For much of the season, there has been doom and gloom surrounding Barcelona. The campaign started with Ronald Koeman as the club’s head coach. When early-season results were poor, the Catalan giants turned to club legend Xavi Hernandez to turn things around.
Since Xavi’s arrival in November from Al Sadd, results have been mixed but he has also had major misfortune with injury problems to some of his star players.
At times, the 42-year-old has had to rely on La Masia graduates to make up the first-team numbers. However, their squad now looks a lot stronger courtesy of some January arrivals and returnees from injury.
On Sunday night the Blaugrana defeated reigning champions Atletico Madrid 4-2 at the Nou Camp. The game saw Xavi’s football philosophy in full glory, as his system of football was on full display.
He got the better of seasoned opponent Diego Simeone, who has seemed confused about how best to set his team up this season. He changed his system three times during the game, but Xavi outthought the experienced Argentinian.
Of course, Barcelona have been helped by those January signings. Of the new arrivals, Ferran Torres, Daniel Alves and Adama Traore all started against Atletico, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang making a cameo from the substitutes bench.
Alves had a mixed game, as he scored a goal before being dismissed for a petulant challenge.
Adama was the undoubted star of the show in the first half. The Wolves loanee contributed to both of Barcelona’s first two goals. It was an encouraging debut for a player who had lost his way in the Midlands.
The win over Atletico showed what Xavi is attempting to achieve and Barcelona fans will be excited about what is yet to come from their team under their iconic head coach.
Things are starting to click into place for Xavi’s Barcelona and things should look far brighter at the end of the season for the Catalan giants.
