Barcelona technical director Txiki Bergiristain has admitted that the club has reached crisis point after their capitulation against Real Betis at the weekend.
Speaking in the wake of Barcelona’s 3-2 defeat to Betis – a loss that came after Frank Rijkaard’s side had squandered a a two-goal lead – Begiristain explained that the players were unable to cope when they came under pressure.
He admitted that the club intended to make changes, but would only carry those out “at the end of the season” and that 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 Barca a comfortable half-time lead in the Ruiz de Lopera, Betis came back and scored three times in the second period to record a memorable win.
Rijkaard had revealed that he was ashamed of his side’s performance, while club captain Carlos Puyol admitted that the collapse was symptomatic of the club’s season as a whole.
“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,” Bergiristain added.
“Our defence lacks consistency. The team has the capacity to fix this problem, but when their opponents are difficult, they have struggled.”
Saturday’s defeat saw Barcelona drop to third in La Liga, a point behind Villarreal and six behind leaers Real Madrid. The Catalan outfit will come under further pressure on Tuesday when they travel to Germany to face Schalke in the Champions League quarter-final first leg.
