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.