Ex- Real Madrid star Steve McManaman has claimed Barcelona are “a million miles away” after their rotten Champions League run continued.
The Catalan giants - who have won each of their opening five league games - slumped to a shock defeat to Ligue 1 side Monaco on Thursday evening. Barcelona were reduced to ten men early on as ex- Manchester City defender Eric Garcia was given a straight red card.
Maghnes Akliouche took full advantage by giving Monaco the lead. While Lamine Yamal equalised for Hansi Flick ’s side, George Ilenikhena restored Monaco’s advantage in the second half.
And McManaman did not mince his words on the Catalan giants despite them currently sitting top of La Liga. Speaking on TNT Sports, the former Real Madrid winger said: “Barcelona threw it away today.
“They made mistake after mistake after mistake. Whether that's inexperience or Hansi Flick's instructions, they're going to have to deal with it because they're a million miles away from being a good team from what we saw today.”
He added: “It's a false dawn because of their La Liga start. If you look at the teams that they've faced, they shouldn't be the sixth-best team in Europe.
"They're not, when you look at the starting XI that they've had to put out, and more importantly, the bench today. They've got nowhere near [as much] firepower as 10 teams across Europe.”
Despite McManaman’s scathing assessment, Barcelona boss Flick was not as down beat. In responding to the defeat, he claimed that Garcia’s dismissal was the turning point.
The German said: "I think we defended with a lot of passion. The goal from Lamine brought us back to 1-1. We had chances. At the end, we tried to stay in the game with a compact defence, close together, but you can also see that [Monaco] bring a lot of players in with huge speed. It was not easy to defend.
"After the red card, the game changed totally. The positive things are we tried to defend as a team and attack as a team. We have chances, but they deserve the 2-1 so we have to accept that.
"I am not worried. We have to analyse this, but as I say to the team now, 'Heads up,' because they were a little disappointed in the dressing room."
Barcelona will be aiming to respond to their defeat to Monaco as they take on Villarreal this weekend. They then take on Getafe and Osasuna before a showdown with Swiss side Young Boys in the second Champions League matchday.
AFerqLhE8081
100
Be warned that 2010 Spain 🇪🇸 lost their first World Cup game before winning it, also Argentina 🇦🇷 lost their first World Cup game 2022 before winning it, Am just saying 🤷🏾
Leccdkorsz
53
his assessment is complete nonsense who told him the team Barcelona has won in the league are not strong teams. Girona is in the champion's league. Valencia is an old team with European competition experience same with Atletico Madrid. Last year Atletico Madrid defeated Real Madrid and they are in the Europa you say they are not strong. He is a blind sport analyst you should instead congratulate Barcelona for their resilience despite playing with 10 men right from the very beginning of the match and with a lot of young and inexperienced players. Imagine Barcelona having all their players back from injury you will not say this nonsense about the team. I blame Ter Stegen for the careless mistake otherwise the story would have been different. Forca Barcelona we are going to bounce back seriously and wait for us young boys and other teams. We will begin our wrath with Villarreal on Sunday.
ericjolie69
21
if the clown on Espn thinks tha we are miles and miles away because of a 2_1 loss and having a man sent off he's a clown when Argentina loss their first world cup game I guess they were miles away and I my have been the only one in the world say after that Argentina will win well that clown who made that statement will eat those words
Vepelprtuy
14
if barcelona is million mile away because of one lost then, Man United is Zillion mile away