From losers who were threatened to be out not only from the Champions League but from all European competitions, a team who was predicted to become an average Spanish club in LaLiga, Barcelona step by step not only has a secure place where they belong, in the UEFA Champions League but also are favorites to win LaLiga.
The biggest credit for that goes to the famous mastermind in their game who came in, gathered the lost gang and made them a real team. The wizard who won everything there was to win on the field as a player, from the Champions League to the European and World Championships, sat on the Barcelona bench last season and saved it from complete ruin. The Catalans were in the lower part of the table, and after the arrival of Xavi, they made a wonderful winning streak.
The young Spanish strategist, Xavi gets the most out of a team that has a future in youngsters Pedri and Gavi, then a spirited Dembele who fully plays out the attack, and then there are the new transfers and new players who fit in the team immediately. Xavi reset the players mindset, renew some old rules and the team is back on its track.
First of all, Xavi knew that strong foundations in the form of discipline in the club must be laid. This is something that his predecessors lacked the most. With disciplined players who know their tasks and follow them during the match, the tactics works and the team is playing well. Number of lost balls is reduced almost to minimum, the passes are mostly safe from feet to feet which gives the team possession and security while the opponent is running in circles trying to get the ball.
“Effort, sacrifice, habits, teamwork, running.” These are main characteristics of this team of Barcelona. All players are involved in the actions as in attack same in defense. It leaves very little space for the opponents and makes Barca dominant on the field.
Although Barca defense now looks very powerful, their attack with Lewandowski upfront is main strength this season which is obvious from the first several matches. Of course, there are also Dembele, F. Torres, Fati, Depay etc. but Lewa is the machine for goals. It can be problem later during the season if he gets injury or get too tired, it will be hard for Xavi to find him replacement who can score so much and so often.
One of the weaknesses of the team that Xavi is solving is reducing and slowly replacing veterans in the team with new players, new energy. It was obvious last season that Pique, Busquets, Alba, can’t follow the tempo and speed of the modern football. Xavi this season has a lot new players that can use their experience, but in the matches, starters are players who can give more energy to the whole team.
The Spanish Premier League Barcelona made several good moves in this transfer window, so after getting Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen without any transfer compensation, they managed to get the signatures of Rafinha and Robert Lewandowski, and if we add to this that Ousmane Dembele signed a new contract then it is more than clear that the operatives of the Catalans have done an excellent job. But they don’t stop there, Jules Kounde from Seville, Bellerin from Arsenal and Marcus Alonso from Chelsea all came to Barcelona at the end of the transfer window.
It’s obvious that Barcelona is trying to build a new winning, champion generation. A lot of changes were made after the arrival of Xavi, a team is being built according to the Spaniard’s standards and this can already be seen and felt on the field where Barca looks like a completely different team and this has been confirmed if we take a look at the matches this team played so far. In 4 matches in the league, Barcelona has 3 wins and a draw, scored 11, and conceded only 1 goal. The players are looking well and they are having fun and laughing while playing which is something that this team needed. Barcelona won as a visitor at two hot stadiums with 4:1 against Real Sociedad and with 3:0 against Seville.
It all started with ninety minutes of idle time for Barcelona at the premiere of the Spanish Primera against Rayo Vallecano, and then boom. The attack of the Catalans cannot stop scoring on the wings of Robert Lewandowski.
After a transfer window worth more than 150,000,000 euros, for which the money was secured by selling TV rights from the future, Barcelona returned to the recognizable track they used to navigate in the era of Lionel Messi. Xavi has a powerful team at his disposal, ready to compete for the title again, and his strength will be tested by Bayern Munich and Inter very soon, in mid-September and early October in the UEFA Champions League.
These matches will be the real test for the new Barcelona’s team and its strength. Now they seem like a complete team and yet we haven’t seen all the new players on the field.
If Lewa can continue scoring and the defense continues with disciplined games this team with all individual talents that can make difference at the moment is a real candidate for winning all the trophies including the one in the Champions League.