Lenglet and Barca’s new wave aiming to turn their Champions League tide
BARCELONA: Clement Lenglet should be untouched by Barcelona’s Champions League failure last season but disappointment reverberates around the club to the extent that he feels it too.
“You can just sense around the place there is this scar,” Lenglet told AFP. “It still hurts.”
Lenglet describes it like he was there but he was playing for Sevilla last year, his move to Barcelona still three months away.
He joined a club that had won La Liga at a canter and the Copa del Rey — but they mourned the season just gone like an opportunity missed.
The 4-1 collapse against Roma sent Barca out in the Champions League quarter-finals and hung over their other achievements like a dark cloud.
Lenglet can be part of the recovery. Barcelona play Lyon in the first leg of the last 16 on Tuesday and, after three years without making the semis, there is a sense of a team on a mission.
“We want to sooth the scar, do something beautiful so we can forget all about what happened,” Lenglet said. “The players were gutted and everyone around the club was too. We have to show it was a mistake, that we can do better.”
Lyon are European minnows in comparison but their pace on the break and fearless approach puts them in a category of opponent that has caused Barcelona problems this season.
Manchester City, a team not dissimilar in style to Ernesto Valverde’s, emerged from two group games against them with a draw and a defeat.
“We often leave players oneonone in defence so if the ball goes through us, we are at a disadvantage,” Lenglet said.
“There are a lot of moments where we take risks but the balance is important. This is what players are taught when they arrive at Barcelona and it has to be understood quickly. It will be an important part of this match.”
Lenglet’s rise has been steep. At the start of the 2016-17 season, he was playing for Nancy, the club where he had started out in the youth teams. Sevilla signed him in January and after one full La Liga campaign, Barca had seen enough to meet his 35.9 million- euro ( 40.6 million) buy- out clause.
Most expected the promising French defender to settle in on the bench at the Camp Nou, but Samuel Umtiti’s knee injury has fast- tracked Lenglet to the role of Gerard Pique’s most regular partner.
He has impressed, his awareness and confidence on the ball deeming him well- suited to a team that defends in flashes and builds from the back.
“It’s every player’s dream to play this often for this kind of club,” Lenglet said. “It gives me a lot of pride, joy, and a lot of work too, because you have to be at your best, permanently.” — AFP