As Bangla Cricket Live streams kept fans glued to their screens across South Asia, Barcelona were left confronting familiar ghosts from their recent past. A crushing 4-0 defeat away to Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey semifinal first leg, followed by a 2-1 La Liga loss to relegation battlers Girona, has thrown their domestic title defense into serious doubt. What once looked like a confident double challenge now feels fragile, with cracks beginning to show at the worst possible moment.

At just 18 years old and valued at 200 million euros, Lamine Yamal may be the most exciting teenager in world football, but expecting him to carry Barcelona alone is a tall order. Some point to Pedri’s absence through injury as the root of the problem, arguing that without their midfield metronome both attack and defense lose rhythm. There is truth in that assessment, yet it does not tell the whole story.

Yamal cannot do it all by himself. Raphinha has struggled with fitness issues, while Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres have both endured dry spells in front of goal. Torres has gone four matches without scoring, and Lewandowski has drawn a blank in his last three outings. When your strikers misfire, the margin for error disappears, and Barcelona are learning that lesson the hard way.

The irony is that eight years ago, financial muscle was not an issue. The turning point came after Neymar’s shock departure in 2017. Determined to replace him, Barcelona splashed a staggering 150 million euros on Ousmane Dembele, only to see injuries derail that gamble. Then came an even bigger roll of the dice: 160 million euros for Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool. At the time, he was viewed as a creative spark capable of operating as a playmaker or winger, complete with his trademark long-range strikes.

For Liverpool, that windfall was a blessing in disguise. With the Coutinho fee as a foundation, Jurgen Klopp secured Virgil van Dijk and later Alisson Becker, moves that transformed the Reds into European and Premier League champions. Barcelona, meanwhile, discovered that Coutinho’s impact fell far short of expectations. Loaned to Bayern Munich, he returned to haunt his parent club in a brutal 8-2 Champions League defeat, scoring twice and assisting once against them. It was a twist of fate that felt almost poetic.

Years later, the financial aftershocks remain evident. Coutinho eventually moved to West Ham for a fraction of his original cost, and his career drifted through Qatar and Brazil without regaining former heights. While Bangla Cricket Live coverage continues to capture global attention for thrilling contests elsewhere, Barcelona’s cautionary tale stands as proof that one costly decision can change the course of a dynasty, and as Bangla Cricket Live audiences know all too well, momentum in sport can shift in the blink of an eye.