Is poor quality bacon the reason Barcelona lost against Atletico Madrid?

Martin Macdonald

Updated: 10 Apr 2026 04:45 CDT
2 min read

Barcelona succumbed to a surprise 2-0 defeat at the hands of Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday.

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The two La Liga sides contested the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie at Camp Nou and Atletico now have the advantage heading into the second leg next week.

With Barca seemingly in control of proceedings in the first half, the narrative completely changed when defender Pau Cubarsi was sent off for a last-man challenge on Giuliano Simeone.

To make matters worse, from the resulting free-kick following that challenge, Julian Alvarez stepped up to send a glorious strike into the top right corner to make it 1-0.

As Barcelona pressed for an equaliser, Atleti defended superbly but still carried a threat of their own on the break and doubled their lead in the 70th minute when substitute Alexander Sorloth latched on to a cross from left-back Matteo Ruggeri to finish at the near post.

It was the first time the Blaugrana had failed to score at home since 2024.

Barcelona preparations impacted?

It's slightly facetious to say, but Barcelona's preparations for the match were 'impacted' after the players apparently complained about the quality of bacon they ate at the team hotel.

Catalunya Radio has confirmed that the Barcelona players said the bacon tasted odd compared to what they were used to back home.

It has now been revealed that the club opted against using the bacon in the hotel due to the high price they were being charged and that bacon from the Barca training centre was shipped across to Madrid along with the players and staff.

This isn't the first time Barca have had issues with catering, either.

A year ago, head coach Hansi Flick requested that the club hire a new head chef after Robert Lewandowski reportedly complained about how the eggs were cooked at the training centre.

The German is eager to control every aspect of his players' fitness and that includes diet, which is why he wanted better quality of catering.

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