There was plenty of quick controversy to be had over whether The Cules suffered an unrelated, yet unavoidable at some stage, defeat in El Clasico, or whether it is an mark of a malaise brought on as a result of a long year.
Add in the international break and the trip involved for their South American stars, and the the real that The Cules have competed in 6 competitions in total this year, and the risk is absolutely there that this is more than a bad conclusion.
It could be tiredness setting in, the transfer of soccer resetting itself and, just perhaps, the ongoing record of no team retaining the UEFA Champions League affecting the club's mindset.
After the hopelessly quiet performance in El Clasico from all 3, Barcelona admirers and governance analogous will be hoping that their collapse was only for that one-off 90 minutes, and that they'll now hit back to terrorise negotiable the best defence in world football.
Date: Tuesday, April 5
Time: 7:45 p.m. BST/2:45 p.m. ET
Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona
TV Info: BT Sport Europe (UK), Fox Sports 1, Fox Deportes (USA)
The Cules long unbeaten run, tension back to early October, was brought to an end at the weekend by arch-rivals Real Madrid, with El Clasico finishing in a come-from-behind tirumph for the capital city club. As a one-off, and in the context of the latterly Liga table, it's not the end of the planet for Barcelona—but it did mark a 2nd consecutive league match without a gain.