Champions League Ouster: Barca holds crisis talks eye Torres

The fallout from Barcelona’s embarrassing exit from the Champions League on Wednesday night has continued with the club’s hierarchy reportedly holding a meeting to address the issue.

Barca were dumped from the group stage of the competition after a remorseful 3-0 defeat to Bayern Munich – meaning they will play in the Europa League for the first time since 2003 (when it was known as the UEFA Cup).

And according to Sport, manager Xavi and club president Joan Laporta met at Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper’s training base to discuss how to reverse the fate of the Spanish giants. Also present were sports vice president Rafael Yuste, football director Mateu Alemany, CEO Ferran Reverter and director of the international area Jordi Cruijff

It was agreed that the way the performance at the Allianz Arena and the reflection it had on the club cannot be repeated.

Despite their crippling debts, Laporta promised to improve the selection in the January transfer market by saying he would ‘leave his skin to bid’ and also transfer the players deemed redundant to high pay.

They add that Ferran Torres is high on Xavi’s wish list, but as Sportsmail explained on Thursday, Manchester City is unlikely to be feasible.

As things stand, however, the club are still outside the Spanish league spending limits and are therefore subject to the 1:4 ratio – if they want to bring in a player with a salary of €4 million (£3. 4 million), someone with £16 million (£13.8 million) has to leave.

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The talk of bringing Torres in remains futile. Despite the player appearing enthusiastic and his representatives may have started negotiations, City will have to be extremely generous to make the switch possible.