Abelardo warns Barcelona's 17-match clean-sheet drought exposes Champions League weakness

Barcelona’s 4-1 win at Galatasaray on Tuesday 13 October moved Hansi Flick’s side to six points from their opening two Champions League matches, yet former Barça defender Abelardo used the result to renew his warning that the squad lacks the central defensive quality needed to go all the way in Europe. The victory was the club’s 17th consecutive Champions League match without a clean sheet.

Abelardo’s concern is not that Barcelona cannot win the competition — he considers it possible — but that they need a higher calibre of centre-back to consistently win individual duels against elite forwards. He specifically cited players such as Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Harry Kane as the kind of attackers who will expose the current options in central defence.

The Galatasaray match itself offered a partial illustration of the problem. The Turkish hosts scored first, and Barcelona had to recover before their attack took control in the second half. A dominant scoreline ultimately flattered the defensive picture.

Barcelona had also conceded in their opening European fixture against Feyenoord, meaning neither of their two wins in the league phase came with a clean sheet. The 17-match run without one in the Champions League now stretches back well beyond the current campaign.

Abelardo’s comments, reported by Barca Blaugranes, carry added weight given that Barcelona did not add a senior central defender during the summer transfer window. The club’s recruitment left the position without new reinforcement, a decision that now provides the backdrop to his assessment.

The tension in Barcelona’s start is captured by the numbers themselves: two convincing wins, six points from six available, and a defensive sequence that has continued regardless of the scoreline. Flick’s side hold a strong position in the league phase, but Abelardo’s argument is that the clean-sheet drought is the clearest evidence of a structural gap that will matter most when they face the competition’s strongest opponents.