Barcelona appear to be in deeper trouble.

Back in October, the newly-crowned champions of Spain lost an appeal in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over a €500,000 (£420,000) fine from UEFA which was due to wrongly reporting profits. The panel concluded that the sanction was 'actually relatively mild'.

The CAS ruling also revealed a warning that Barca are facing 'harsher' sanctions for another breach. "The CFCB... highlights that a similar breach by the club in the 2023-24 monitoring process would constitute a case of recidivism and would be addressed by the imposition of a harsher disciplinary measure on FC Barcelona," the ruling stated.

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Barcelona's punishments could include a reduced limit on the number of players they can register for next season's Champions League or even a points deduction. Their financial issues are well documented, although sporting director Deco insists that won't have to sell any of their key players in the summer transfer window.

"I knew it would be difficult when I joined with the financial rules - it is not a financial problem, but the financial fair play rules in Spain are more difficult than the Premier League and in other countries," Deco told BBC Sport.

"It is a problem for a lot of clubs, you just hear about Barca because we are a big club. You need to work with it, see how you can improve the team and the combination of La Masia [their academy] players and experienced players has been important."