It's Official - Barcelona Are In Crisis
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Barcelona technical director Txiki Bergiristain has declared that the club have plunged into crisis after their shocking collapse against Real Betis at the weekend.
For anyone in the Blaugrana camp still holding on to thoughts of a temporary blip, there is news. Coming for the very top echelons of the club, the message is clear: Barcelona are in crisis.
During an interview with Catalan television, Txiki Begiristain explained that he felt that the players were unable to cope when the going became tough in matches and that was why he believes the team are in crisis mode.
He admitted that the club had plans in place to make changes, but would only carry those out "at the end of the season" and that Frank Rijkaard would "not be going anywhere for now."
"The fans don't want words. They just want to see the right actions. Barcelona have to react," he said. "Rijkaard will not back down from his role."
After Bojan Krkic and Samuel Eto'o had given Barça a commanding lead in the Ruiz de Lopera at the weekend, Betis came back and netted three times in the second period to record a memorable win. Rijkaard had admitted that he was ashamed, while Puyol had opined that the collapse was symptomatic of the club's season as a whole.
Txiki has also admitted that he was stunned the team have lost their key characteristic - that of not giving opponents any chance of a recovery.
"This team is used to defending results, like when we won the Champions League. Even this year, in the cup, against difficult teams like Sevilla, we did the same. But now things have changed, and we have entered a crisis," he affirmed.
"Our defense lacks consistency. The team has the capacity to fix this problem, but when their opponents are difficult, they have struggled."
Let alone clean sheets, even if Barcelona conceded just the one goal per game since January (they conceded 0.89 per game in 2006-07), they would have had 13 more points in La Liga, and would have been six ahead of Real Madrid. In addition, they would have been in the Spanish Cup final.
Atletico Madrid have scored four against them, while Betis, Almeria, Valencia and Villarreal have all score two or more in what has been a shocking defensive collapse. Anything barring a full recovery by Tuesday could see Barcelona's season come crashing down.