Why Xavi’s long Barcelona goodbye could be cut short if Real Madrid humble them after Champions League exit to PSG, which exposed cracks in a tense dressing room

The end is near for Xavi. It could even happen on Sunday evening if Barcelona lose the Clásico and fall eleven points behind Real Madrid.

Defeat at the Santiago Bernabeu would give Barca a six-match run-in and only second place to play for.

For the five million euros they have to finish second [£4.27m] they will earn the Spanish Super Cup, but chasing second place is not what the club is about and May will be a long month of mostly speculation about who the new manager will be.

Circumstances beyond his control were partly his downfall Tuesday night.

Ronald Araujo’s red card made things very difficult for Barcelona, ​​but his decision to take out Barça’s most dangerous attacker, 16-year-old winger Lamine Yamal, and the fact that he was subsequently sent off – his third red as Barça coach – opened the opening goal. The floodgates open again and wave after wave of ‘he’s out of his depth’ criticism.

“Barcelona will try to win the league next season,” he said after the match, clearly distancing himself from pre-match rumours, now completely gone, that he might stay in charge next season and return to the decision he made with the club to quit this summer.

The cracks in the group started to appear after the defeat against PSG. Xavi blamed the referee, while his senior players blamed each other.

“The referee is very bad,” said Xavi. But Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen said of the red card: “It’s one of those decisions that can be made.”

Midfielder Ilkay Gundogan continued about Ronald Araujo: ‘You have to be clear that you are getting to the ball. If not, give our goalkeeper a chance. So many minutes with ten killed us.”

In many ways it still seems harsh that Xavi will carry the tin for what looks like a trophyless season. He’s right enough.

Andreas Christensen’s reinvention as a midfielder has certainly left its mark and he should get a lot of credit for the emergence of 16-year-old Yamal and 17-year-old Pau Cubarsi.

Brash moments of immaturity from his players cost him against PSG. Araujo should have been more careful. And Joao Cancelo’s foul on Ousmane Dembele was even more reckless and at such a terrible moment in the match.

And wasn’t it Xavi who always insisted Dembele was worth holding on to, while too many others said he should be sold?

No one did more than the French winger to take Barcelona out of the Champions League over two legs.

Barcelona may miss Xavi when he is gone, but now it looks like he will be gone. What happens on Sunday could determine when.

The worst-case scenario is that Real Madrid win easily and open that eleven-point gap at the top. As an institution, Barça will need something to distract from their great rivals’ procession to the title – and accelerating Xavi’s departure would certainly do that.

It is more likely that he will stay until the end of the season and leave with his head held high. At least he deserves that.

Last season he won the title in his first full season in charge and this year he has had to deal with the team playing away from Camp Nou.

Would things have been different in the old stadium if they had played there last night? “Yes” was his emphatic answer.

And he’s right: 96,000 in the Camp Nou cauldron would have made it a very different experience for PSG.

The Olympic Stadium in Montjuic is an open athletics arena with fans far from the field and a capacity of only 50,000 people.

It doesn’t help Xavi that former Barcelona coach Luis Enrique, and the man president Joan Laporta would like to put back in charge, came out on top in the match.

Now Xavi must face another management giant. If he outsmarts Carlo Ancelotti on Sunday, there remains a glimmer of hope that Barca can make a title run from the last six games.

It will be a long farewell for the 44-year-old. What seems clear after Tuesday evening is that it is definitely a farewell.