Meltdown at Barcelona? Transfer ban opens crisis at club

That steady stream of lopsided scorelines and Messi goal records - this season he has broken both the Spanish and Champions League scoring marks - covers up the club's biggest failure: its incapacity to keep top talent both on and off the field.

First, Guardiola left the club in 2012. President Sandro Rosell resigned last year, and top players Carles Puyol, Eric Abidal and Cesc Fabregas have not been replaced.

The most perplexing part of Barcelona's decline is that most of the blows have been self-inflicted by the myriad of legal cases plaguing the club. Besides the FIFA ban that has damaged the reputation of its once lauded football academy, Rosell left amid a lawsuit into the transfer of Neymar, while Messi is mired in a tax fraud case.

Messi, so far, is holding Barcelona together, but there has been a breakout of Messi-mania recently because of reports the club's all-time leading scorer is not happy with coach Luis Enrique.

The arrival of Luis Enrique - the club's fourth coach in as many seasons _ was labeled as a return to the Guardiola model of a player coming home. But his erratic lineup choices, which included resting Messi and Neymar for the first half in Sunday's 1-0 loss at Real Sociedad that cost Barcelona the provisional league lead, have erased any comparisons other than unfavorable ones with Guardiola.

Now, the transfer ban until 2016 means that the club's institutional crisis has finally spilled over to become a sporting disaster as well.

Zubizarreta's latest batch of reinforcements from last year have not panned out. Even if Luis Suarez recovers his scoring prowess after one goal in nine league games, Barcelona has slipped in midfield and defense. Ivan Rakitic and Rafina are no Fabregas; Jeremy Mathieu and Thomas Vermaelen (still to debut because of injuries) are far from the second comings of Puyol and Abidal.

Mainstays Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta are showing their age at 34 and 30, respectively. Gerard Pique is not the dominant defender he was, and Dani Alves' contract is up at the end of the season, pointing to his exit.

As Sergio Busquets has said, "football evolves."

"It's impossible for things to stay the same," the Spain midfielder said in November. "We won't see the best Barca again."