- Points dropped on home soil
- Require favours from elsewhere
- Could end up in Europa League
WHAT HAPPENED? The Liga giants are sweating on progress to the knockout stages of elite European competition after being held on home soil by Serie A heavyweights. Xavi’s side opened the scoring through Ousmane Dembele, but then fell behind on two occasions before a stoppage-time equaliser from Lewandowski gave them a continental straw to clutch.
WHAT THEY SAID: The prolific Polish frontman told reporters after seeing costly errors leads to three goals being conceded in a crucial contest: “We had so much desire to score that we forgot to defend. We tried to attack with more players so that one of us lost coverage. We scored three goals but we conceded the same. We feel disappointed not to have won. We lacked cold blood and calm.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Barca now need favours from elsewhere in order to prolong their Champions League adventure in 2022-23, with a third-place standing behind Bayern Munich and Inter in Group C seeing them run the risk of dropping into the Europa League. Lewandowski added on the challenges being faced by the Blaugrana: “We’ve had a lot of injuries to the team in the recent weeks, it’s not easy to change the line-up all the time. We lack stability.”
IN THREE PHOTOS:
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GettyDID YOU KNOW? Lewandowski has scored 14 goals this season in all competitions. Only Erling Haaland (20) has scored more among the players from the top five European leagues.
WHAT NEXT FOR BARCELONA? Things are not about to get any easier for Lewandowski and his team-mates as they have a Clasico clash with arch-rivals Real Madrid to come on Sunday.