Beaten 5-1 on aggregate by Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup. No Neymar. No sign of his replacement. No sign of Lionel Messi's signature on a new contract.
How has it gone so wrong for a team that was lifting the Spanish Cup just three months ago. Sportsmail asks who is to blame and what they intend to do about it?
That's a good starting place: who's to blame for this mess?
Well coach Ernesto Valverde hinted on Wednesday night that Neymar should take some of the responsibility, saying: 'Things have happened in the pre-season that have not helped us.' Had the Brazilian staged his disappearing act before the US tour Barca might not now be racing against the clock to replace him.
But the board had plenty of time to act. They knew he was off.
Gerard Pique made that point last week. Neymar was cooking up his departure as far back as Messi's wedding at the end of June. The players knew what was coming and even though there is now almost no relationship between them and the directors, the people who run the club should have known and reacted sooner.
Why are the players and directors not talking?
Pique has pointed the finger at the suits. One of them – general manager Pep Segura - hung Pique out to dry after the Spanish Super Cup first leg saying: 'The game changed after Gerard's mistake.' So yes there is a cold war of sorts. Sergio Busquets has urged everyone to start rowing in the same direction but it may be a bit late for that.
They want the president gone. 'Bartomeu resign now' is a global trending topic and with former president Joan Laporta waiting in the wings he could be the big sacrifice if the season starts badly.
And why has he still not signed Messi up to a new contract?
The deal is agreed and has been announced but until the ink dries on the paper supporters are nervous. Messi is not about to turn his back on the club in this time of need but he could delay signing so as to keep the pressure up on the board to sort things out.
So how do they sort things out?
They need to sign players. It's a head-scratcher why they have not joined the race for Kylian Mbappe. If you lose the third-best player in the world the ballsy thing would have been to go out and buy the kid who looks like he will be in the top three in a couple of years' time. Instead they are sticking with targets they know – Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho.
They went for Dembele last summer but wouldn't cough up the €15m asking price, so he went to Dortmund who are now asking for north of €100m. And Coutinho was first identified in the middle of last season as they tried to bring in a Brazilian team-mate for Neymar. So lines of communication had already been opened and in the Neymar-induced panic they have tried to get those two over the line.
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