The Blaugranas have endured eight trophyless seasons in Europe, marked by painful eliminations. The MSN trio helped them lift their last ‘Orejona.’
As the 2022-23 season comes to a close amid uncertainty surrounding Lionel Messi’s possible return, FC Barcelona marks eight years since their last UEFA Champions League title. The Argentine star, Luis Suárez, Neymar, and head coach Luis Enrique were instrumental in securing the trophy at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium against Juventus.
At a time when the Blaugranas are planning for the upcoming season alongside their iconic number 10, they aim to compete for the European Cup once more after recent disappointments and a drought on the Old Continent. The Camp Nou institution is focused on reclaiming the most prestigious club competition in the world.
The 2014-15 football year allowed Barça to secure a treble in their history, but it also marked one of the last great successes of the Messi, Suárez, and Neymar trio. Despite winning LaLiga Santander, Copa del Rey, and Supercopa de España in the 2015-16 season, the skillful Brazilian forward left the club in 2017.
Since that Champions League victory, FC Barcelona has struggled to compete effectively in the UEFA’s most demanding tournament’s knockout stages, suffering painful setbacks since the 2015-16 season. These disappointments coincided with Real Madrid’s historic three-peat in the European Cup (2015-16, 2016-17, and 2017-18).
The closest Barcelona came to reaching another UCL final was in the 2018-19 season when they were defeated by Liverpool at Anfield. After an impressive first leg featuring a Messi brace and a Suárez goal at Camp Nou, they succumbed to a 4-0 thrashing on English soil, marking their last appearance in the semifinals.
Barça’s Painful European Journey
Over these eight years, the Catalan club has experienced significant setbacks in the Champions League, distributed across different knockout rounds. They were eliminated in the quarterfinals on four occasions, by Atlético de Madrid in 2015-16, Juventus in 2016-17, Roma in 2017-18, and Bayern Munich in 2019-20.
Liverpool claimed victory over Barcelona in the 2018-19 season’s semifinals, while Paris Saint-Germain knocked them out in the round of 16 during the 2020-21 campaign. To add to the Blaugranas’ UCL disappointments, they failed to advance past the group stage in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons and also stumbled in the Europa League.
