And Barca watched La Liga slipped away

Agency Reporter

Barcelona’s recent grip on the La Liga title has slipped away and there is a deep sense of frustration within the club and among fans at how this season has gone, with an overriding sense that they have thrown it away.

Barca were in pole position for a third consecutive title when the campaign re-started in June but have drawn three of their nine games while Zinedine Zidane`s Real Madrid have been on a relentless run of victories on course to lift the trophy for a record 34th  time.

The team have often looked predictable and only produced one top display, a 4-1 thrashing of Villarreal, while Setien has admitted to being out of his depth, ill-equipped to dealing with the needs of Barca’s big-name players while also paying tribute to Real Madrid for their relentless run.

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“I accept some responsibility but not all of it. These assessments always focus on the coach but I don’t feel I’ve done things too badly because we drew three games,” Setien told ESPN.”I would give more credit to Madrid for winning every game.”

Barcelona’s fall began with defeat by Athletic Bilbao and has witnessed a managerial change and a scandal affecting the club’s president and hierarchy.

It is likely to end with no domestic silverware for the first time since the 2007-08 season.

Lionel Messi, meanwhile, has looked increasingly frustrated, lashing out at sporting director Eric Abidal in January and the board in March over the handling of a pay-cut.

With the benefit of hindsight, sacking Ernesto Valverde in January when the team were top of the table looks like a big mistake. Barca may not have been playing thrill-a-minute football under Valverde but he had led them to the last two titles by a landslide and was popular among the leading players.

“If we have lost the league it’s because we let it slip away,” Barca striker Luis Suarez told newspaper Sport. “You can look for excuses and point to what happened in other games (involving Real) but we have to be aware that we let it escape due to our own errors.”