FC Barcelona suffered another misstep in Champions League, drawing 3-3 against Club Brugge, always trailing behind the Belgian club, who despite having only 23% of the ball possession, managed to create many dangerous chances, and only a controversial VAR decision prevented Brugge to claim the victory. Barça has not managed to win as a visitor since September 25.
Despite Lamine Yamal's efforts with two goals, players are making self-criticism as how a rival theoretically weaker was able to make so much harm, with a particularly weak defence. "We're losing possession in difficult areas and that benefits the opponent, these are things we need to minimize", Eric García said (via Marca). "Club Brugge created danger on the counter-attack, and that's something we need to improve. We reacted, but if you're always playing catch-up and you score and they score, you're screwed..."
Frenkie de Jong also though that they are "weak on the counter-attack, due to marking, pressure, positioning... We need to adjust things, these are aspects we work on, but we don't always translate that onto the pitch. It's a match we had to win, but we need to do things better. If you concede three goals, it's very difficult to win.
According to statistics, Barça has conceded 20 goals in 15 official matches, their second worst mark since 2015/16. That year, they ended up winning LaLiga, but Flick cannot relax, as they are trailing five points behind Real Madrid in the league, and are outside of the top 8 in Champions League... with a dangerous visit to Stamford Bridge in two weeks against Chelsea.