Why Sergio Busquets’ criticism of the Barcelona board is fully justified

Sergio Busquets is a player who prefers to stay away from the spotlight and do his talking on the pitch, ensuring Barca’s engine continues to tick with his vision, positioning and charisma. However, in the rare occasions in which he decides to speak to the world’s media, his words are loud and clear.

Following Barca’s frustrating home defeat (1-3) against Real Madrid in the first leg of the SuperCopa, Busquets did not hesitate to demand much-needed new signings in order to reinforce the Blaugrana squad after the unexpected departure of Neymar:

“We try to improve the team regardless of the result of the Super Cup match. Those who come will be welcome. After Neymar’s departure, we know that we need mostly offensive players, but we need to improve in all positions and aspects. With Neymar’s departure evidently the team lost an attacking level, because you realise the footballer that is Neymar, there everyone will agree. About that we have Messi-dependence, in the end when you have the best player in the world in your team you know that the more he participates the better for the team.”

As if that wasn’t enough, Busquets not only reinforced his message the following day, but went a step further and called out general manager Pep Segura for their irresponsible behaviour in front of the cameras:

“We did not lose because of Gerard Pique’s mistake, and having someone from the board pointing that out does not help. It’s not the best way to express yourself and even less so from within the club, aimed at a player. We knew what could happen from the start of the game. We had a good first half, but after their goal we opened up and we couldn’t change things with the equaliser. When they have space, and on the counter-attack, they’re almost unstoppable. We don’t give up the trophy as lost. It’s difficult but we have to keep believing as a team. We have to be good defensively. Scoring three goals won’t be easy but we’ve done it there plenty of times.”

As we discussed at length in Episode 24 of The Barcelona Podcast,  it is evident that the player-board relationships are difficult at this moment in time. Key squad members are aware that the team has weakened over the summer and patience is running out in order to find a fix.

You can listen to our in-depth analysis on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud or via your preferred podcast app.

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