It's hard to analyse a game where Barca were down to 10 men by the 10th minute against a highly physical and well drilled Monaco.

Ter-Stegen's mistake and Eric Garcia's red card meant that Barca were chasing shadows most of the game. But even with that this wasn't a capitulation. If anything , this was a good wake up call that the team probably needed to get ready for the Champions League.

That said, there were areas where questions remained. Pushed out of their position and made to stretch, Barca looked bereft of ideas at times. The absence of Dani Olmo was felt profusely, and without his cover Pedri looked a bit lost as well.

That said, in this new Champions League model its hard to say how many points would suffice to qualify for R16. The good thing is that there is no dropping down to Europa and even those who don't qualify amongst the first eight, would have a chance in the playoffs.

In short Barca have time and if they can learn from this defeat it will serve them good. Dortmund, Bayern and Atalanta will all be very tough tests and they need to be mentally prepared for it.

Join me and Dom as we discuss all this and more

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