Some Barcelona Players Reacts to the Crisis Believed to be Facing the Club, Following Elimination From the Copa Del Rey.

Some of Barcelona players have reacted to the crisis which is believed to be facing the club, having been knocked out in the quater-final of the Copa Del Rey through a 93rd minutes header from Iñaki Williams, as Athletic Bilbao wins 1-0 at Full-Time, and advances to the Semi-Final of the competition.

Gerard Piqué reacts to the defeat saying that: 

"It's a tough blow but we're happy with how the team reacted to all the noise from outside this week. There is maximum bonding inside the dressing room."

"We are in a difficult moment but there is peace of mind and confidence in the dressing room to focus on the remaining titles left for us."

Club's left back Jordi Alba: 

“This club gets enough shit thrown at it from the outside so we shouldn't be throwing shit at ourselves. 

"We must all be united. Abidal? He has been a player, he must know what a football player feels, what happens in the dressing room, we must help each other."

Barcelona President Joseph Bartomeu speaking via the Club's website, on clubs elimination from the Copa Del Rey ; "

"Disappointed by the undeserved elimination in the Copa but proud of the ambition and attitude. Congratulations to Athletic and to the fans who made the trip to support us. Confidence is total in the coaching staff and the players who will battle to the end in the league and UCL".

The Barcelona team believed to have been plunged into serious crisis after sporting director, Abidal granted an interview with a Spanish Newspaper on Tuesday night, claiming that the team players deliberately put up poor performance under former manager Ernesto Valverde before he was sacked on 13th January after getting just a win in five matches and replaced by Quique Setien just last month.

"Many players didn’t work hard or were not satisfied and there was also internal communication issue,” Abidal told the newspaper.

The Argentinian furiously reacted via his 140 million followers Instagram account a red circle was drawn around the quote, on what he saw as Abidal’s attempt to lay the blame for the recent sacking of Ernesto Valverde, with the players deliberating putting up a poor performance on the pitch, and demanded the Frenchman take responsibility for his own decisions.

“I surely don’t like to do these things but I think everyone has to be responsible for their decisions and tasks as well,"

"Yes the players are responsible for what happens on the pitch, and we also know when we were not good.

"Those set of people responsible for the area of sports management must focuse more on their responsibilities and above all take make the right decisions.

“Finally, I think that when you talk about players, you should give names because otherwise you are making everyone look dirty and feeding rumours which are not true.”

Messi and Abidal were both teammates in that era but the former defender left Camp Nou in 2013 and retired two years later.

Lionel Messi have also been tipped to leave Barcelona at the end of the season, following the public breakdown with the club's hierarchy, bearing in mind that his current contract with Barcelona is set to expire next  summer, but contains a clause that allows him to leave for free, if he decides to.

Manchester City, Manchester United, PSG, Inter Milan and Juventus are club's reported to be monitoring the situation at Barcelona, having shown interest in 32-year-old the Argentine forward.

Meanwhile, CloudNine Sports understands that the club's president, wants peace  between Abidal and Messi, and after series of calls and meetings with both parties during the week, the president concludes that Messi and Abidal are now in good terms. He maintains that while he and Abidal continues their work off the pitch, Messi will continue his on the pitch. End of "crisis".