Barça’s Champions League Struggles: Who Was the Last Manager to Advance?

The Champions League has been a challenging subject for FC Barcelona in recent seasons. The Blaugranas haven’t lifted ‘Big Ears’ since 2015, and in the meantime, the team has endured defeats that have left a lasting mark on the culé fanbase. However, the most chilling statistic for Barça in the Champions League is that it has been four years since they last progressed past a knockout stage.

Quique Setién won’t be fondly remembered for his time at FC Barcelona, as his tenure with the Catalan club didn’t quite pan out. Nevertheless, Setién can still boast, at least for now, that he is the last coach to guide the team through a knockout round in the Champions League.

It happened during the 2019/20 season when Quique Setién took over from Ernesto Valverde, who was dismissed after falling in the semifinals of the Spanish Super Cup. That year, Barça qualified after going unbeaten in the group stage, and the draw paired them with Napoli in the next round.

In the first leg at San Paolo, the former name of the Italian stadium, Antoine Griezmann canceled out Mertens’ opening goal to leave the tie level. However, the return leg had to wait for six months due to the COVID-19-induced hiatus. In the midst of the pandemic, in August, Barça secured their spot in the Champions League quarterfinals at Camp Nou with goals from Lenglet, Messi, and Luis Suárez (3-1).

That marked the end of Barça’s journey in that edition of the Champions League, as Bayern Munich swept Setién’s side aside in the quarterfinals with the infamous 8-2 defeat, which also cost the coach his job, along with Suárez and Rakitic. It nearly led to Lionel Messi’s departure a season earlier.

Setién, who had previously achieved success with Betis and Las Palmas, brought an associative and offensive style of play that resonated with the culé faithful. However, not everything that glitters is gold, and the two pieces that seemed destined to fit together failed to do so. Setién found himself completely overwhelmed by a squad in crisis, stating, “In Barça, it wasn’t me, I didn’t know or couldn’t.”

Since that season, Barcelona has failed to progress past a knockout round in the Champions League. The following campaign saw PSG easily eliminate Koeman’s team in the Round of 16. In the last two editions, under Xavi Hernández’s management, Barça didn’t advance past the group stage, entering the Europa League.

Now, the coach from Terrassa has the opportunity to once again place Barça among the top eight teams in the world. He will attempt to do so against the very team that Barça last eliminated in a knockout stage with Setién at the helm.