Barça has a good record in La Liga (28 points out of 33) but struggles when the level rises, especially in the Champions League (4/12). Optical illusion ?
Sunday, against Bilbao, the Blaugranas delivered an exceptional first half hour (Editor’s note: 3-0 in the 22nd, 4-0 in the end). But it is obvious that, so far, they have not been up to the task in Europe, against in Munich (2-0) and during the double confrontation with Inter (1-0 in Milan, 3- 3 in Barcelona). A non-qualification for the round of 16 would be bad publicity for Xavi and a famous failure for this Barça which has made enormous financial efforts this summer to strengthen its core. They recruited players, and not the least, in all sectors: Koundé, Christensen, Alonso in defense, Kessié in the middle, Lewandowski and Raphinha in attack.
Opposite, will Bayern want to prove to Lewandowski again that he was wrong to force his transfer to Barça?
I especially believe that the Bavarians already have their heads further, those who qualified after their 12/12. Inevitably, they will want to maintain their good momentum after experiencing a few failures in the Bundesliga (Editor’s note: 1/12 between the end of August and mid-September). I also feared that Julian Nagelsmann would fall into certain traps like last season with problems of organization, balance and defense. There, things are much better. To see now if he will rotate his workforce this Wednesday. But we should not expect the slightest relaxation on the part of the Munich residents.
You mentioned Xavi and Nagelsmann, two young coaches (42 and 35 years old) with very different trajectories but who coach top teams.
Xavi has his name and a vision but he hasn’t won anything yet – I’m not counting the league title and the Qatar Cup – nor proven anything. We may have made the new Guardiola a little too quickly and that put a lot of pressure on him. Nagelsmann was not a great player but comes from the same school as Tuchel and Klopp, with new ideas. He too is under pressure because to be legitimate at Bayern, you have to win the C1, the Bundesliga is not enough. »
