Barça's UCL chances hinge on making fewer stupid mistakes - ESPN

The rarified atmosphere around Barcelona which encompasses their often myopic, hysterical media, their downtrodden and traumatised fans, plus a directorate which has spent more time baling water out of the craft than sailing forward over the past few seasons means that defeat to Bayern Munich on Wednesday in the Champions League will tip most of them back into full-on crisis mode despite this season's excellent opening phase.

This, of course, would be a nonsensical position to adopt.

For context, despite playing at home, Barça are are underdogs considering past results. Their all-time record against Germany's most powerful and relentless club is, quite simply, atrocious. Including the infamous 8-2 defeat that completely wrecked the Quique Setien regime four years ago (at the hands of current Barça coach Hansi Flick, remember!) the Catalans' slate against Bayern reads: played 15, won 2, drawn 2, lost 11, scored 16, conceded 37.

This is, by a huge distance, their worst and most humiliating record against any rival in Barcelona's entire 125-year history. Just to seal the case, Barça's last four matches against the Bavarians have been straight defeats, no goals scored and 11 conceded.

If this run continues on Wednesday, Barcelona would sit with three points from a possible nine and, even with five matches left — Red Star Belgrade away; Brest, home; Borussia Dortmund, away; Benfica, away; Atalanta, home — Flick's team would be in a precarious position.

After the second matchday, Opta ranked Barcelona as most likely to finish 11th — meaning no automatic qualification to the knockout rounds (only the top eight) and a play-off tie early next year. But they would be seeded, giving them home advantage for the decisive match in