SETTABLOID

Following a controversial 3-2 defeat at the hands of Real Madrid, Barcelona’s title hopes are all but gone and the club are staring at a trophyless campaign.

Keeping that in mind, the Barcelona board is likely to fast-track the preparation for the summer ahead, with the club expected to endure a busy transfer window.

Regardless of whether or not Xavi stays at Camp Nou, Barcelona have the daunting task of not only strengthening the squad but also balancing their books and returning to the 1:1 rule.

No big signings this summer

However, a recent report from Toni Juanmarti has painted a rather grim picture of Barcelona’s prospects in the upcoming summer transfer window.

The Spanish journalist claims Barça are not in a position to sign any top-quality players this summer. As such, the club won’t make any big-name signings and are likely to depend heavily on player sales.

This comes even against the backdrop of Barcelona reportedly prioritising a move for Joshua Kimmich – their number one target in the defensive midfield position.

Juanmarti adds that barring a miracle, returning to the 1:1 rule is virtually impossible for the Catalans, which in turn, could greatly cripple the club’s powers in the market, once again.

How will it impact Xavi’s future?

Barcelona having their hands tied in the market once again might not bode well for Xavi’s prospects of continuing at the club.

It is clear that Xavi wants Barça to sign top-quality players if he opts to stay at the club. But that is not a possibility given the club’s ongoing financial hardship.

The Barcelona board knows they cannot make any promises to Xavi. As such, the Spaniard could be allowed to move on as he desired in the first place.

Should Xavi leave, Barcelona are likely to look for a coach who is willing to work with limited finances and build the team from scratch. Perhaps that is what makes Rafa Marquez such an appealing option for the board right now, as it prepares for life without Xavi.

Barcelona President Joan Laporta has requested that the club immediately be provided with the documentation from the referee’s report and the audio and visuals from the VAR room during their 3-2 defeat to Real Madrid. Laporta feels there was a manifest error in the decision not to give the ghost goal Lamine Yamal thought he had scored.

Laporta released a statement from Barcelona’s official social media accounts requesting the materials, and stating that if there was an error from the refereeing team, they will pursue legal action in order to have the game replayed.

“From Barcelona Football Club we will immediately request the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) and the RFEF to provide us with all the images and audio generated by the play (of Lamine Yamal’s ghost goal). If, once the documentation has been analysed, the club understands that there was an error in the assessment of the play, which is what we think, we will implement the appropriate measures that are necessary to reverse the situation without, obviously, ruling out judicial situations that may arise. If it is confirmed that it was a legal goal as we think, we will go further and ask for a replay of the match just as happened in another European match due to a VAR error.”

“As president of Barca, I want to convey the dissatisfaction caused by the fact that, one day after one of the most important matches on the world calendar, a tool such as VAR is setting our agenda. I have never been one of the great defenders of VAR because it takes away spontaneity from the game. But, since we have it, I am in favour of using it to avoid errors that lead to unfair decisions, rather than creating confusion and showing contradictory criteria depending on the games and the teams.”

Laporta cites another European competition, which MD point out is referring to a game between Genk and Anderlecht in Belgium, which will be replayed at the end of the regular season due to a VAR error. Laporta went on to claim that VAR is not achieving its goal to correct refereeing errors, but rather causing more incorrect decisions.

Frenkie de Jong will no longer play for Barcelona again this season following an ankle injury he sustained last night against Real Madrid.

It was suspected that the ankle injury he sustained could keep him out for at least a month and has now been confirmed.

As such, the game against Real Madrid will be the midfielder’s last one of the season and there may even be a possibility that it could turn out to be his final one for Barcelona.

Indeed, as per AS, Frenkie de Jong’s future at Barcelona is very much up in the air heading into the summer transfer window especially given the club’s financial needs and the fact that the midfielder has a high stock in the Premier League.

It must be noted that De Jong is on an ascending contract and his salary next season will be greater than what he earns currently, with the deal continuing until 2026.

As such, the Barcelona management feels that this might be the right time to offload the Netherlands international, more so if the midfielder does not accept the terms offered to him as part of a new contract, which will certainly be lower than what he currently pockets.

Given this complicated situation, everything is open as far as De Jong’s future. No matter how much the midfielder insists that he wants to stay, the file remains open at the club.

There are admirers for him in the Premier League while more recently Bayern Munich have also shown an interest in him.

As per reports over the weekend, Barcelona will seek a minimum transfer fee of €70 million if they do decide to part ways with the former AFC Ajax star.

With their defeat at the hands of Real Madrid in the last El Clasico of the 2023-24 season, everything indicates that FC Barcelona are going to lose their league title to the Merengues.

As was the case against Paris Saint Germain in their last match, the Catalans were in a position to win this match at multiple points in the game. However, Xavi’s men were unable to sustain their advantage, and Madrid went on to take their chances and win the match in injury time at the end of the second half.

Joao Cancelo was once again one of the worst performers for FC Barcelona, and was unable to improve on his mistakes that he made in the game against PSG. His inability to track Lucas Vazquez back led to Madrid’s second goal that removed Barcelona’s lead.

As a result, he has been facing a lot of criticism following the match. As Mundo Deportivo has noted, two of the more notable names to have taken the fullback to task for his poor performance were the former Dutch players, Marco van Basten and Ronald de Boer.

