Barcelona missed out on €2.8 million (£2.4 million) in UEFA prize money because they lost their last Champions League group game 3-2 to Royal Antwerp. They played so badly that many teams will want to play them in Monday’s draw.

They finished first in Group H, but it was a terrible game that made it very hard to believe that Xavi would stay as coach for a long time. It came just three days after they lost 4–2 to Girona.

Interference from above isn’t helping. President Joan Laporta and Director of Football Deco are said to have put pressure on him to go to Belgium with Robert Lewandowski, who he wanted to rest.

The Pole started the game, and 20 minutes into the second half, 17-year-old Marc Guiu came on and scored with a shot from a free kick. His goal made it 2-2 and seemed to save the team from losing, but the defense got even worse, and George Ilenikhena scored in extra time to give Royal Antwerp a well-deserved win.

In less than two minutes, Barcelona was behind. They could have been behind in less than a minute, which would have been worse. Hector Fort, who is seventeen years old, was playing right back for the first time. When he lost the ball, Barcelona was lucky that the cross went harmlessly across the face of the area.

However, Inaki Pena quickly passed the ball to Oriol Romeu, who was under pressure in the penalty area. Romeu’s touch was just as bad as Pena’s pass. This was when Arthur Vermeeren, who was eighteen years old, jumped on it and hit Pena with it. It was the third time this season that Barcelona had given up a goal in less than two minutes. Twice in the league, they had given up goals in less than twenty seconds.

Along with youngster Fort in defense, Xavi chose a 16-year-old player named Lamine Yamal. However, the most important thing was that Lewandowski started, even though he wasn’t originally part of Xavi’s team. It was President Laporta who stood up for everyone and told the coach to rest Lewandowski, Ilkay Gundogan, and Ronald Araujo. Xavi also wanted to rest himself.

The coach gave an excuse for including the three players who weren’t supposed to go to Belgium by saying that the trip’s plans had changed. For the first thirty minutes, not many people paid attention to him. When Barcelona tied the game, Ferran Torres scored the goal.

Yamal made it happen by sending a pass through Antwerp’s advancing defense to find the former Manchester City striker. The striker took one touch and then scored past Jean Butez.

No matter what Xavi said during halftime, it didn’t help because Antwerp scored on their first chance, but an offside flag took away the goal. Vincent Janssen was able to beat Pena with his shot because Jules Kounde missed the cross from the right side of Antwerp.

Soon after, there was another break when Sergio Roberto was given a red card for a careless tackle on Mandela Keita. However, referee Marco Guida later changed the card to a yellow after checking it on the field.

Janssen was able to score, and Antwerp’s next attack on Barcelona’s weak defense broke Xavi’s team. It was Romeu again, but this time he couldn’t say that he got a bad pass. He lost the ball on the edge of the area, and Janssen scored the second goal when Alhassan Yusuf played the ball through quickly.

With Gundogan, Cancelo, and Pedri coming on for Lopez, Font, and Romeu, it was pretty much Romeu’s last game.

Guiu came on for Lewandowski with 20 minutes left in the game. Laporta likely wanted him on the team to get that prize money for winning the game. Even though he helped Barcelona win, he might as well have stayed home.

Guiu scored, but Ilenikhena also did, so Barcelona lost their last game in their European group. So far, they’ve given up seven goals in two games. This weekend, they need to win at Valencia to stop people from talking about a crisis.