Barcelona back to square one - and they must improve against free-scoring City

COMMENT: Luis Enrique's side were made to look ordinary against Malaga at Camp Nou and their latest loss raises serious doubts over their recent return to form

Back to square one for Barcelona. After 11 straight wins and some superb showings in recent weeks, Luis Enrique's side ran into a brick wall against Malaga on Saturday - for the second time this season. And as Manchester City await in the Champions League on Tuesday, the signs are very worrying indeed.

Malaga frustrated Barca back in September at La Rosaleda, when the Catalans failed to register a single shot on target. However, Luis Enrique said on Friday: "We are a different team now."

But are they really? Barca's first effort on target this time came via a Luis Suarez header just short of the seven-minute mark. And 15 seconds later, they were behind as Dani Alves' awful back-pass fell way short of goalkeeper Claudio Bravo and Juanmi kept his cool to round the Chilean and net as Jordi Alba sprinted back to try and save his fellow full-back.

It was a gift of a goal, but Barca's high line can be prone to such attacks. Malaga gave the home side problems all afternoon with their quick breaks from deep positions and their intense pressing high up the pitch. If the two league games had been a knockout tie, the Andalusians would have triumphed. Barca, be warned.

Perhaps more concerning than the nature of the goal and how it was conceded, however, was the fact that Barca barely looked like scoring in a match at home against a supposedly limited rival.

Indeed, this match evoked memories of the 1-0 loss at Camp Nou against Celta Vigo in early November, when Luis Enrique's side huffed and puffed but were stifled with relative ease and ultimately created very little.

Bigger teams will likely come out and attack more than Malaga. The Andalusians defended desperately with 11 men behind the ball at times and played very much on the edge with a number of niggly tactical fouls at key moments.

But Barca should be used to that by now and with the world's finest forwards in their midst, much more was expected. Instead, Lionel Messi was working wonders out wide, only to see his good work wasted as soon as he found a team-mate in the centre. Arguably, that's where he should have been all along, although the lack of space afforded by Malaga's defenders made it difficult. And as the afternoon wore on, Barca's best player dropped deeper and deeper - which is rarely a positive sign.

So nothing new for the Catalans. Without Messi's heroics to see them through this one, Luis Enrique's side were made to look ordinary and this latest loss means they are likely to find themselves four points adrift of league leaders Real Madrid on Sunday, with the title out of their hands once again.

The defeat to Malaga is also the worst possible preparation for Tuesday's trip to City in the Champions League, especially with Manuel Pellegrini's men free-scoring in their own fixture against Newcastle on Saturday. So despite all their good work in recent weeks, Barca are back to square one and they now need to prove themselves all over again. What a waste.