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.