The habit of big clubs not prioritising the Copa del Rey was again evident as Barcelona suffered defeat away to Levante with two homegrown players and only two regulars in their starting XI.
Barcelona found themselves two goals down inside 20 minutes and the rotations meant that the fingers of blame were all pointing at Ernesto Valverde.
It is a classic theme of every season; if you play a strong team in the cup and they eventually fall, the coach gets blamed for tiring the players, as was seen after the Catalans were knocked out of the Champions League at Roma last season.
If, on the contrary, Valverde opts for the B team in the cup, the criticism can intensify for not respecting the competition.
Even Carles Puyol joined in last season on social media.
"Congratulations to Real Madrid," he wrote.
"Four Champions Leagues in five years with one of the best Barcelona's in history.
"It's time to reflect on the priorities."
Prioritising competitions or, otherwise referred to as, throwing the cup to stay fresh for LaLiga Santander and the Champions League, is commonly done.
With a 2-1 deficit, does Valverde now turn to his stars to save the situation?
Last season they went to Celta Vigo in the round of 16 and only played Gerard Pique and Sergio Busquets from the start, but sent the elite out in the second leg to seal a 5-0 win, repeating the same formula in the next round against Espanyol.
This time, though, the Champions League is the main priority and they are already well positioned in the league, so Valverde may be tempted to leave the cup in the background.
Otherwise, he can go all-out to win everything but, either way, there will be criticism.
Carlo_Peace
92
Barcelona has a monopoly of great player.Every player wants to play for Barca. It will be valverde's fault if Barca don't win a double or treble.
Kathhy
65
Since the club transferred to DIGNE and from the sports management was insisted that he should bet on MIRANDA, Mr. VALVERDE has only had to whine to bring a side. He has not really wanted to work with the kid. Yesterday put him in the field of a first with another kid next (Chumi) and a debutante (Murillo) and ahead of Arturo Vidal (good in his own but he ba to his ball and tactically is chaos). Valverdé killed Miranda and to top it off he signaled it in the break when he changed it (for Sergi Roberto who is neither a lateral nor a left-handed player). If he puts Jordi Alba surrounded like that, he kills him just the same. Miranda for example played a good game against the Spurs in Champions, but of course, next to it had Lenglet and Vermaelen and ahead of Arthur ...
RealMd13
63
Will Valverde follow Puyol his advice? Me: 😂😂🔥🔥 I personally dont know because right now Valverde has a mind of his own and I think he should listen to Carles Puyol because Puyol is a club legend who just want to see his team win another UCL trophy and thats all the Barcelona fans wants! Nothing more!
Barrette
45
We are letting ourselves be seduced by victories without great merit (in League and Cup the rivals including Real and Atleti are inferior teams) and leaving aside the most important. We need a TRAINER capable of MANAGING the TRANSITION giving opportunities to the youngest ones (the previous group) and real protagonism and dosing the veterans. Valverde does the opposite: marginalizes young people and fuses veterans. TER STEGEN, SEMEDO or SERGI ROBERTO, PIQUÉ, UMTITI, ALBA, BUSQUETS, RAKITIC, ARTURO VIDAL, MESSI, SUÁREZ and COUTINHO. How many players of the future (long term) are there? The first 3 Maybe Umtiti or Coutinho. Nothing else.