At a time when Barcelona find themselves in a difficult financial situation, every penny coming into the club’s coffers is seen as a huge boost.
In order to bolster their income, the Blaugrana are going to great lengths, organising a mid-season friendly in the USA, for example.
Even though they lost the recent game against Real Madrid, the Blaugrana offices celebrated the fact that €7 million was generated from the Clasico played at the Montjuic Stadium.
Barcelona find themselves in a period in which every euro counts to meet the ‘Fair Play’ of La Liga, to be able to sign and register players.
Economic consequences of Shakhtar defeat
And at such a juncture, last night’s 1-0 defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Champions League led to the Catalan heavyweights missing out on a payday worth €2.8 million, reports Mundo Deportivo.
That is the amount that UEFA pays each club for a Champions League group stage win, almost half of the amount earned from the Clasico.
The Blaugrana had already pocketed €8.4 million from winning their first three matches of the group stage and another victory last night would have added €2.8 million more to their treasury.
However, that was not to be as Xavi Hernandez’s men stumbled to a disappointing 1-0 loss away at Volksparkstadion in Hamburg.
Blow to player’s confidence
Apart from being a blow to the club’s coffers, the defeat to Shakhtar also comes as a gut-punch to the players’ confidence.
The defeat in El Clasico, the poor display against Real Sociedad, and now the loss to the Ukrainian champions are bound to have some effect on the Barcelona stars’ mentality.
As such, the players understand that they are in need of a ‘reset’ of sorts and are looking at the upcoming international break to rejuvenate and bounce back strongly.
