Sergio Busquets' fitness is also an issue for Barca, especially as the holding midfielder seems to have no true replacement in the squad. Busquets rushed back from a broken bone in his foot to play the first leg, rested at the weekend and started in Rome. He looked as if he is still struggling and may need a couple more weeks to get back to his best.

The fact Busquets has no natural replacement must also raise questions of Barca's transfer policy in recent seasons, because a look at Tuesday's side and the starting 11's which fell at the same stage in the two previous years shows very few differences year on year.

With Phillipe Countinho unable to play as he had already played for Liverpool in the competition earlier this season, Ousmane Dembele and Paulinho (who cost 150 million euros between them) were on the bench and Yerry Mina in the stands, with right back Nelson Semedo the only recent signing to be in the side.

Barca's bench has looked to have a lot less depth than Real Madrid's this season and has limited Valverde's options to rest key players as often as Zinedine Zidane has done at Madrid and in the end that has cost them.

The club needs to sign three or four top players, especially a central midfielder, over the summer to have the depth in the squad Madrid have and to allow them to keep going in three competitions from August to May.

However, it is not all bad news for Barca, while Madrid coasted in the first half of the season and currently third in the league table, the Catalans gave everything and as a result are 11 points clear at the top of the Liga Santander and also have a Cup final against Sevilla to look forward to in 10 days and a League and Cup double is a major success at any club... even Barca.

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