A team to be proud of
Nobody said it was easy. Just getting to a Champions League semi-final is an extraordinary feat. It's been half a decade since FC Barcelona ever made it so far, and they were within minutes of securing a place in the final that sadly, Inter have claimed instead. To score six times across the two legs and still miss out is something exceptional.
In fact, it ties with the six that Manchester City scored against Monaco in 2016/17 and that Roma scored against Liverpool in 2017/18 as the most goals ever scored by a team across two legs of a Champions League tie without actually qualifying.
Right now, it feels like a failure. But when people look back on 2024/25 in years to come, they are sure to remember it as one of the most spectacular Barça seasons ever.
And it has been achieved by an extraordinarily young side. When all this started, few expected Barça to come this far. Hansi Flick was charged with building a team for the future. Hansi Flick is a very fast builder.
Sentiment and youth
What Barça lacked in experience, they more than made up for with sentiment. And that's what you get when you flood a team with home-grown talent, players who truly know what it means to defend these colours.
As Lamine Yamal once said, most of the team don't feel like professional footballers. They just share a love for Barça. At the Giuseppe Meazza, no fewer than ten graduates of the club's own academy were on the field. That's identity. That's a real team. And that's why the fans love this club so much.
And even more so this year. With an average age of just 25.3 years, this was the youngest squad that Barça have ever taken into a Champions League knockout stage. This year they didn't quite manage to go all the way. But this is surely just the start of even greater things to come.
Two and maybe three
After ending 2023/24 trophy-less, Barça were cautious about their expectations for this season. There were no big promises to the fans this time. But after they won 11 of their first 12 league fixtures, it started to become clear that Hansi Flick was onto something. There were ups and downs, including a spell of three home defeats in a row, but they kept soldiering on, playing better and better together, and scoring more goals than some of the greatest Barça teams that ever existed. And all the time showing remarkable strength in the face of adversity, producing spectacular comeback after spectacular comeback.
Big wins against the likes of Bayern Munich and Real Madrid sent shock waves around Europe. Not only were Barça looking like a team that could win trophies, but they were threatening to win the lot!
The Spanish Super Cup was conquered in Saudi Arabia, then they beat Madrid a second time to win the Copa del Rey. And they are also on excellent course to complete the domestic treble by winning La Liga too.
The Champions League would have been the icing on the cake. And they very nearly claimed that one too. It was a nasty way to lose, but there was no shame. They were on the wrong end of what is already being discussed as one of the most incredible games in the history of European football.
Now it's time to pick up the pieces and start focusing on Sunday's Clásico against Real Madrid. Win that and La Liga is practically secured. The Champions League would have been nice too, but that takes nothing away from a truly fantastic season for a team that is only going to get stronger and stronger.