Barcelona: from bumpy beginnings to a good finish and a lesson learnt from this season

Barcelona have come a long way since the circus of last summer's transfer window where the Catalans were rocked by the the sudden departure of Brazilian ace Neymar. The ensuing fall out from that departure meant that Barca weren't able to secure their first option in Phillipe Coutinho (who'd they'd eventually sign in January).

Any efforts to make any other signings were scuppered as a result of the Neymar deal as player prices ballooned. Barca did however land two big signings with Ousmane Dembele and, surprisingly, Paulinho eventually making the move to the Nou Camp.

But from the off Barca's season looked to be doomed as they suffered a 5-1 aggregate defeat in the season's curtain raiser, the Spanish Super Cup, to bitter rivals Real Madrid.

When looking back at that the Spanish giants will consider how much sweeter it is for them to silence the doubters after securing the league and cup double, an achievement which will only be surpassed if they finish the league season undefeated.

The one disappointment from Barca's season was in how they were ousted from the Champions League as they were flimsy in defending a three goal lead to lose on away goals against a gutsy Roma.

And that loss was preceded, over the last few seasons, by two big loses in Paris and Turin, and even though Barca did pull off a miracle to overturn PSG 6-5 on aggregate at home, it was inevitable they couldn't keep waiting to play at home to overturn big first leg defeats.

So the next natural step for Ernesto Valverde will be translate Barca's domestic dominance into European supremacy by building a team like they have this season, but also adding some much needed depth to turn game around when the starters aren't getting the job done.