BY LATER this week there could easily be a scenario where either FC Barcelona have lost their La Liga title to Real Madrid and the board are still, literally, begging Frank Rijkaard to stay on as coach or they have retained it in dramatic, against-the-odds fashion but the 43-year-old Dutchman nevertheless strides off into the sunset.

That's the kind of 12 months it has been in Spain.

Whether you are a fan or simply an interested observer there have been many times this season, after watching a Barça training session where you are left yearning for Rijkaard to slip into his boots, pull on a strip and show his team how it is done.

Despite some moments which make the spirits soar, the 3-3 draw at home to Real Madrid, the 6-0 away win at Atletico Madrid, Messi's "Maradona" goal dribbling past seven Getafe players or Ronaldinho's genius overhead kick goal when beating Villarreal 4-0 at the Camp Nou, this has been a season when the Spanish champions have looked tired and emotional.

The dispiriting performances have outweighed the uplifting on a 4-1 ratio. Rijkaard the player would never have allowed it. Relentlessly focused on winning, always fit, sometimes brilliant occasionally brutish the Dutchman literally hates losing.

"I used to play street football growing up in Amsterdam," he once told me. "It was hard, the cops sometimes came and occasionally there were big fights. But at the end when everyone else had had enough I still wanted to stay and I would pick the best player in the other team and demand a one on one contest. I liked that, the fact it was kill or be killed was what inspired me."

The sad fact is that Rijkaard, the coach, runs a team which no longer merits becoming champions. It's a team which looks as if it couldn't co-ordinate crossing the street, never mind winning at brutal Amsterdam cobble-stones football.

At times they have been pathetic this season - shambolic defending away to Valencia, poor tactics at home to Liverpool, paper thin determination in Villarreal. The list is long.

People rightly describe this title race as having been gripping but Barça just don't deserve to relegate Madrid or Sevilla to silver and bronze.

Nonetheless, pure arithmetic argues with that contention. If Barcelona get a better result (not scoreline but result) than Real Madrid tonight they will win their third consecutive La Liga title and "cojones to everyone". Simple as that.

OK, the unlikely must happen - Mallorca taking points at Madrid - but such an event would place this squad, and Rijkaard, amongst the all time elite in the club's history.

Which would be a travesty.

Until recently Barcelona looked a decent bet to get away with daylight robbery because their talent kept on getting them out of tight spots. But Rijkaard's team have three times thrown away a one goal lead in the last few seconds of a vital Camp Nou match. In the Champions League it was against Chelsea. 2-1 became 2-2 as Drogba scored.

At home to Betis in the league a month ago Barça had the lead when a free-kick was needlessly given away, Rijkaard's men argued with the referee who allowed Betis to use the dead ball and Sobis scored.

When the league was there to be effectively won, leading 2-1 with seconds left against Espanyol last week the pitch positions, defensive awareness (and instructions from the bench) were awful. Raul Tamudo took advantage. Real Madrid drew in Zaragoza - Rijkaard's men had blown it again.

And so win or lose this title race, Barcelona's decision makers need to assess whether Rijkaard's work has helped put them in the mire or somehow managed to keep the Catalan club just chin-high above the brown stuff.

The squad is tired - hence the mistakes. But what has happened to training? The sessions have been stale, too many players are allowed time off for PR and advertising work, or dealing with problems with wives, girlfriends and other sundry females.

Tactics have been poor. Too often Rijkaard's naive idea that he can switch to a 3-4-3 formation without the specialist players to achieve it and with repeated evidence the team doesn't understand the system has cost points.

The same strengths which Rijkaard used to great advantage in the last couple of years - a calm, laid-back style of handling this prickly and ego-replete squad have become an Achilles' Heel at a time when a firm hand and some brutal words have been needed.

Rijkaard wanted to leave the club last summer for important private reasons but was badgered, bullied and begged by his president into staying. It was an error. All season he has looked a shade off his game - in football manager's terms he's had a bad day at the office.

But does that mean he needs to be chopped? Have Real Madrid benefited from not sacking Capello mid-term? Is there a better candidate available?

Barcelona want to discover the answer to that last question. They'd like to know whether Arsene Wenger continues to be umbilically linked to Arsenal, they are watching Carlo Ancelotti patiently and they have repeatedly asked Marco Van Basten whether he's going to be available any time soon.

But the fact remains they have once again put massive, massive pressure and used plenty of moral blackmail in order to persuade Rijkaard to stay.

Each summer a clause in his contract kicks in where the club can sack him without compensation and he can walk without restraint. If that window of opportunity passes without action then Rijkaard will be at the Camp Nou next season come what may. But the winning or losing of this La Liga title race will not be the definitive factor.

It's going to be about whether Franklin Edmundo Rijkaard still has that hunger for the one-on-one, kill-or-be-killed contest. Let's hope he does.