After Saturday’s defeat against Betis at the Camp Nou, as he had done in other post-match appearances, the coach insisted on nurturing his message with sporting arguments. In this case, to explain why, in his view, the marker was not fair. At the same time, however, he was not able to dribble his resignation at the end of a reflection on Juanmi’s goal, the play of which took him especially by the thumb. “It’s a shame, but that’s the reality. We have to take it on and work to improve many aspects,” said Xavi, in a lower tone than usual, inevitably evoking the phrases that exhausted Laporta’s patience with Koeman, and implicitly recalling that he is a victim of the same precariousness that the Dutchman managed. An anomalous situation that, as Jordi Alba acknowledged, leads Barça to accept that teams like Pellegrini’s Betis are now “direct rivals”. 16 days after the league debut, the distance of 16 points with Real Madrid it is wide enough for the locker room to review course objectives.
With two days to go before the team plays its last game against the dreaded Bayern in the current edition of the Champions League, it seems very clear that, between its own shortcomings and the cruising speed of the eternal rival, Barça will have to fight for more modest milestones in the League. Right now, the Catalans are out of the positions that give access to European competition. They see Sevilla, who they will face on December 21 in a postponed duel, eight points away; the amazing Betis at seven; Atlético de Madrid and Real Sociedad at six, and Rayo Vallecano at four. Especially symptomatic is that the team of Andoni Iraola, who has just been promoted from the Second Division, depends on himself to finish the first round in Europa League places and has better scoring numbers than Barça in both attacks ( 24 to 23) as in defense (16 to 17). But what really worries Xavi is the performance of the other four candidates – Madrid aside – to play in the top continental competition next year. Sevilla is the team with the fewest goals in the tournament (11), Atlético have Luis Suárez, Griezmann, Joao Félix and Cunha – four strikers who would start today at the Camp Nou -, Betis has a long and well-trained squad and the Royal Society is a team with few cracks.
Gavi, ready for Munich
Barça, therefore, are facing a reality that clashes with recent history, in which Messi covered up the structural misery with goals and leagues that were losing value due to European defeats. There are four days left until the equator of the competition and the Barça team evokes the darkness of the beginning of the century, Gaspart’s legacy. It is necessary to go back to the 2002-2003 season, the last one before the first term of Laporta, to find such a disastrous start. That campaign, however, the team competed in the Champions League until falling in the quarterfinals. Now the future in the top competition depends on an almost impossible victory in Munich or a slip by Benfica at home against Dinamo. Trying to achieve the first premise, Barça will be able to count on Gavi after the Andalusian has recovered from the commotion he suffered on Saturday. Instead, he will once again regret the absence of Ansu Fati, to whom doctors recommend calm so as not to relapse.
