La Liga's return has magnified the return of sunshine to Spain this summer following a difficult number of months for the country.
Unfortunately for FC Barcelona, their poor performances continue to cast long shadows over the Camp Nou.
The Catalan club conceded further ground to Real Madrid in the title race, after Tuesday night's draw with Atletico Madrid, their third since the league resumed.
Barcelona's worries aren't solely restricted to poor performances on the pitch, according to Graham Hunter who joined Tuesday's OTB AM.
"They haven't noticed over the last four years how despicably bad the ideas behind the club, the decision making, the corrosion of the bible that made them special."
Much of the trouble stems from a lack of direction at the top of the club, at the board level. Josep Maria Bartomeu has one year left as club president, with a vote to elect a new president, due to take place in 2021.
Bartomeu's, relationship with Lionel Messi has already been called into question on more than one occasion this year, and the disconnect between the pair has seemingly grown in recent weeks, but the level of chaos at the club has gone on for far longer.
Unfortunately for the board, Messi is still fundamental to everything that Barcelona do well on the pitch.
The "trouble is this is a compound fracture whereby the board is enthralled to Messi because they cannot afford to be the ones that either call Messi to heel, or [say] we need a new mature version of Leo Messi," Hunter said.
The captain's influence on the pitch and over the entire club has been a point of issue for some time.
Since the arrivals, of key players like Luis Suarez, Ivan Rakitic, and Marc- Andre ter Stegen in 2014, there has been huge financial outlay on players, like Phillipe Coutinho, with little return on the pitch.
This has meant that the core group of players, like Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, and Jordi Alba, to name a few, that have given so much to the club over the past decade, continue to hold huge sway over the dressing room, and beyond.
This is a sign of the clubs' dysfunction, according to Hunter.
The journalist questioned the logic behind players having such influence off the pitch, although he conceded that the lack of direction from the board has allowed this to happen.
"Are they able to run a club, and run a squad, and run a dressing room," simultaneously?
The misdirection at multiple levels has led to stagnation on the pitch.
Barcelona is playing in a lethargic manner, and it has shown in their recent performances, during lacklustre wins against Athletic Bilbao and their draws with Sevilla, Celta Vigo and the aforementioned Atletico Madrid.
The fluid and incisive style of football created under Johann Cruyff and championed under Pep Guardiola has been lost to a brand of football where players look to Messi ever increasingly to produce individual magic, and this is the most disappointing aspect of their decline for Hunter.
"What I will cry about is if we lose the Cruyff way of life. If we lose the principles of Barcelona. They became the leading light, the torchbearers for a brand of football that the world fell in love with."
Barcelona travels to Villareal on Sunday, knowing that their grasp on the championship has been prized from them by Real Madrid. The disappointing part for the Catalan side is that they have ceded it entirely themselves.
There will be little respite for them in the Champions League, in August, as they still have to get past a finely balanced last 16, second leg tie against Napoli, before the quarter-finals even begin in Lisbon.
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