Xavi said at the Allianz Arena in Munich: “Today a new stage begins.” But the phrase was contradicted by another, surely closer to what Barça is today: “This is our reality, harsh reality”. And that is the stage that starts in the Barça team. And surely the one that you agree to accept: the era of realism.
With the economy on the bones and the team away from the European aristocracy, in a decline that has gone from a fall in the semi-finals in Liverpool in 2019 to elimination in the first phase passing, in perfect stages, from the quarterfinals of 2020 to the eighths of last year against the PSG, al Barça It is convenient for you to flee from empty speeches and put on your overalls to achieve goals that, today, and given the shortcomings of your staff and the state of your box, They would already crave a success: be in the top four or win the Europa League.
The state of optimism unleashed after Xavi’s signing lasted exactly one month. The coach, at the moment, has not solved anything. Among other things, because With new rules of behavior and a new mood in the press room, nothing is solved. Barça’s poverty on the pitch has been the same. “We have not competed,” Xavi had to accept after the Munich game. Although he surely remembered the game against Benfica, in which he was powerless despite the unconditional support of the stands, who have also given a lot in exchange for little in the League matches at home against Spanish and Betis.
Koeman’s “is what there is” has been replaced by Xavi’s “this is reality”. Surely, you have to start there. Even in football postulates. Barça endured twenty minutes of high pressure against Bayern Munich because they are not at the levels of physical and tactical preparation of their rivals. Because, individually, it is a very short level team in which those who should be sacred cows these days of the team do not respond either. Ter Stegen, De Jong, Dembele o Memphis. And of the veterans, only the type can hold Busquets. Footballers like Dest they do not give the required level at the moment and to the youngest, some with 17 years as Gavi, You cannot ask for more than what you are giving.
The sooner Barça assumes its shortcomings, and knows how to play with them in this interwar period, the sooner it will be able to rearm itself. Big speeches are not positive. But neither are those who ask the fans to sympathize with the reality of the club and who have led the member to a worrying anesthesia in terms of demand levels. As if nothing mattered.
In the hell of the Europa League, already six points of the Champions in the League, is the time that Xavi begins to put the scalpel if, as he himself announces, a new stage begins. Because that is the question. If Barça can now do without players who are not for the first level, but that they do not have a replacement and that they may not have it in the very short term due to the financial situation of the club. A good test to know what paste the second part of Joan Laporta as president and the first of a young coach as Xavi, who knows the club by heart but has to delve into the ills of the dressing room and its shortcomings to find solutions. Because, before the excellence that he has preached upon his arrival, there is realism. That is the stage that the Barça with responsibility, sincerity and, above all, pragmatism if you want to start dating, match by match of the well.