Barcelona coach Gerardo Martino needs to find a quick fix for whatever is ailing his team or his first season in charge at the Nou Camp is likely to end without major silverware.
Barca turned in one of their worst performances since the Argentine took over as Saturday's shock 1-0 Primera Liga defeat at lowly Real Valladolid opened the way for Real Madrid to stretch their lead at the top.
Although the Catalan giants dominated possession as usual, they squandered what few genuine chances they managed to create against ultra-defensive opponents, with Lionel Messi and Neymar the main culprits.
Barca were a shadow of the team that blazed a trail in Spain and Europe under Pep Guardiola, and the club’s fans will be casting envious glances toward Germany, where Guardiola’s new club, Bayern Munich, swept to another impressive win in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
“We lacked what makes us Barca,” Martino said.
“Good elaboration in our build-up, finding spaces, breaking through on the wings and having depth.
“We had very few chances of actually running at goal and we almost always had to fight against 10 defenders. A good solution would have been creating more space.”
In-form Real opened up a four-point lead over Martino’s side with a win at home against Levante.
Despite Saturday’s performance, variously labelled “pitiful”, “shameless” and “suicidal” in the Spanish media, Barca, who are chasing a fifth La Liga title in six years, are still alive on three fronts.
They have a 2-0 lead over Manchester City ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League last-16, second-leg match at the Nou Camp and play at Real’s Bernabeu stadium in the “el clasico” in two weeks.
Barcelona also meet their bitter rivals in the Copa del Rey final on April 16, when they will be seeking revenge for their defeat in the showpiece match in 2011.
“We had to win at the Bernabeu [in La Liga] regardless,” Martino said. “Currently we aren’t at our best, and we have to find our best form in order to play against teams like Real Madrid. We have 15 days to do it.”
Barca fullback Dani Alves said Saturday’s result was “very negative”, but insisted he and his teammates would “fight until the end”.
“But now we don’t depend on ourselves and that complicates things,” he said. “We will never give up, we will fight until the end, like we’ve always done. There isn’t time for complaints, we have to keep on fighting.”
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