Barcelona in crisis: 'Messi' affair could cost coach his job

Lucho is mucho groucho. Barcelona's coach is in the midst of a full blown crisis. His loss to David Moyes-led Real Sociedad seems to have broken the camel's back. Leaving Lionel Messi and Neymar on the bench has turned the dressing room against him.

Tactically, he has been all over the place. He still doesn't know his best side. Luis Enrique is on his last legs. Safe to say that as a football coach you need to know which players to pick battles with. Enrique has taken on the wrong players and he doesn't have the results to get the board on his side.

The club, already facing a transfer ban, can ill-afford to lose any players, let alone someone like Messi. Replacing the coach, therefore, is the easier option. Enrique first decided to let Messi and a few others have an extended Christmas break and then dropped him to the bench. In hindsight, the decision to let the four time Ballon d'Or winner enjoy Christmas merriment longer than other players suggests that Enrique had already decided that he wasn't going to start with the Argentinean. It was a poor decision. One that could cost him his job.

But this is merely something which has brought the ongoing crisis to a head. Luis Enrique hasn't been able to replicate the style with which Barcelona played under Johan Cruyff or Pep Guardiola. In fact, tactically he has left both fans and players confused.

His teams are neither direct in attack, nor fluid in possession. With most players on the other side of the divide, the board is under immense pressure to find a new coach. Josep Maria Bartomeu has a real challenge on his hands. Andoni Zubizarreta's flawed transfer dealings have left gaping holes in the Blaugrana squad; his departure doesn't come as a surprise. Bartomeu too faces serious questions over his ability to lead Barca; the FIFA ban has hurt his position tremendously and so did the Neymar transfer controversy.

Messi too is unhappy with how Josep refused to publicly support him during his own tax investigations.

Enrique could become the proverbial sacrificial lamb.

Original news source