The suggestion that they might end the season with fewer than two trophies seemed absurd as recently as a fortnight ago. Barcelona, with a lethal front three that is in some quarters considered the best of all time, looked well-placed to become the first team to retain the Champions League. Another treble wasn't even beyond the realm of possibility.
After throwing away a two-goal lead at Villarreal in mid-March, Barcelona then lost at home after going ahead in the Clasico to ten-man Real Madrid. They beat Atletico - though they were fortunate that Luis Suarez had stayed on the pitch to score a brace - but have since lost to the same opposition and to the relatively lowly Real Sociedad.
That run has seen them fall behind four times in five games, as many times as they had in their previous 20 matches. They have also conceded as many goals in this recent poor run as they did in 13 before it.
Barcelona have scored just five goals in five games. They have scored five or more in nine different matches already this season. Clearly, something is up.
They are keeping possession in their usual dominant manner, enjoying no less than 65 per cent of the ball in any game in their recent poor run, but are patently lacking much of the creative spark, dynamism and burst of pace that made them such a threat in the final third for the majority of the season. In their last three league matches they have mustered six 'clear cut' chances. They created eight in one game prior to this run.
Barcelona had not lost a single game since early October and had won 22 of their last 24 matches before this recent run threatened to decimate their season, and while in La Liga they may be able to rely on the healthy lead they had already built up, the knockout rounds of the Champions League have not been so forgiving. Even the one-off Copa del Rey final against Sevilla at the end of the season looks a daunting proposition as things stand.
Luis Enrique's side now have seven games to save their season and worryingly, the momentum they so recently had now looks to have run out.
Retaining a trophy - let alone three - is much more difficult than winning it in the first place, so it has been a tiring and testing season for a much-scrutinised Barcelona team who everybody wants to beat.
Nonetheless, a team of their talents will be immensely disappointed if they don't end this slump quickly and will have done something even more surprising than another treble if they end up trophyless. That was unthinkable a few weeks ago, but things have taken a terrible turn in Catalonia.