Barça's era ended with a goal from a set piece. Atletico Madrid broke the duopoly from the same set piece(They were ridiculously good at set pieces), and on the other hand Barça were so poor in that aspect. Barça lacked that advantage in air, not only this season, but for quite some years, and fans this season usually blame Man Marking, but we all saw how Ramos scored  2 fantastic headers against Bayern Munich(who were using Zonal Marking and who didn't have any disadvantage, as such, in air). Ok, leaving tactics and strategies aside, we need at least 2 proper CB's to compete at the highest level next season. I hope our board acts well, this summer, and hunt for 2 world class CB's, who fit our style.

What happened to Barcelona this season?
Ans : Let's ask another question before answering this question(A question inside another question, INCEPTION? Anyway..

To those Fans who are asking, "Our defense has been mediocre for years, yet we used to win silverware. How?"
Ans: We had Leo Messi at his absolute best. There's no denying about Messi's influence in the team. Even though we had many problems in the past, Messi would turn up and score insane number of goals, to get us silverware. He single handedly won us the league and cups many times.

Here are some of the patterns I've observed in a Barça match

1)If Messi demands the ball, other players will do whatever it takes, to pass him the ball.

2) If Messi tracks back to defend, other players will run like a dog to get back the ball from the opposition. Nowadays, the pressing is GONE(pffft) from the team.

3) The team which is LOST at home (Remember Barça vs PSG) gets motivated, when their best player steps on the pitch.

In short, Barça turns up when their BEST PLAYER, LEO MESSI turns up. 

This season, Messi was not at his usual best( 2010-11's Messi). He was far from his best. He had too undergo so many injuries last season, that kept him in the sidelines for some part of the season. Also, there is world cup coming in Brazil. Messi looked like he was saving himself for the world cup. Also, Messi has been advised not to track back too much by the staff(Because he cannot play EACH and EVERY game for Barça if he tracks back like Pedro, and also he cannot be so DECISIVE, EFFICIENT and RUTHLESS in front of the goal, if he does the DOG work. He is human, you see).
  I reckon that injuries and a very important world cup coming up is the reason why Messi didn't turn up, and so Barça fell short, and thankfully our WEAKNESS, aka POOR DEFENDING, SHOWED UP, which was concealed by Messi's brilliance in the past seasons. Remember 08-09 ? when YAYA Toure was one of the CB's?

Also, you cannot overlook the fact that our players are actually HUMANS.(Yes, yes their superhuman performance on the pitch in the last 6 years spoiled us). Ask any Barça fan, aka Culé, he'll tell you, "Barça are in crisis".  Many clubs in the world yearn  to be in the situation, we are in. Also ,we lost the dearest member of our family, TITO VILANOVA. The players were shattered after the  demise of their Ex Manager, TITO Vilanova. Days later, they were asked to play Football. It surely affected  players performance on the pitch. Not only that, Sandro Rosell's departure, the mess involving Neymar's transfer(I can go on, let's stop here) and so on. They are just humans like us and it affected the team in the long run. 

Ter Stegen is already wearing Barça jersey. We should buy two CB's and probably a striker. We will be  stronger again, next season. Now folks, time for WORLD CUP. I hope Messi wins the world cup(unlikely, but I believe in Messi). If not, I want Spain to win it :) I didn't write a post for long time, so I penned out some thoughts, and I didn't even proofread it. Excuse me for that.

Finally
VISCA BARCA