Luis Enrique Holds Barcelona 'Crisis Talks' Before El Clasico with Real Madrid

Barcelona manager Luis Enrique reportedly held "crisis talks" with his squad ahead of this weekend's El Clasico against Real Madrid at the Camp Nou after the Blaugrana's poor showing in drawing 1-1 with Real Sociedad on Sunday. 

The draw against La Real saw second-placed Barca drop six points behind leaders Real in La Liga, and they were fortunate to take even a point from the Anoeta Stadium as the hosts dominated proceedings and had a goal incorrectly ruled out for offside in the second half.

The weekend's first clash of the season with archrivals Real is now effectively a must-win game for Barca if they are to keep their title hopes alive. Enrique reportedly fumed at his side on Monday following Sunday's performance as he held an "urgent" pre-training meeting, per Marca.

"We must shake it up," he told his squad. "No more jokes."

If Barcelona do not improve on their performance against Sociedad, they will likely lose to a Los Blancos side who have gone unbeaten in their last 31 competitive matches.

Zinedine Zidane's team are arguably the best outfit in Europe at the moment, so Barca will need to produce a stellar home performance if they are to claim all three points and close the gap at the top of La Liga.

Barcelona's title challenge may be effectively over before Christmas if they fall nine points behind Real.

Barca's draw with La Real was not a freak result. The last time they beat the San Sebastian outfit away from home was back in 2007.

And, in the preceding La Liga game before Sunday's clash, Barca managed only a 0-0 draw with nine-man Malaga.

Per Sky Sports' Guillem Balague and Graham Hunter, Barca and Real will have contrasting feelings going into El Clasico:

Enrique clearly realises his squad are down, so it is unsurprising he has made a point of drawing a line under Sunday's result ahead of their meeting with Real.

Barca look short on ideas at the moment and that needs to be rectified before Saturday as they head into their most important match of the 2016-17 season so far.