The last few days have been sad, confusing and painful in Barcelona.

If the Spanish and European champions were nothing more than the winning automatons they have appeared to be these last three-and-a-half years (13 trophies won out of a possible 16) the simple fact of having taken a flurry of footballing blows from Real Madrid, parried them, and emerged 4-3 winners of the Clasico Cup quarter-final would armour them for anything.

But they are not and it does not.

Having emerged from a truly thrilling cup tie Pep Guardiola's squad discovered on Thursday that a friend of theirs, and mine, was dead.

Dani Montesinos was only 36. A fine football journalist and father of two – the last person I spoke to at the Camp Nou on Wednesday – he died in a traffic accident as he drove his moped to work.

Andres Iniesta immediately shared on social media that he now felt utterly different about the gloom which had enveloped him after yet another muscle injury. "What an unbelievably difficult day this is, certainly enough to make my injury seem totally insignificant," he wrote.

On Friday Guardiola asked for the pre-match press conference to be "as brief as reasonably possible because I really don't have the appetite for football this morning". He, the assembled media, plus Xavi, Puyol, Iniesta and Valdés, who had attended voluntarily, stood for a minute's silence.

It adds to a traumatic few months when both Eric Abidal and Guardiola's assistant, Tito Vilanova, had the shock of their bodies "betraying" them with tumours.

Abidal famously recovered at unbelievable speed and defied doctors' advice to emerge for the last minute of the Champions League semi-final against Madrid and then be ordered, by Puyol, to act as captain for the trophy acceptance at Wembley.

Vilanova is less well known here but he is an inseparable aide to Guardiola.

The Barça manager emotionally dedicated his Fifa World Coach of the Year award to his friend earlier this month, and Vilanova remains under treatment.

Also on Friday, Barça and Xavi discovered someone had leaked a tape of him preparing for an interview and engaging in some informal chit chat.

The legendary midfielder said Real Madrid "don't know how to lose" and described Lassana Diarra's assault on Leo Messi as an "animal's" challenge. I'd say he could claim veritas in each case. Worst of all, the recording was being made for Barça TV and the informal chat was leaked by someone at the company. Xavi and the club will feel badly betrayed.

Playing like Barcelona have done recently comes at a cost. They currently have 13 fully fit first-team players.

Both physically and emotionally it is a tough shift to keep on winning, still more so when such a remorseless, aggressive and occasionally shameless opponent as Real Madrid is in pursuit.

Barça now face a tough semi-final, against Valencia, and they remain hungry to add La Liga and the Champions League to the three trophies already won this season.

What I will be fascinated to discover is if all the personal and physical pain they suffered this week affects them, with a message to the brain saying: "You've already won enough, just smell the flowers for a bit. Value more time with friends and family and stop obsessing about football."

Or will the sense of "carpe diem" push them on to greater hunger and achievement? Dani might have known the answer, but sadly he's no longer here to help us.

The Copa Del Rey also served up quite a different dish during the week. CD Mirandés, from Spain's third tier, are probably the smallest outfit to reach this competition's semi-final.

They've knocked out Racing Santander, Villarreal (costing Juan Carlos Garrido his job) and now Espanyol, with an extra-time winner.

It is your team of butchers, bakers and candlestick makers, apart from the striker, Pablo Infante, who works in the local bank. At 31 he's only been a pro for five years and is now the Copa's top scorer with six goals. Next up is the historic Athletic Bilbao. Can they? Surely not. But they have won fans, including the son of Valencia manager Unai Emery. Watching the game the youngster asked his old man: "Dad, why can't we sign Infante?"