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Pep Guardiola was a bum. We know he was a bum because he was at the club for four seasons, had Messi and a coterie of legends at his disposal, and only won the Champions League twice. Luis Enrique was also a bum. Come on, Messi, Suarez, Neymar and you only win ONE Champions League? How is that even possible? Rjkaard, bum. Xavi Hernandez? Bum. Ernesto Valverde? Bum. No, he is even worse than a bum because the players he was in charge of had absolutely epic collapses, twice. Seventh circle of hell for him. Hansi Flick has created one of the most delightful Barcelona teams to watch in some time. He rolled in his first season and, with a bunch of kids and freebies, won a domestic treble and made the Champions League semis. His next season he won the league again and is rolling into his third season, looking to repeat the feat of winning the league. Pity that he, too, is a bum because he hasn’t won Champions League. These days, Champions League has become an obsession for so many — too many culers. Everything is defined by that random competition. –“He is fine in league, but I don’t trust him in Europe.” –“Winning the league is fine, but they are supposed to do that. Not winning Champions League is unacceptable.” An obsession with what is truly a random competition is strange, and has come to define everything about the club. Can this player help with Champions League? If not, why even bother. Hell, I think Flick should go all in for Europe by just playing his starters enough league matches to not get relegated, to keep them fresh for the competition that matters. The year the team made the semis and lost against Inter, something that history tells us was all the fault of Ronald Araujo, reality was that Raphinha scored a goal to put them ahead, and all they had to do was play two minutes of controlling football. Instead, Lamine Yamal tried a shot, even as Pedri was telling him to take it to the corner. Then Lewandowski lost the throw. Inter bashed it long, where Cubarsi won the header but fell down, leaving Martin, who tried to play the ball instead of just bashing it out, as De Jong stood there watching proceedings. A light touch that wasn’t called by the same official just a minute or so earlier, nonetheless was tried by Martin, who yelped and fell down as Inter played on. Cubarsi didn’t even try to pressure the cross, Szczesny didn’t come out to fist it away, and Acerbi off-footed a worldie into the roof as Araujo stood there instead of getting harder into his body. The following season, they faced Atleti without Raphinha, whose hammies did a “Peace out,” for the second or third time that season. Without any pressure from the front, Barcelona conceded a couple of those typical Barcelona goals. Couple that with slack finishing, and it was another year of watching the Final on TV. For supporters, who of course absolutely know better, that is just unacceptable. Flick out. The league? Who cares. Transfers? Can any of them help win Champions League? If not? Who cares. The Champions League is a lottery, from the selection process to the matches. A keeper has a blinder, a fluke goal off a deflection and suddenly a knockout match is a mess for a favored side. Untimely injury? Add that to the pile of randomness. The best team in Europe is defined as the one that wins the CL trophy. It is usually also the luckiest. Defining a season or a team’s accomplishments by such a metric is not only weird, but misguided because it just doesn’t make sense. When did we become so entitled that only the biggest trophies matter? Real Madrid, trophyless for the last two seasons, would love to be able to say, “Yeah, winning the league is expected. Ho hum.” ANY of the other teams in the league would murder to say they won the league, once they recovered from the hangover of a week-long bacchanal. Managers, including the coterie of bums listed above, all value winning league titles because it shows off the work they have done in building a team, shows the consistency of that work and the sustained excellence of their project. Any manager would love to win Champions League. Duh. Some of them, when asked, even had the temerity to say they valued the league championship more. What is wrong with them? Are they crazy? Maybe it’s time to take a step back from a competition that is becoming an obsession, to just enjoy the football being played by FC Barcelona this season. Anthony Gordon looks to be the business, Xavi Espart is casually dropping masterclasses. Rodri has been added, as has Karim Adeyemi to be able to let Lamine Yamal get some rest. Gabriel Jesus, a pressing demon if his knees hold together, has been added to a chameleon-like front line where any player could pop up anywhere to score or assist. “But they haven’t added a 9 or CB! How are ‘we’ supposed to win Champions League without a world-class 9 or CB?” The biggest transfer Flick can add to that roster is composure, on and off the ball. Rodri will help bring some of that, so will another season under the legs of the team’s young stars. There isn’t a single player they could add who could bring more to that roster than composure. With Composure in the colors, Flick’s team is in the final for both of the past two seasons. Defining success by absence of the right kind of success just makes everything as joyless and dour as it has been throughout the summer transfer window and through the first three matches. “Well they won, but it was (insert team name here).” It’s at the point where even winning a Classic is becoming humdrum, because none of them are that One Big Trophy that defines everything. The game is a game. It’s supposed to be fun, and joyful. When I watch Xavi Espart I don’t think, “I sure don’t think he’s good enough against the top European sides and how are ‘we’ going to win Champions League with a player like that?” Don’t know, don’t care. If you can’t get excited watching this team this year, there won’t be anything capable of exciting you. Even if Flick’s team goes trophyless this season it will still be fun to watch. “Are you not entertained?” is not conditional, or a “Yeah, but … ” It is what it is.