Van Basten, a three-time Ballon d’Or winner, blasted the Portuguese international in a Dutch TV program for not having learned from his past mistakes: “It’s crazy that Cancelo keeps repeating his mistakes at 29 years old.”

A former member of the defensive ranks at La Liga giants Barcelona has moved to defend the Blaugrana, on the back of their meeting with Real Madrid.

Barca, of course, marked their return to action on Sunday night, making the trip to Spain’s capital for the latest edition of El Clásico.

Xavi’s troops headed into proceedings in the knowledge that nothing but a victory would suffice, in efforts to keep the club’s feint title hopes alive.

When all was said and done, however, it was Real Madrid who emerged triumphant, thanking a last-gasp Jude Bellingham strike for an eventual 3-2 result.

The full-time whistle at the Santiago Bernabéu, however, has since been followed by an absolute wave of debate, surrounding some of the key decisions en route to Real’s Clásico win.

Two in particular – a penalty awarded to Lucas Vázquez, and a non-awarded Barcelona goal – have sparked the most widespread chatter, with those of a Blaugrana persuasion having made clear that they feel as though their side were essentially robbed of three points.

And one individual who has since moved to provide his two cents on as much comes in the form of Barca legend Gerard Piqué.

Speaking on the live Twitch stream of Spanish personality Ibai Llanos, former stopper Piqué revealed his take that the team of officials got both the penalty decision and ‘ghost goal’ call wrong:

“I think it’s not a penalty and you know that I always try to be very objective. Lucas Vázquez puts his right foot in such a way to impact Cubarsí. And then with the images, it is very difficult, but I think it is a goal.”

Barcelona’s 3-2 defeat to Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu last night closed the curtains on any small hopes the team had remaining in La Liga.

In a span of just five days, the Catalans have now seen their dreams in both the UEFA Champions League and La Liga crash and a trophy-less season is now certain.

One of the silver linings from the club’s otherwise disastrous season, needless to say, has been the rise of Lamine Yamal.

Once again last night, the youngster shone brightly against Los Blancos and single-handedly led the team’s attack.

Despite Real Madrid taking all three points against Barcelona last night and boasting several top candidates to win the Man of the Match award, La Liga officially declared Barcelona’s Yamal as the winner of the same.

To win the accolade in a losing cause in El Clasico only goes to show the impact the youngster had on the game despite the result not going his way.

In 90 minutes, the teenage phenom recorded three shots on target, a successful dribble, and completed 100% of his attempted long balls.

He gave Real Madrid’s Eduardo Camavinga a nightmare down the right flank and should have even won a penalty for Barcelona had the officiating been better.

Yamal’s biggest moment of the game came in the first half when he skilfully flicked the ball from a tight angle after a corner kick to challenge Andriy Lunin’s goal.

The ball, quite clearly, crossed the line and should have been declared as a Barcelona goal. La Liga’s criminal lack of goal-line technology, however, cost the academy star his moment in El Clasico and handed Barcelona an undeserved blow.

After a Lamine Yamal goal was disallowed by VAR in Barcelona’s 3-2 defeat at Real Madrid, Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández criticised the officiating in LaLiga, which does not use goal line technology.

Vinicius Jr and Lucas Vazquez’s goals helped Real equalise twice after Andreas Christensen and Fermin Lopez had put Barca ahead on Sunday.

Yamal’s effort in the 28th minute was reviewed by VAR for several minutes, as it appeared to cross the line before Real keeper Andrey Lunin cleared it. The goal was disallowed and VAR awarded a corner to Barca.

Jude Bellingham scored the decider in the 91st minute, securing Real’s fourth consecutive win over the Catalan side. Second-placed Barca trail by 11 points, a deficit that will be difficult to overturn with six games remaining.

Barcelona head coach Xavi refused to hold back, in taking aim at both the officials responsible for overseeing his side’s defeat to Real Madrid, and La Liga as a whole.

A member of the attacking ranks at Barcelona was handed the Man of the Match award on Sunday night, despite his side’s defeat at the hands of Real Madrid.

Making the trip to the Santiago Bernabéu, the Blaugrana went toe-to-toe with arch rivals Real Madrid, with the club’s domestic season essentially on the line.

When all was said and done, however, Xavi and co. were forced to kiss their hopes of an unlikely La Liga retention goodbye.

The big question surrounding Barcelona’s starting XI heading into this game was whether Pedri would be included, but Xavi eventually decided against it, as did Carlo Ancelotti with Ferland Mendy. The French defender had not trained the day before the game, necessitating Eduardo Camavinga to fill in for him. Carlo also chose to start Lucas Vazquez and Luka Modric, while Dani Carvajal and Nacho began the game on the bench.

Real Madrid made a very poor start with Lunin giving the ball away to Raphinha very early, followed by a Vinicius error that won Barcelona an early corner. Andreas Christensen scored from the poorly defended corner to put the visitors up 1-0 within the first five minutes of the game.

Real Madrid had a fantastic chance to level the score just a couple of minutes later as Tchouameni and Modric created a great opportunity for Vinicius, but he missed from close range. However, the Brazilian made up for it by equalizing from the spot in the 18th minute after Lucas Vazquez was brought down in the box by Pau Cubarsi. Barcelona nearly went ahead again as Madrid’s poor defense against corners continued. Lunin had to deny Raphinha’s direct corner on the line to keep the scores tied.