Lamine Yamal rescued FC Barcelona from defeat in their latest 2025-26 UEFA Champions League match against Club Brugge, a performance that still left fans worried. After the 3–3 draw, soccer legend and former Barca star Thierry Henry issued a strong warning to the Spanish side regarding their European ambitions.
For Matchday 4 of the Champions League, Barcelona traveled to the Jan Breydel Stadium to face Club Brugge. Throughout the match, the Blaugrana struggled to impose themselves as the favorites, with the Belgian side taking the lead three different times. Yamal played a decisive role in dragging Barca back, scoring the second goal and delivering the cross that led to the own goal that sealed the 3–3 final result.
Speaking on CBS Sports, Henry didn’t hold back when assessing his former club: “We all know what happened against Benfica or Inter (Milan). The number of goals conceded is excessive. Goals that are mostly very easy for the opposition. They have to fix that as soon as possible because it’s impossible for them to win in Europe like this.“
Beyond referencing the wild 5–4 against Benfica and the 3–3 and 3–4 results against Inter, the French icon reflected on Barca’s amount of chances conceded. “I already mentioned it in Barca’s victory against Bayern last year. They won 4-1, but it was a very suspicious result. Kane only had to make a run to break through the defense and score at will. The teams clearly know what they have to do and create a lot of problems for the defenders,” he stated.
Lamine Yamal celebrates FC Barcelona’s third goal against Club Brugge.
Highlighting the workload placed on Barcelona’s goalkeepers and pointing to matches against PSG, Real Madrid, and now Club Brugge, Henry was blunt about the team’s defensive issues: “It pains me to say that because I don’t want to talk about my old club like that, but you have to call a spade a spade. You can’t carry on defending like this. Every time hoping to score three or four, to be the team, not now, not in the modern era of football, you can’t defend like that.”
see also
Lamine Yamal ties incredible Kylian Mbappe’s Champions League record after scoring for Barcelona vs Brugge
Barcelona facing negative defensive records
Even though Barcelona’s attacking trio of Lamine Yamal, Robert Lewandowski, and Raphinha are dealing with fitness issues in the 2025–26 season, the spotlight has shifted to the defense. Compared with last year, head coach Hansi Flick has struggled to address the team’s defensive problems, which have now produced worrying historical records.
In the 15 official matches played so far in the 2025–26 campaign, Barcelona have conceded 20 goals, reaching the club’s second-worst defensive start of the 21st century. The issues are further highlighted with Barca failing to keep a clean sheet in nine straight games, their second-longest streak since March 2013, when they went 13 matches without one while allowing 21 goals.
Barcelona currently sit second in La Liga behind Real Madrid, while in the Champions League they remain in the playoff zone in 11th place. Their next European test comes against Chelsea on November 25, a matchup that will determine whether Barcelona can finally solve their defensive woes or if this will become a lingering problem throughout the season.
