A week after suffering a fourth elimination from a European competition in a single year, probably the last thing Barcelona would want is a trip to the home of their fiercest rivals.
Even worse, this evening’s clasico, the Bernabeu leg of Real Madrid and Barca’s Copa del Rey semi-final, coincides with a spate of injuries to their most potent attacking players.
There will be no Ousmane Dembele or Pedri because of injury and almost certainly no Robert Lewandowski, who withdrew from last weekend’s dispiriting 1-0 defeat at Almeria with a thigh problem.
That trio have been the club’s three highest scorers so far in a season that has lurched suddenly, since giving away a lead against Manchester United and losing their Europa League qualifying tie, into uncertainty.