4 things we learned from Barcelona's humiliating defeat to Monaco

Barcelona ended their pre-season preparations in the worst way possible, losing 3-0 at home to AS Monaco in the Joan Gamper Trophy.

What was meant to be a celebratory evening at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, in which Dani Olmo was presented as Barca's newest players to fans, turned into a nightmare on the eve of the 2024/25 campaign.

Second-half goals from Lamine Camara, Breel Embolo and Christian Mawissa saw the Ligue 1 side run out as dominant victors in the hills of Montjuic, with Barca supporters jeering and whistling as their team got torn apart.

It's still only pre-season and perhaps this will serve Barcelona well in the long run, but it's hardly ideal to receive such a spanking on home soil, is it?

Here's what we learned from Barcelona's humbling defeat.

1. Barcelona's 17-year-old superstar cannot return soon enough

In Barcelona's age of austerity and uncertainty, they are relying on a teenager to be their saviour of the present and future.

Lamine Yamal is already among the world's very best players and his exploits with Spain at Euro 2024 have propelled him into Ballon d'Or contention. More often than not, he is the most exciting, if not simply the best, player on any pitch he steps on.

Barca can depend on their famed La Masia academy to produce this sort of talent every now and then, but even this is ridiculous.

Let's just hope Barcelona don't run poor Yamal into the ground the way they did with Pedri.

2. Boy would signing Nico Williams actually make a world of difference

Do Barcelona really think they can challenge for the La Liga title with their current team up against the reinforced might of Real Madrid?

It's just not going to happen. Yamal and new signing Dani Olmo are a nice duo, but they aren't complete enough at either end.

The blueprint for Barca to match Madrid is to lean heavily on Spain's current setup, and finding a way to bring in Nico Williams would go someway to recreating La Roja's continent-conquering side.

If there truly is a way for Barcelona to sign Williams, they need to follow through. It would be a failed summer not to at this point.

3. Marc-Andre ter Stegen's flaws exposed again

The most polarising goalkeeper in the world is Marc-Andre ter Stegen, master of looking equally sublime and simple.

Against Monaco, he fell into the latter category. He didn't necessarily drop three clangers, but you'd expect the goalkeeper of Barcelona to do a little better.

When opposing teams draw up their scouting reports, they definitely have a paragraph on Ter Stegen's usual style of dropping to one knee and sticking one arm up to try and save shots.

The Germany backup should be a little thankful that Barcelona have other pressing needs and literally cannot afford to search for an upgrade.

4. Pressure cranks up on Joan Laporta

If Joan Laporta's reign as president didn't directly follow the complete disaster of Josep Maria Bartomeu's, then he would be facing far more criticism for his time in charge at Barcelona.

The club remain unable to operate like a normal team in the transfer market and there is seemingly no end in sight to this issue, all the while Laporta speaks to the media or leaks things to the press every day. Barcelona are always in the headlines and that's not necessarily good.

If the Hansi Flick era fails, Laporta is the one who will have to take the blame.

READ THE LATEST BARCELONA NEWS, TRANSFER RUMOURS & GOSSIP