Barcelona injury crisis compounds misery as life after Ronald Koeman only worsens

While Barcelona supporters presumably felt some relief and respite from their recent pain when Ronald Koeman was relieved of his duties as head coach, they were only allowed to bask in that glow for a matter of days.

Then, reality bit them - twice as hard.

The Blaugrana were already having to stretch their squad to its limit when they welcomed Alaves to a half-empty Camp Nou, and given the lack of turnout for the occasion, 'hope' was clearly in short supply.

Supporters were right to be pessimistic over their beloved club's fortunes, too, as Barça somehow ended up in a worse state than they were 90 minutes prior, despite witnessing some crumbs of positivity and comfort on their luxurious green turf.

Nico and Gavi were bright, beaming beacons of light in the midfield, while a string of youngsters all came on to show the city of Barcelona what the future may look like over the course of the next decade.

But until then, it's only going to get worse before it gets better - starting with the immediate future. If a 1-1 draw with Alaves at Camp Nou wasn't bad enough, Sergi Barjuan's debut in the dugout forced him into two injury-induced substitutions, and to key players, too.

Sergio Aguero worryingly went down clutching his throat and chest in the first half, and was later taken to hospital to have checks on a reported high heart rate. That issue could be nothing more than a fleeting scare, and let's hope that's the case for the prolific Argentine.

His first-half exit was matched by Gerard Pique in the second, as the Barça legend limped off with yet another fitness issue. Not so surprising given his advancing years, but equally as worrying, given how dependant they remain on the 34-year-old.

That meant that not only are Barcelona having to rely on two teenagers in their engine room (one of whom went off with a potential injury himself), they were accompanied by three other starlets off the bench.

Riqui Puig, Alejandro Balde and Abde Ezzalzouli all entered in the latter stages, but none of them could make the difference - nor can we expect them to, in truth.

The major concern for the Catalan giants is that their injury list should not be nearly as worrying as their other off-field problems, and yet, they face an immediate crisis in fielding an even recognisable starting lineup in the coming weeks.

While supporters have probably given up on the Spanish league title, there must be serious fears that Barça will miss out on Champions League qualification altogether, and could even end up finishing this year's European campaign in the dreaded Europa League.

They face a huge trip to take on Dynamo Kyiv in midweek, where anything other than a victory may well put knockout round qualification out of their grasp. And they're having to do so without a number of key faces.

Barcelona know that it's time to look to the future, but it's impossible to do so and simultaneously ignore what's happening before their very eyes. Sacking Koeman was supposed to be the answer, but judging by the tepid performance on Saturday and the stack of problems piling up, the questions being asked are only the beginning.

Despite bringing all of these problems on themselves, you could almost feel sorry for Barcelona...couldn't you?