Madrid (AFP)

The cry of the captain's heart: after the Barcelona setback against Osasuna (2-1) Thursday in La Liga, the climax of a catastrophic season that facilitated the crowning of Real Madrid, Lionel Messi punched the table , calling his people to "change in depth".

"The feeling of the team is that they try and do not succeed": just after the final whistle, Messi spoke to wake up Barça, who lost his Spanish crown Thursday to the profit of his Madrid rival, before the European deadlines which await the Catalans in August with the Champions League.

"I said it a while ago, but if we continue like this, it will be very difficult to win the Champions League. We will have to change in depth if we want to fight for the + Champions + , because if not, the match against Naples (in the 8th final of C1's return on August 8), we will also lose it ", fulminated the sixfold Ballon d'Or at the microphone of Movistar +, after the defeat against Osasuna for the last match of the season in a Camp Nou behind closed doors.

- "Very irregular, very weak" -

Rare but powerful outing for the taciturn "Pulga" (microchip, in Spanish): with a record still virgin in 2019-2020, Barça arrives at the end of a nightmare season, marked by disappointing sports results and mini-crises in cascade.

"We did not want to end this way, but that sums up our whole year a little: we were a very irregular, very weak team, beaten to the intensity or to the envy, which collects easily", stormed the superstar Argentina during a four-minute post-match interview, an eternity for a classic media appearance by Messi.

"It is necessary to make a self-criticism, starting with the players, but a global self-criticism. It is good that Real wins all matches, it has its merit. But we are Barça and we have the obligation to win all matches, ”Messi thundered.

While Ernesto Valverde, sacked in January, was accused of destroying the DNA of Barça, his replacement Quique Setién failed to raise the bar in the second half of the season, and the Catalans continued to chain mediocre performances .

Messi is certainly still the top scorer in the championship before the last day this Sunday (23 goals), ahead of the French center-forward Real Karim Benzema (21 goals), but the exploits of the Argentinian (33 years) are no longer enough to hide nothingness.

- Self-criticism -

Antoine Griezmann, recruited from Atlético in the summer of 2019 for five years and EUR 120 million and uncertain for the round of 16 of C1 against Naples, did not integrate well into the attacking trio with Messi and Luis Suarez. And Barça was only awakened by the entrances of bright hopes Ansu Fati (17) and Riqui Puig (20).

Enough to place Setién on an ejection seat, again. "Quique Setién will lead the team for what is left of La Liga and the Champions League. Our desire is to go to the end of his contract, and that he remains next season," assured the president of Barça. , Josep Maria Bartomeu, Monday in an interview with the regional channel TV3.

But Thursday's rout against Osasuna and a disastrous end to the season called into question the Setien method.

Will Barça listen to the preaching of the Blaugrana captain? "I think we need air, we can use this break" until the Champions League, where "it only takes four games to win a title we all want", ended up cheering on Messi. "But we have to change a lot."

© 2020 AFP