Barcelona president Joan Laporta has been doing his best to put on a brave face after seeing his team knocked out of the Champions League despite a summer of big spending.
Laporta and his board pulled a series of levers in order to bring players such as Robert Lewandowski and Jules Kounde to the Camp Nou but will now drop into the Europa League.
The Barcelona president spoke after the match and insisted he wasn’t blaming the players or Xavi for the team’s failure in Europe’s top competition.
“It’s a shame, but you can’t blame the players or the coach for anything.