By Tim Stannard

Board of directors meeting on Monday could signal beginning of the end of Josep Bartomeu with vote of no confidence pending  

The list of excuses for Barcelona from players, fans and the coach for a start of the season that sees the club in 12th place in the standings is as long as Antoine Griezmann's face these days. 

A change of manager, a fallout with the star player, the dramatic departure of a key forward, institutional unrest, financial belt-tightening and so on and so on.

These are very much first world problems compared to what LaLiga newcomers, Elche have had to overcome. The side from the same region as Valencia only found out they were playing in LaLiga on August 23 after a COVID-19 elongated playoff process from Spain's second division.

There was an immediate change of coach with Argentinean manager, Jorge Almiron, taking over on August 26 to leave Elche with one month to both rest from an 11-month long previous campaign and prepare for a grueling survival battle in the season to come. 

And speaking of being cash-strapped, Elche spent a net sum of $3.23 million in the summer transfer window on a squad where not one player has scored more than a single goal this season. Indeed Elche has currently racked up just five strikes in total.

Yet, after five matches - the same number as Barcelona - Elche have three more points. 

Food for thought for Barcelona, a club whose week may actually worsen after Saturday's home Clasico defeat to Real Madrid. A board of directors meeting is taking place on Monday to discuss the vote of confidence that the club needs to arrange after a successful petition from fans. Time could be up for Josep Maria Bartomeu and company as soon as November 1. 

Oh, on Wednesday Barcelona are back in action again in the Champions League against Juventus, a team that is not in the best of form either under Andrea Pirlo but will still enjoy a Barca battle even without the quarantining Cristiano Ronaldo. 

The Sports Burst live show with Hope Solo will be looking back at a woeful weekend for Barcelona in a Clasico breakdown. Head to our beIN SPORTS USA Facebook page and XTRA channel at 12PM ET. 

Hazard returns for Real Madrid in Champions League trip 

While Barcelona indulge in a sport of navel-gazing on Monday there is no time to rest for a suddenly perky Real Madrid. Three days after being in CRISIS! the team are traveling to Germany to take on Borussia Moenchengladbach in the Champions League and try and undo some of the damage done by last week's home loss to Shakhtar Donetsk. 

The squad was announced on Sunday and the surprise package was the inclusion of Eden Hazard whose future looked bleak indeed after words from coach Zizou last week, revealing that the injury to the Belgian was worse than thought.

However, Real Madrid are traveling without all three possible right backs on the team - Dani Carvajal, Alvaro Odriozola, and Nacho. 

Another journey being made on Monday is that of American coach, Jesse Marsch, whose RB Salzburg team is set to play Atletico Madrid on Tuesday. 

LaLiga wraps up with Celta Vigo six-pointer 

Sports Burst is getting a little ahead of itself as the weekend on the network is not yet officially over.

At 1PM ET / 10AM PT on beIN SPORTS, Besiktas, lead up front by USMNT forward Tyler Boyd, are in action at Denizlispor followed at 4PM ET / 1PM PT by a relegation zone humdinger in LaLiga as Levante host Celta Vigo. 

Later on, both Viva La Liga at 8PM ET and Monday Night Soccer at 9:30PM ET will break down the biggest beIN SPORTS matches from the weekend.