The worst thing about Barcelona is seen in games like the one on Sunday, when it was necessary to apply more willpower than character.

The first half was a disaster mitigated by the goal, the cure to all ails. The second half was another disaster, until Henry came in to turn willpower into quality and give Eto a goal. The rest was a parenthesis of play for a Barcelona side who once again showed their dependency on the spark of the few and the mediocrity of the many. Only Iniesta with sporadic seizures of life attempted to inject life into the unimpressive Blaugrana corpse, and of course Henry who finally put pen to the paper of his popularity and brought back flashing memories of a certain Gunners striker. What happened, one may ask to such a talented Barcelona side? First, the injuries and second the forgetfulness happened.

FC Barcelona has forgotten (at least in this league) that winning depends on playing the games; at least for the big teams of the world. You see, losing is at the reach of everybody; and that has been shown in amplitude in this current campaign. But to win, in certain circumstances, either there is quality or there is nothing left. Those two defensive mistakes which gave Almeria the two goals came from a lack of concentration. And in football, just like in life, a lack of concentration is conducive to failure. Maybe on Thursday, for their Spanish Cup semi-final, things will be different and we will have to eat our words. But as a norm, what happened and what happens is what we saw Sunday in Almeria.