Barcelona learned from last season's struggles, says Dest

Barcelona's players have learned from the struggles of last season and are highly motivated to succeed in the upcoming campaign, according to defender Sergino Dest.

The Catalan giants recorded their lowest points tally (73) last season since 2007-08 (67), seeing them finish well behind fierce rivals Real Madrid.

Barca also failed to reach the knockout stages of the Champions League for the first time since 2003-04, while falling well short of the Copa del Rey and Supercopa de Espana.

Finishing as runners-up brought some satisfaction, however, given they were ninth in November when Xavi replaced Ronald Koeman.

Xavi's side will now look to challenge Madrid for the LaLiga title this season, having added Franck Kessie, Andreas Christensen and Raphinha to their squad this window.

While more new arrivals are expected, with Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski a target, Dest accepts those at the club from last season need to step up.

"I feel like we are Barca, so everyone expects us to be the best," USA international Dest told reporters. "It's true - you can't play here if you don't have any quality.

"So I feel like from all the games, the tough games that we lost last year, we definitely learned from that. It's going to be a different season."

Dest has spent the last two seasons at Barca, having joined Ajax for an initial value of €21m, and has made 70 appearances in all competitions.

That's a tally bettered only by seven other Barcelona players since his debut in October 2020, despite being limited to just 23 starts last season after being injured.

And with Qatar 2022 on the horizon, the full-back has plenty of reasons to embark on this campaign.

"Everyone is extremely motivated because of the World Cup," he said. “Everyone wants to play and prove themselves.

"I think we'll just have a great season and try to learn from the games we lost last year."

Barcelona have gone three seasons without winning La Liga, a far cry from the eight titles won in a decade of dominance between 2008-09 and 2018-2019.

Having spent all this time rising through the Barca youth ranks, defender Eric Garcia is eager to help his side get back to the top.

"Barcelona created the generation that was considered, at the time, something unique," said Garcia, who returned to Catalonia last year after three years at Manchester City.

"We are obviously here to bring the club back to where it needs to be, with a lot of ambition, with a lot of desire.

"We are young people allied to people who have been in the club for a long time at a very high level, and between all of us, we are all in the same frame of mind.

"We can't wait to get the club back to where it deserves and the win it deserves. From there, it's going to be fine."