“Even if a spaceship lands at the centre circle at this moment, I won’t be surprised.”

A television commentator exclaimed in the dying moments of the Champions League match — a line that perfectly captured a night of utter chaos in Bruges.

Barcelona’s clash with Club Brugge was nothing short of madness. The Spanish champions went behind three times, nearly conceded a fourth, and somehow escaped with a draw.

Spirited Brugge repeatedly tore through Barcelona’s high line, leaving the Catalans’ back four looking invisible.

At the heart of the chaos, one spark shone brightly – Lamine Yamal. The teenage prodigy was the only ray of hope in an otherwise disjointed performance. Every time he got on the ball, especially in the second half, there was a sense that something could happen.

After Barcelona went down twice, Yamal took matters into his own hands, scoring a sensational solo goal in the 61st minute. He dribbled past three defenders before finishing off a clever back pass from Fermin Lopez.

The rest of Barcelona’s display was a defensive horror show. Since Inigo Martinez’s departure to Al-Nassr last summer, Hansi Flick’s side have been unable to find stability at the back. 

Right-back Jules Kounde continues to look lost, while left-back Alejandro Balde struggles to track runners. Centre-back duo Ronald Araujo and Eric Garcia are far from their best. And without the injured Pedri and Raphinha, the pressing structure has been disrupted.

As Frenkie de Jong admitted, the problems run deep — particularly when defending counter-attacks.

“We are a bit weak on counter-attacks, tracking runners, how we’re positioned at the back — it’s a bit of everything,” said the Dutchman.

Brugge wasted no time exploiting those weaknesses. Just five minutes in, Nicolo Tresoldi opened the scoring after being set up by Carlos Forbs, whose pace tormented Barcelona’s defence all night.

Barcelona hit back, but Forbs struck again within 10 minutes, combining brilliantly with Christos Tzolis before finishing past Wojciech Szczesny.

Forbs could have had a hat-trick after missing a chance just after Yamal’s goal, but made no mistake minutes later, scoring Brugge’s third. The winger thought he had won a penalty soon after, but VAR overturned the decision after showing he had initiated contact with Balde.

Barcelona, somehow, found their way back through Yamal once more. His curling effort from the right took a deflection off Tzolis and flew into the net, giving the Catalans a lifeline.

In stoppage time, just as Barcelona were pushing for a late winner, goalkeeper Szczesny lost the ball while trying to turn in his own area, allowing Romeo Vermant to roll it into an empty net — but VAR once again intervened, ruling a foul on the goalkeeper.

Down in 11th place in the Champions League standings, last season’s semi-finalists are now fighting to rediscover their rhythm. Yet Flick remains unflinching in his philosophy.

“We can play a low block and defend in the final third, or we go our way — our philosophy, how we want to do it — and make things much better,” Flick said after the match. “We have struggled a little bit; we don’t have the confidence. Of course we can speak about changing everything, but I am not a coach to change this, because we want to play like our DNA is. We don’t want to defend in a low block and then make some transition to win 1–0.”

It’s a stance that can be seen as conviction or stubbornness. Either way, the truth is hard to ignore: Barcelona’s defence is falling apart, their confidence is draining, and their structure looks more fragile with every game.

In Bruges, Yamal’s brilliance masked the disaster, but it cannot hide the truth. Barca are in trouble — and Flick must find a way to fix it, with or without his high line.