (0-4, 9 January), only his compatriot Clément Lenglet is still renewed in defense.

Suffering from the absence of Pique, injured since the defeat against Atlético (1-0, 22 November) but who should be back against Paris, the former Nancy shows a very uneven performance, far from the standards of his first two seasons in Catalonia.  

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Camp Nou is no longer an impregnable fortress

Dominated from start to finish at Camp Nou against Juventus Turin on December 8 (0-3), Barça dropped the first place in the group, synonymous with a return match at the outside.

PSG would also be well inspired to put themselves in the best possible conditions by obtaining a good result in Catalonia on February 16.

The perfect opportunity the affront of 2017 while the Catalans are struggling at home, where they remain on two disappointing draws against the poorly classified Eibar (1-1) and Valencia (2-2) and where they struggle against the big ones ( 1-3 against Real, 1-1 against Sevilla).

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