Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Cesc Fabregas react during a Champions League game against Atletico Madrid. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
BARCELONA, Spain — Life never used to be this hard for Barcelona.
When the club first began to blow Europe away, under manager Pep Guardiola, the talk consisted entirely of silverware and tiki-taka. Between 2009 and 2012, it won 14 major trophies and never compromised on its style-first approach.
But this season, the club has taken on a siege mentality. On the field, it has grappled with injuries, a coaching transition and new, stiffer competition. Away from it, the club has faced questions on everything from its Lionel Messi's taxes to how it conducts business in the transfer market.
"We try to put them to one side," goalkeeper José Manuel Pinto said this week, "although it's true that there is a fairly strange atmosphere, some strange things are going on. We are staying focused and trying to let these things not affect us in any way, but it hurts what's happening to the club."
The speculation about Barcelona's impending demise has grown so loud in the rest of Spain that midfielder Cesc Fàbregas finds himself having to remind people that Barcelona is still in contention for three major trophies.
"Tomorrow, I have a press conference," he said Monday. "So I'm sure some questions will be like, 'This is the end of this team.' I've heard this so many times....In Spain, people want to write you off. In England, they don't write you off until you are out of everything."
Still, this is a season-defining week for the club. On Wednesday, Barcelona faces Atlético Madrid in the second leg of its home-and-away Champions League quarterfinal— the first leg here finished 1-1. And next week it takes on Real Madrid in the final of the Copa del Rey final.
Then there's the matter of the first three-horse race for the domestic league title in more than a decade, featuring both Madrid clubs. The top three teams are separated by just three points with six games to play.
"Wednesday is like a championship final, and then within 15 days we'll have another one, and we'll see what happens," midfielder Xavi said. "The final result will be the gauge of whether we had a good season or not."
Looming over all of this is the World Cup, where Spain will try to become the first team in more than 50 years to defend its title. And the fate of Barcelona is inextricably linked to the fate of the Spanish national team. It's no coincidence that Xavi and Andrés Iniesta, the souped-up twin engines of Barcelona, are veterans of all three of Spain's major trophy-winning teams from 2008 to 2012.
But age and injury are catching up. Iniesta turns 30 next month and Xavi is 34—they are probably facing their final World Cup. Xavi also appears to be headed out of Barcelona this summer.
Club captain Carles Puyol, who has struggled to stay healthy, will also end his glittering career at the club this summer when he will be 36. And goalkeeper Víctor Valdés, currently out for the season with a torn knee ligament, announced that he would leave Barcelona as well.
"They are players that made this club so big and then all of a sudden they say they leave or they want to retire or they get old, they have injury," Fàbregas said. "It is very unexpected, but we believe that Barcelona will always have the resources to replace big players and move on."
But FIFA, soccer's world governing body, is threatening that pipeline. Last week, it ruled that the club's world-famous youth system had violated several rules regarding the transfer of players under the age of 18 and banned Barcelona from buying or selling players for a year. The club denied any wrongdoing and intends to appeal the decision.
That was only the latest in a series of uncomfortable headlines for the club this season. Last fall, Messi and his father appeared in court over alleged tax fraud, which they denied. And in January, allegations of impropriety surrounding Neymar's signing resulted in Barcelona paying $18 million to the Spanish tax authority and the resignation of club president Sandro Rosell. The club denied any wrongdoing.
The team also has had three different men on the sideline, through no fault of its own. Tito Vilanova was the man selected to succeed Guardiola before the 2012-13 campaign, but a recurrence of his cancer meant his assistant, Jordi Roura, was at the helm for much of last season.
The club then appointed a full- time replacement, Gerardo Martino, but even his future is debated on a near-daily basis in the pages of Spain's four national sports dailies. So this week will go a long way to determining how he is perceived. Like his predecessors, Martino is saddled with a commitment to winning in style. The fans don't let him forget it. They demand the same artful intensity that has at times over the past five years made Barca look unbeatable.
Atlético, a more direct, hard-nosed side, has no such responsibility on Wednesday night. "They are the ones that are playing in advantage and their stadium, they don't mind if they just defend," Fàbregas said. "We cannot afford that.
"We cannot play at the Camp Nou and let the other team have the ball," he added, referring to Barca's home stadium. "People would never allow us to do that. We always have to have the control of the ball. We always have to attack. We always have to feel we are the boss of the game."
These days, what happens on the pitch is about all the club can control.
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