Thanks to a goal from Lamine Yamal, Barcelona rescued a point from the penultimate team in the League (3-3). It never occurred to anyone to congratulate the team or the coach for this result, especially playing at home. The image was not good and the possibility of revalidating the League title is very far away. But to be practical, numerically the day was not as disastrous as it could have been. The Blaugrana reduced their disadvantage with Girona, second, by one point (they left it to 5), extended their lead against Atlético to three and kept it at five with Athletic, which is the first team that would be left without the Champions League.
Barça has a lot at stake in this final stretch, Xavi's last games in charge of the team. Not only is prestige important, but the club needs to finish well and it requires it above all for the economic aspect. There are more than 35 million in the air in the 16 games (minimum) that the team has left: the two against Naples and the 14 in the League.
On January 27, the coach announced his departure and since then he has beaten Osasuna and Alavés and stumbled against Granada. Contrary to what was expected, there was hardly any swell in the dome. Because more than what happens this Saturday in Balaídos, the first big test will come on the 21st in Naples.
The club always plans to reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League, something that has not happened in the last three seasons: eliminated in the round of 16 by PSG in 2021 and condemned to play in the Europa League in 2022 and 2023. This year, in a group Simple, Barcelona did advance first in the group - the last time was in 19-20 - and now they must eliminate Naples. Overcoming the duel of the current League champions in low hours and being in the quarterfinals implies 10.6 million in UEFA prizes.
This is key money to meet the expected profit in the current year. To the point that the club has already announced that if they do not advance and have all the weeks off from March 12, they will look for friendlies around the world that will inject extraordinary income into the coffers, to recover those forecasts. The most recent example is the game against América in Dallas before the Christmas break.
Despite the importance and glamor of doing something important in Europe after not reaching a final since 2015, we should not put all the apples in the continental basket because the team cannot afford to collapse in the League and not be there next season. in the new Champions League. The new format ensures an income just for participating of 18.6 million, plus the prizes that come for performance. It must be remembered that there will be 8 games in the first phase, four of them at home, so ticketing also increases.
Barcelona cannot sleep because among the 14 games they still have to travel to San Mamés, the Metropolitano, the Santiago Bernabéu, Montilivi and Sánchez Pizjuán. That is, big matches in which they will visit their direct competitors.
Depending on these results, the third variant enters. Right now Barça is third but if it manages to compete until the end of the title it is possible that it could attack the second position, which is now held by Girona. Eliminated from the Cup, being among the top two in the standings is the only way to be in the final four of the Spanish Super Cup. Barcelona has not yet failed since playing in Saudi Arabia, a presence that brings the Blaugrana club close to 6 million.
This time, at the end of the season, the field makes money. Football and the economy, more linked than ever.
