Barcelona captain admits 'serious situation', says sacking Koeman the easy way out

FC Barcelona captain Sergio Busquets is not going to deny that his club is in a crisis. Following their second consecutive 3-0 defeat in the UEFA Champions League Group Stage, the Spaniard admitted that they are facing a "serious situation"

Barcelona visited Lisbon to take on Benfica at the Estadio da Luz on Wednesday. They were riding on the high of a convincing La Liga victory against Levante on Sunday, but that joy was short-lived. Following a 3-0 thrashing at the hands of Bayern Munich in their Champions League opener, they suffered the same fate in Portugal.

Despite this, Busquets believes that the solution is not simply firing manager Ronald Koeman. He thinks that everyone in the club has played a part in the crisis and must also take part in the recovery.

"In the end, the easiest thing is to dismiss the coach. However, we all have responsibilities," he said, during the post-match press conference.

Ronald Koeman has been on the chopping block throughout the season, and a string of disappointing results both in La Liga and the Champions League have seen speculations rise about his possible dismissal. The back-to-back losses in Europe did not help his case.

Busquets went on to speak about the club's current Champions League standing at the bottom of Group E. "We're in a serious situation, we have only had two games but we have zero points. We have to think about moving up the table, we have no other choice."

The captain, who took over after the departure of Lionel Messi this summer, said that they have no choice but to think positive at this time. Last night's performance was mediocre at best, with not a single shot on target from the Barcelona attack. However, Busquets does not think it was as bad as it seemed.

"But we had a lot of crosses. We had chances which ended up with shots a few metres from goal. The stats are all well and good, but those are chances to score," he said.

Unfortunately, chances were not converted, and the Blaugrana now find themselves facing a must-win match against Dynamo Kiev in their next Group Stage match. Back in La Liga, the coming month will also be very difficult, with matches against reigning champions Atletico Madrid and Valencia coming up before "El Clasico" against Real Madrid at the end of the month.