Barcelona fall apart in the closing stages of matches

Barcelona have had a far from ideal start to 2020, having fallen out of two competitions as well as losing ground in LaLiga Santander's title race, and much of that has been due to their late capitulations.

In the last eight games, the Catalans have conceded ten times, and the notable pattern of those goals is when they have been scored.

Only one of those ten have come in the first half, against UD Ibiza in the Copa del Rey while the rest arrived in the second period.

Starkly, however, is the fact that six goals in the last eight matches have been let in during the last 15 minutes of the game, demonstrating a lack of concentration and energy from the Blaugrana.

With Ernesto Valverde in charge, the first match of the new year against rivals Espanyol saw Wu Lei level things up on 87 minutes.

The following encounter was the late breakdown against Atletico Madrid in the Supercopa de Espana, as Los Rojiblancos came from behind to win 3-2 in the last ten minutes of the game.

Against Valencia, Barcelona fell to a 2-0 defeat as Los Che's rampant second half performance, sealed with a strike on 76 minutes from Maxi Gomez, put Quique Setien's men to the sword.

Barcelona's Copa del Rey elimination on Thursday came via an injury time header from Inaki Williams, underpinning their recent inability to focus late on.

These late goal demonstrate that Barcelona's struggles are not only technical, but a mental issue that could prove detrimental in the business end of the campaign.