The La Liga side are not happy with the way they are playing and needed a meeting to "foster team spirit" according to reports in Spain
Joelinton of Newcastle United in action with Pedri of Barcelona
Joelinton of Newcastle United in action with Pedri of Barcelona
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Newcastle United's Champions League opponents Barcelona have held an emergency squad meeting in the aftermath of their trip to St James' Park.
Barca scraped a 1-1 draw in the first leg of the tie on Tyneside but the La Liga side were far from their best. In fact, head coach Hansi Flick cancelled a scheduled training session on Wednesday and told the players to report yesterday.
Since then influential Barca star Ronald Araujo invited the whole squad and coaching staff to a restuarant for a dinner. And while the occasion tied in with Araujo's 27th birthday, the purpose of the meeting has been described as "varied" as the players want to discuss how flat Barcelona were in the first game.
Barca face Sevilla at the Nou Camp in front of 62,000 fans at the revamped stadium this weekend before the second leg against United. A report in Marca read: "The gathering also aims to foster team unity at a crucial point in the season and is, moreover, one of the ways the defender has found to thank everyone for their support and affection in recent months.
"The Uruguayan had to withdraw from training for a few weeks due to psychological problems from which he has now recovered."
Flick had said after the 1-1 draw: "We lost the ball too many times. We didn't play well with the ball; we lost possession too often, and that's what Newcastle wants.
"We knew they're very quick when they pass the ball. It wasn't easy, but I'm very happy with my team, especially the defence; we defended very well on the pitch."
Flick also added: "We have to accept it, but we have to do it much better next week.
"It's not easy because here, the atmosphere was fantastic, they played also fantastic. Obviously, they have a lot of dynamic, very fast players and it's not easy.
"You have to always been 100% focused, concentration has to be high and we did it in the defence very well."
Newcastle go into the second leg as underdogs but should take encouragement from the fact Barca are also in a bit of dissarray.
Despite being top of the table and holding a lead over Real Madrid by four points, they were dumped out of the Spanish Cup by Atletico Madrid after a 4-3 aggregate defeat last week.
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