Xavi stockholders have embarked on one hell of a ride this season. It’s been peaks and troughs galore.
The Spaniard has shown his capacity to lead the club’s rebuild following a spell of incompetence towards the end of Lionel Messi’s time in Catalonia, but the current Barça boss is currently mitigating the most challenging period of his tenure thus far.
His Barcelona side are top of La Liga and in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey, but Xavi’s European record has seen doubters manifest once more. The former Barcelona midfielder has overseen back-to-back Champions League group stage eliminations and premature exits from the Europa League.
To compound his current misery, Almeria brought Real Madrid back into the title race by beating La Blaugrana 1-0 in La Liga on Sunday just days after their defeat at Old Trafford.
However, Barça’s early European exit should aid their title charge. The schedule will now ease up down the stretch, with Xavi desperately needing to fend off Carlo Ancelotti’s Blancos at the summit. His job might depend on it.
Barcelona’s extra-curricular activities just include the Copa del Rey following their Europa League exit. The Catalans take on Real Madrid in their two-legged semi-final. In between that, Xavi has a tricky away game at Athletic Club to mitigate as well as El Clasico on 19 March.
La Blaugrana’s schedule to close out La Liga isn’t too imposing. Their toughest games after the second leg against Real – Atletico Madrid, Real Betis, Osasuna and Real Sociedad – are all at home, and they’re unbeaten at the Nou Camp through 11 games this season.
Things did seem to be going swimmingly for Barça until very recently. The last few years has seen chaos galore at Camp Nou but they have finally reemerged as title contenders and sit ahead of Real Madrid.
There has been too much disappointment in Europe, however, Barça couldn’t find any form in the Champions League and were dumped into the Europa League knockout playoff round.
There awaited Manchester United, who beat Barça 4-3 on aggregate after two excellent games.
That means there will be no European glory in Catalonia this year, but it can still turn into a successful season for Xavi. A league title triumph would be their first since 2018/19, when Lionel Messi was still knocking about.
They’ve already won the Supercopa de Espana, beating Real Madrid in the final in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and will need to get past the Blancos again in Copa del Rey semi finals to boost their hopes of extra silverware.
