You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to work out that all is not well at Barcelona.
It could only ever be that way when the team began its season having had the worst start since 1971.
There are many, many reasons why the club are in crisis, and most could be laid at the feet of former president, Josep Maria Bartomeu.
During his tenure, the club saw their debt increase to such a level as to leave Barca almost bankrupt, with the coronavirus pandemic exposing the poor way in which Bartomeu’s board had gone about their business.
Other issues had led to Lionel Messi suggesting that he wanted to leave the club, and the lack of new signings has had a marked effect on just how poorly the Catalans are performing in most games.
Against Levante last weekend, Barca won the match thanks to a late Messi strike, but on balance of play, they could quite easily have lost.
The Levante players also noted just how disengaged Barca’s players were with each other.
“On the pitch, they didn’t even speak among themselves. Just the minimum at set plays and that was it,” a source in the Levante squad said to SPORT.
“After the game, in the tunnel, you didn’t hear a single thing. Not even a word of satisfaction for having beat us. It was a strange situation.”