Barcelona won’t win silverware this season.
Real Madrid won La Liga on Saturday afternoon and Real Betis won the Copa del Rey the previous weekend.
Barcelona were unceremoniously knocked out of the Champions League, the Supercopa de Espana and the Europa League.
Now, La Blaugrana’s efforts have been concentrated on finishing as high in La Liga as possible. Part of this is for prestige, but according to Marca the primary motivation is money.
€50m is at stake in Barcelona’s final four games due to what finishing second would mean for the Champions League and the Supercopa. That’s important given the club’s financial situation.
Finishing in the top four of La Liga will secure Barcelona a place in the Champions League, earning them approximately €42m. Finishing second will secure a place in the Supercopa, to be contested in early 2023 in Saudi Arabia, earning them about €8m.
So that means that Barcelona are playing for at least €50m in these final weeks of the season, a figure that could rise to €80m or even €100m should Barcelona win the titles they qualify for.
It’s far from a dead rubber ending to the season for Barcelona.
And they face a couple of tricky ties. They travel to the Benito Villamarin on Saturday to take on Betis before hosting Celta the following Tuesday at Camp Nou.
They then travel to the Coliseum Alfonso Perez to lock horns with Getafe before closing out the season at home to Villarreal.
Xavi Hernandez will hope his men finish the season strong.
