Barcelona have to double down on their high-risk game at the site of its biggest failure

Here we are, in the calm before Barcelona’s most crucial night of the season.

Speaking at his press conference before Saturday’s 4-1 win over Espanyol sent them nine points clear of Real Madrid in the Spanish top flight, Barca manager Hansi Flick said: “La Liga is the foundation and what you play for every week, but the Champions League is everyone’s dream.”

Barca have not won the Champions League since 2015. Success in the competition is every player’s ultimate goal, but that dream took a huge hit as soon as Pau Cubarsi was sent off in the 2-0 home defeat by Atletico Madrid in last Wednesday’s quarter-final first leg. Moments later, Julian Alvarez sent the resulting free kick into Joan Garcia’s top corner.

As the days have gone by, however, Barcelona’s players have gathered hope.

The squad has found inspiration in the NBA. Barca-supporting social media users started to use a famous LeBron James meme, from when he led the Cleveland Cavaliers to an unbelievable comeback against the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 Finals. The Cavaliers were 3-1 down in the best-of-seven series, a deficit that had never been overturned before.

In the image, James is wearing sunglasses and headphones. Underneath, a caption reads: “No team in NBA finals history has come back from trailing 3-1 (0-32).” In the version being shared online this week, James’s face was switched with that of Barcelona players, accompanied by a reminder that the Catalans have never won a two-legged Champions League tie against Atletico Madrid.

Nor have Barca ever turned around a two-goal deficit in a Champions League knockout tie when playing the return leg away. But the dressing room believes this is not an impossible job. Players began sharing the memes among themselves, and on Sunday night, Lamine Yamal switched his Instagram profile picture to one featuring James holding the NBA trophy in 2016.

“He (James) is one of my references that can inspire me for tomorrow’s game,” Yamal told a news conference on Monday. “I’ll think about how he did the comeback and I hope it unfolds the same way for me.”

Barca can also take inspiration from the fact that, in last season’s La Liga meeting between the sides at the Metropolitano, they won 4-2 after going 2-0 down, scoring all their goals from the 72nd minute. But this season, Diego Simeone’s side have proved they know how to hurt them.

Back on February 12, Atletico hammered Barca 4-0 in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final, with all of their goals scored before half-time. The performance left players questioning themselves in a way they had never done since Flick’s arrival in June 2024. The day after the match, The Athletic reported that players and coaching staff held critical discussions over the team’s tactics in response to the result.

Several squad members felt the defeat to Atletico exposed how hard it was for them to apply Flick’s high-pressing style when key players were not available. Pedri and Raphinha missed the fixture through injury. But the conversation was not just about one match. It took in other Barcelona knockout ties.

On their way to a domestic treble last season, Barca forged an identity as a wild and fearless side that would take their defensive high line and relentless pressing system to the furthest limits. It produced a memorable run to the Champions League semi-finals, averaging 2.8 goals per game in the competition, but they conceded a lot, too.

Borussia Dortmund beat them 3-1 in a nervy quarter-final second leg that followed Barca’s 4-0 win at home in the first leg. Inter more than matched their style in the semi-finals, progressing 7-6 on aggregate.

After the Atletico defeat, Flick was open to listening to his players’ concerns. The coaching staff and players agreed to find a middle ground of keeping the same philosophy, without overcommitting whenever circumstances meant it was not right to fully apply it.

The Champions League last-16 first leg at Newcastle United was a perfect example of that. A Barca team hampered by injuries took a far more cautious approach at an animated St James’ Park and came away with a 1-1 draw despite their opponents’ superiority. The following week, they tore Eddie Howe’s side apart at the Camp Nou.

It looked like Barcelona had learnt their lesson — but given what happened in the first leg against Atletico last Wednesday, Barcelona have no option now but to take to the Metropolitano in their wildest possible form, as they try to overturn a two-goal deficit.

The high line will be required, as well as the fast passing and aggressive pressing that helped put Atletico’s backs to the wall in the return leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final on March 3, which Barca won 3-0, falling just short of what would have been an epic comeback.

They need chaos, and a fearless approach from their frontline, led by Yamal — although every forward will be required to step up their game. Being lucky in crucial moments might play a part, too.

“At the start of the game, it is very important we apply good pressure on them,” Flick said in his pre-match news conference on Monday. “If Atletico are not high-pressed, they are able to play out and then it’s difficult for us to defend.

“Am I worried about taking too many risks? This is our style, how we want to play football. We can defend better sometimes, maybe, but that goes down to the whole team and not just the back line. We need to be well-connected and defend as a unit, and make spaces smaller.

“There are a lot of examples in the past where we did really well, and the results are worth it. This is our way. It will be tough for us, but I believe in my team. It is possible.”