There will be a shadow cast over Barca’s performance in Europe this season, but everything else that has been done has exceeded expectations.Xavi Hernandez is slowly starting to follow in Pep Guardiola’s footsteps, with the fact that he came to the bench of his beloved club in a much more difficult situation and struggled with many more problems than his famous compatriot.There are many similarities in the careers and lives of the two legendary aces. They were born Catalans, children of the club, they were captains and ideologues of the game, leaders on the field, and they dedicated almost their entire playing careers to Barcelona… As young and inexperienced coaches, they sat on the first team’s bench and struggled with the pressure of mistrust and expectations. They insisted on the club’s DNA and the ideology of the game, but they were not just copies of Cruyff’s doctrine and brought their own stamp with them.Upon his arrival, Guardiola found a team in which a generational change should be made. But he had the resources and support of the club to do so. He reset the team, thanked aces like Ronaldinho, Eto’o or Deco for their services, placed a bet on reinforcements like Sevilla’s right-back Dani Alves, brought back the young Gerard Pique from Man United and promoted club’s youngsters such as Sergio Busquets or Pedro.The Messi case: A fuse was lit in Paris for the explosion to sound in Barcelona and echo through eternityXavi found the club in a disastrous state after a change of management with huge debts and an unstable financial situation. And to make things worse, he sat on the bench in the middle of the first season without Leo Messi. The fact that he succeeded Koeman after a terrible start put him in a handicap. Neither did he select the team, nor did he have many options. The hole that needed to be filled was huge.He could improve a little in the winter transfer window, but even so, he reached the Champions League. His only explicit wish was to bring Ferran Torres from Guardiola’s Man City, and other reinforcements like Aubameyang or Traore were only temporary attempts to reduce the damage. Only at the summer market did he get what he was looking for.He found a right-back in Sevilla in the form and work of Jules Kounde, the free transfers of Chelsea defenders Marcos Alonso and Andreas Christensen turned out to be much better solutions than expected, and he found Alex Balde, the left-back and heir to Jordi Alba, in his own backyard. The young midfielders Gavi and Pedri were given complete freedom and became the bearers of the game like Xavi and Iniesta once were, and the capital reinforcement Robert Lewandowski is doing exactly what was expected. Compared to the team that Xavi found, only Ter Stegen, Araujo, De Jong and Busquets remained.Xavi’s Barcelona doesn’t look like Guardiola’s or have the ability to play tiki-taka. It is much more pragmatic.Kessie’s stoppage-time decider presents Barca with both – El Clasico win and LaLiga title!Last night, Xavi became the first Barcelona coach since Guardiola (2011) to beat Real Madrid thrice in the same year. And all three victories could be of capital importance. First, they defeated Los Blancos in a direct duel for the Spanish Super Cup trophy and took the first of a possible three domestic trophies. Then, in the first match of the Copa del Rey semi-final, Blaugrana left them without a chance in Madrid and with a minimal triumph took a huge step before the rematch at Camp Nou. Last night, Xavi and his men were victorious in the championship derby that settled the issue of the title.All three victories were different. In the Super Cup, Barça crushed Real with attack and possession. In the Copa del Rey encounter, they played as if their coach was Diego Cholo Simeone, took advantage of one out of two chances in the game, while at the same time not allowing Real to have a shoot toward Ter Stegen. Last night Barcelona had to start from the deficit after only 10 minutes, which probably changed the plans and approach to the game. But again they outplayed Real, overturned the result and with the victory ‘killed’ their rival any hope of defending the title.##NAJAVA_MECA_7107638##Xavi’s Barcelona is becoming poisonous for Ancelotti’s Real Madrid.It is often heard that the big clubs in Europe are afraid of Real Madrid, but one gets the impression that Real are only afraid of Barcelona – especially this Barcelona squad.This is also Ancelotti’s fault’. The league system is his Achilles heel – he is considered the master of European cups, the Champions League is his backyard, but winning league competitions is not his strong point. Although he is the only coach in history to win trophies in all top five leagues, he won few of them, considering the teams and players he managed. With AC Milan, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern and Real he won only one national title each. In twenty-something years…On the other hand, Xavi went shipwrecked with Barcelona in the Champions League, then was also eliminated by Manchester United from the Europa League. But in both competitions, his team offered something and showed a game unlike last season with Koeman. Inter eliminated them partly due to controversial refereeing decisions, and Manchester United were only a bit more fortunate rival.But that’s why Xavi’s team on the home front is marching beyond all expectations. Especially considering how many handicaps they had. He defeated Real in Madrid without three of Barca’s best players. Due to an injury, Dembele has not been on the field for almost two months, Pedri has not played for a month, and Lewandowski has also missed games due to injuries and bookings. Xavi had to patch up the team as much as possible and use all possible resources, so he also waited for players like Franck Kessie, with whom he was not satisfied from the beginning of the cooperation, to bring him victories.##EDITORS_CHOICE##Madrid can whine about last night’s refereeing as much as they want and they have reason to do so, but the fact is that this Real are having more and more issues against Xavi’s Barcelona and have fewer ideas on how to oppose them: three defeats and a win in the last four encounters with their fiercest rival.Ancelotti is unable to find a solution for the right wing, a weak spot for the “man-eater” Araujo, and the experienced midfield has a problem how to push that final pass through. Again, everything mostly depends on the individual performance of Benzema and Courtois. The problem is that the two are not at the level of last season when they were spectacular.On the other hand, in Barça, every game is decided by someone else. Whatever the problem and situation, Xavi finds a solution. After 26 rounds, Barcelona have won 68 points. It is a respectable tally. In the most successful season (2010/11), Guardiola had 71 points, Mourinho with Real Madrid in the record season (2011/12) had 70. This Xavi’s Barcelona is third in the number of points won after 26 rounds.Xavi’s record as a coach vs Real Madrid.❌ 2-3 Loss.✅ 0-4 Win.❌ 3-1 Loss.✅ 1-3 Win.✅ 0-1 Win.✅ 2-1 Win.4 wins in just 6 matches. pic.twitter.com/yfb1bcJc2S— Barça Buzz (@Barca_Buzz) March 19, 2023 Who was hoping for that this summer?Barça are on a great path to end the season with all three domestic trophies. One was won, the other was put on hold, and the third must be confirmed in the second leg against Real and then the final against Bilbao or Osasuna. Xavi is a doctor whose medicine is slowly curing all Barcelona’s infections and diseases accumulated in previous seasons with unhealthy choices and moves.
