Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick reportedly held "an emergency meeting" with his players in the aftermath of the defeat to Las Palmas.
The Catalan giants have spent much of the campaign sitting top of the La Liga table, holding a clear advantage over an inconsistent Real Madrid outfit.
However, Saturday's 2-1 loss at home to Las Palmas, as well as Real Madrid's victory over Getafe, has turned the title race in Los Blancos' favour.
Although Barcelona still lead the way by a point, Real Madrid possess a game in hand heading into the next round of fixtures.
Next up for Barcelona is a showdown with surprise package Mallorca, who will only take confidence from the frontrunners failing to prevail from any of their last three matches in Spain's top flight.
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Flick criticises his players
Despite just a three-day gap between the Las Palmas game and the trip to Mallorca, Flick has allegedly taken aim at his talented squad.
As per Marca, Flick held what has been described as 'an emergency meeting' with his squad after their surprise defeat to the relegation candidates.
Flick is said to have delayed training by an hour in order to hold showdown talks with his under-performing players in a bid to restore some focus.
While Barcelona have continued to impress in the Champions League, there is seemingly genuine concern that more blips will gift a stronger advantage to their El Clasico rivals.
The report adds that Robert Lewandowski was not absent from Flick's hit-list, despite scoring 22 goals in all competitions during 2024-25.
Lewandowski, now 36 years of age, has seemingly frustrated Flick through failing to score in three of his last six appearances.
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Are there any notable statistics?
Between October 1 and November 6, Barcelona put together a seven-match winning streak that also featured an incredible 29 goals.
Nevertheless, Barcelona are now on a run of just two clean sheets from nine outings, keeping just one shutout in the six games since thrashing Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.
Barcelona have also conceded twice in each of their last two La Liga fixtures, the other occasion coming against Celta Vigo when holding a 2-0 lead.
That has contributed to Barcelona now possessing just the joint-seventh best defensive record in the division.
Darren Plant
