Barcelona are sitting fairly on the high of La Liga, holding a seven-point lead over Actual Madrid after simply two league defeats, and have already claimed the primary silverware of the season by convincingly beating their arch-rivals 3-1 in January’s Super Cup.
Heading into Thursday’s Copa del Rey semi-final first leg in opposition to Actual on the Bernabeu, these contradictions neatly summarise Barca’s present state: loads of promise, however worrying indicators that all the things might shortly unravel.
Equally, the fragile steadiness between positives and negatives displays the work of supervisor Xavi, who’s being pressured to make tactical compromises to fulfill short-term calls for for achievement.
Xavi, no doubt, has made Barca higher since he was appointed in November 2021.
He inherited a large number, with an absence of path on the sector and the aftermath of a monetary catastrophe behind the scenes.
Reminiscences of embarrassing European defeats had been significantly acute: the notorious collapse at Liverpool in 2019; a humiliating 8-2 thrashing in opposition to Bayern Munich the next 12 months; a 4-1 dwelling loss to Paris St-Germain in 2021. When Xavi took over, it felt like Barca had been a really good distance from having the ability to problem the most effective.
Now, although, the image has modified. Though Xavi has didn’t embark upon an prolonged European journey, not less than they competed. Barca had been unfortunate to endure elimination from a tricky Champions League group alongside Bayern and Inter Milan, and pushed Manchester United hard within the Europa League play-off.
In La Liga, a commanding run of 12 wins in 13 video games has supplied a robust platform for the membership to say their first league title in 4 years, primarily because of a vastly improved defence with simply eight objectives conceded within the opening 23 video games.
That new-found defensive energy has been significantly necessary in current weeks, as a result of objectives have dried up.
Robert Lewandowski – so spectacular earlier within the season – has returned from the World Cup wanting day-after-day of his 34 years and is now injured, becoming a member of electrical however erratic winger Ousmane Dembele within the therapy room.
Elsewhere within the ahead line, Ferran Torres has been largely disappointing since signing from Manchester Metropolis final January, former Leeds star Raphinha has been hit or miss, and Ansu Fati’s teenage promise has been alarmingly derailed by accidents.
Barca have scored greater than as soon as in simply three of their previous 9 league video games, as a substitute counting on a collection of fresh sheets to select up factors.
Xavi deserves credit score for recognising the group to turn out to be extra compact and defensively disciplined, one thing he has achieved by reluctantly shifting away from his most popular strategies.
A religious disciple of the Johan Cruyff-inspired ‘juego de posicion’ (positional play) that has been Barca’s trademark for many years, Xavi took over with clear tactical intentions after serving a three-year managerial apprenticeship with Al Sadd in Qatar.
His group would push excessive, taking part in within the opposition half as a lot as doable. Superior wingers would hug the touchline to open up area for the midfielders to hyperlink up with the goal man, utilizing strict positional self-discipline all through the group to generate numerical superiorities.
That was the idea, however turning it into actuality has been tough on account of elementary gaps within the squad.
Firstly, Xavi possesses no left wingers. The season started with Dembele and Raphinha each beginning and repeatedly switching flanks, however that didn’t work as a result of neither was snug holding width on the left, and so they have solely began two league video games collectively since October.
The squad additionally lacks a pure right-back, with Hector Bellerin signed for that objective however by no means convincing Xavi and becoming a member of Sporting Lisbon in January.
That leaves Sergi Roberto – who Xavi prefers in midfield – and Jules Kounde, who arrived in the summertime from Sevilla as a prized central defender however has principally been repositioned on the fitting, for the easy motive no one else can play there.
The consequence has been a unusually uneven line-up, with left-back Alex Balde (or Jordi Alba) pushing ahead to offer width, a compact ‘field’ midfield of two deeper protectors (Sergio Busquets and Frenkie de Jong) behind two extra superior playmakers (Gavi and Pedri), whereas the fitting winger (Dembele) delivers ammunition to the centre ahead (Lewandowski).
That messy strategy, pushed by compromise, by no means seemed fairly. However, for some time, it labored – albeit primarily via strong defending and moments of particular person inspiration moderately than the aggressive tactical dominance Xavi would like to attain.
Just lately, although, the wheels have fallen off. Pedri, Dembele and Lewandowski – the group’s three most necessary attacking gamers – are all injured, others are wanting drained, understudies resembling Torres, Raphinha, Sergi Roberto and Franck Kessie have struggled, whereas uncertainty seems to have began to unfold via an more and more error-prone defence.
Two away defeats in 4 days – at Manchester United and Almeria – have undermined confidence, making certain a nervous strategy to a trio of Clasicos in a month, with the two-legged cup semi-final (2 March and 5 April) sandwiching a league assembly on 19 March.
Enjoying in entrance of their followers, Actual shall be extremely motivated for Thursday’s first leg – particularly with recent recollections of a poor efficiency in January’s Tremendous Cup loss to Barca.
As Liverpool experienced last week, when Carlo Ancelotti’s group hit their stride they will overwhelm any opponent, and proper now Xavi’s Barcelona look extra fragile than every other stage this season.
If Actual can ship an analogous consequence this week, alarm bells will begin ringing in Catalonia.
