Barça needs to win this League. Emergencies haunt the Blaugrana team after years of disappointments and failures. And the title is essential to certify the sporting resurrection of the club. So far, the first round of the championship has been almost perfect: 50 points out of 57 possible, with 16 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss. Record statistics. Today begins the second round of the tournament and each game will be a final. The face to face with Madrid increases the tension day after day. Inevitably, the eternal rival is looked askance. Barça has an important advantage (5 points) but by no means definitive. He has won half the League, but he has half left to win. That is why there is no margin for oversight or error.
Tonight, for example, Xavi’s team will jump to the Camp Nou to face Sevilla knowing what Ancelotti’s team has done in Mallorca. A new setback for the Whites (they have only won three of the last seven games) would increase the blaugrana’s favorable income and deal an almost final blow to the championship. But there is still a lot of competition ahead. That is why Xavi, despite the moment of euphoria that Barcelona fans are experiencing, maintains a prudent discourse: “I don’t feel like a favourite, I feel like a candidate.”
The Blaugrana coach cannot hide his satisfaction at the impressive evolution of the team. He especially values the transformation experienced in the last year. And he likes to always remember where Barça comes from to value what he is doing now: “We are in good shape, at a good time. We have played better games and others not so much. But this is football. You can’t always play excellently.”
What does seem clear is that the Blaugrana coach will maintain the scheme with four midfielders (Busquets, De Jong, Pedri and Gavi) who is offering such good results. Brilliant football against Madrid in the Super Cup or against Betis on the last day of the League stems from this bet. And what works is not touched. In fact, Xavi has managed to have a well-defined starting ‘eleven’, which now has a significant loss: the winger Dembélé.
An absence that in principle Raphinha should cover but with Ansu in the chamber. Precisely about Ansu, who is in Manchester United’s sights as SPORT advanced yesterday, Xavi wanted to speak yesterday: “You have to be patient with him. Things will work out for him& rdquor ;. At the moment, he is not for sale. For now…