Barcelona have endured a month to forget.
La Blaugrana ended March with a stunning 4-0 defeat of Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu and followed that up with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Sevilla.
But since then, note Diario Sport, things have gone wrong.
Barcelona lost to Eintracht Frankfurt to exit the Europa League – a competition they wanted to win – at the quarter-final stage.
They scraped a victory over Levante before suffering defeat to Cadiz and Rayo Vallecano at Camp Nou, beating Real Sociedad narrowly in between. It’s created a negative atmosphere.
The loss of Pedri, who succumbed to injury during the duel with Eintracht, has been pivotal. But it shouldn’t have had this much of an effect on Barcelona’s form.
They’ve gone from playing with reckless abandon to being unable to break down even the most humble of opponents.
It’s now up to Xavi Hernandez to recalibrate his troops to ensure there’s no slip-ups in the race for a Champions League place.
The title is gone – Barcelona are 15 points behind leaders Madrid.
But they’re level on points with Sevilla, two ahead of Atletico Madrid and six clear of Real Betis. There’s five games left and they’ll want to secure their top four place as soon as possible.
