It's all gone Ron
Last updated: 18th March 2008
Ronaldinho: big problems
When Robinho for example did the same thing and turned up at Real Madrid having drunk all night, he was dropped out of the squad by Fabio Capello. He took a look at himself, woke up and changed his lifestyle. For some reason Ronaldinho hasn't been able to do that.
Graham Hunter
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Wake up and smell the coffee!
That was Graham Hunter's chilling advice to Ronaldinho as the crisis engulfing the Brazilian and Barcelona hit rock-bottom at the weekend.
Revista's man out in Spain pulled no punches as a late equaliser from Almeria saw Frank Rijkaard's men fail to capitalise on defeat for Real Madrid and off the field, things took a turn for the worse on Monday.
It was then that the club's medical staff, with permission from on high, revealed that Ronaldinho was absent again even though he is not injured.
It raised more questions about his future, but more importantly for Hunter proved that arguably the best player on the planet has problems that run far deeper than a few aches and pains.
"I think we're now uncovering the reason he has been unfit for so long before the turn of the year," he said.
Isolated
"When he started to get back to form and lose weight, the key was him admitting to the club and to his physical trainer 'I've been drinking too much beer'.
"He's lonely, his child lives in a different country, his family are not around him - they come and go.
"He looks as if his confidence should be perpetually high because when he plays nobody can touch him. When he's on form he looks absolutely the best player in the world, but he doesn't feel that way and he feels isolated."
Ronaldinho's problems appear to have come to ahead last week when he was reported unfit for training.
Guillem Balague suggested that was because of over-indulgence at a farewell party ahead of the injured Lionel Messi's return to Argentina, and for Hunter it was the final straw that proved the Brazilian does indeed need a reality check.
Drunk
"When Robinho for example did the same thing and turned up at Real Madrid having drunk all night, he was dropped out of the squad by Fabio Capello, he took a look at himself, woke up and changed his lifestyle. For some reason Ronaldinho hasn't been able to do that.
"That's the reason we've seen him carrying flab and his family are prone to that. That's the reason that if he doesn't change his lifestyle now, professionally he is not only putting at risk his time at Barcelona - and I think that's finished - but he's putting his future at serious risk.
"He needs to wake up and smell the coffee and the good people around him need to come to him and say 'you can't live like this'."
The message was pretty much the same for Ronaldinho's team-mates and the club as a whole as well.
President Joan Laporta, director of football Txiki Beguiristain, Rijkaard himself and midfielder Xavi have all been open in their criticism of the club's stuttering form.
Tailspin
And just as they have been frank in their assessment at all levels, Hunter says the blame for a disappointing season lies with everyone from top to bottom at the Camp Nou.
"The club is in a tailspin because of months and months of mis-management," he said.
"When Frank Rijkaard talks of the players' lack of commitment, when Joan Laporta says the team is playing terrible football and when Txiki Beguiristain says specifically we lack leadership, when Xavi says we lack maturity, the criticism brings to the boil that they've been mis-managed in terms of fitness and signings, in terms of injury diagnosis, in terms of self-discipline for months now."
Barca have what should be a winnable Champions League quarter-final with Schalke to look forward to, but seem destined to lose out to Real in La Liga for a second season in succession.
They are still in the Copa, but unless they heed their own warnings, could well end the season with no silverware to show for their star-studded squad and a summer of big signings.
"They are only reaping what they have sewed," said Hunter. "It's their own fault that they're in this state and if they don't give them a really good slap, they'll not only be in trouble in La Liga - which personally I think is gone - they'll also be out of the Copa (del Rey) and the Champions League because this team is week."
