After a separation lasting 2,373 days, Xavi Hernandez begins the journey back to his love for Barcelona and the “Camp Nou” from the derby against neighboring Espanyol on Saturday in the 14th stage of the Spanish league, but this time as coach of the Catalan club, which decided to rely on him to get him out of his repression, succeeding the article Ronald Koeman.
Barcelona have decided the return of Xavi to the club two weeks ago, in coinciding with the international window dedicated to qualifying for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, which gave former Qatari coach Al-Sadd the opportunity to prepare for his first test as a coach of the team you worked with as a player and crowned in its ranks with all possible titles.
The 41-year-old was steadfast and completely clear in setting his priorities during his presentation on the 8th of this month, stressing the importance of sticking to the rules and raising the bar to get the team back in place.
The 2010 world champion, who defended the blaugrana shirt in 767 games between 1998 and 2015 and crowned him with 25 titles, including eight times the Scudetto and four times the Champions League, he bet on the fact that “the priority at the beginning will be to establish the rules in the team, this is the point “. First of all then let’s talk about values, respect, behavior and commitment. If we don’t have those values, we won’t have a team ».
Barcelona begin Xavi’s era as they are in ninth place with the knowledge that it is difficult to make big contracts in any time due to the financial crisis it is going through club, which led to the departure of Argentine star Lionel Messi at Paris Saint -Germain.
Following in Guardiola’s footsteps, he addressed this theme: “I know it is a difficult period, both economically and in field, but I will ask the players to have standard elevated because we are Barcelona, the best club of the world. “
The fans of the club Catalan hope that Xavi will follow in the footsteps of Pep Guardiola, who has taken the team to the highest level with a captivating style of play that depends on the movement of the ball (known as “Tiki Taka”) that led the blaugrana to win, with Xavi in Half, three times Scudetto and titles: Champions League, European Super Cup, Club World Cup and Spanish Cup twice, as well as three local Super Cups between 2008 and 2012.
But Xavi will have a lot of work to do before thinking about following in Guardiola’s footsteps, and the first step starts on Saturday at the “Camp Nou” with neighboring Espanyol, who is in a very rare position, namely that of being at the same distance from his giant neighbor and is behind him only for goal difference (17). For both).
The presence of Barcelona at the same distance from the neighbor reflects in full the crisis experienced by the team, which is 10 points behind its arch rival Real Madrid, second, and Real Sociedad, leaders, of 11, while it is far from Atletico Madrid, the champion in charge and the last fourth classified for the Champions League, by 6 points.
Xavi’s goal will be to try to get the team to participate in the Champions League, at least next season, especially since the economic consequences of not qualifying will be enormous for a club already in debt.
– “There’s nothing left” – Barcelona are suffering technically at all levels, having conceded 15 goals in 12 games, more than Espanyol and Rayo Vallecano, returned in this season in the top flight, scoring 19 goals.
The blaugrana have not won any of their last four games in championship and have settled for two wins in their last nine games.
And the CEO of club, Matteo Alemani, who oversaw the operation to bring Xavi back to the “Camp Nou”, was clear on Wednesday when he said: “As the situation is currently, there is nothing left” in terms of money for making contracts during the winter transfer period in early 2022.
What Xavi has to do now is play each game separately and try to get the three points, starting with test on Saturday, which will take him to the grass at Camp Nou as a team member for the first time since 23 May. , 2015 when he played his 765th match with the blaugrana shirt “.
At that time, Xavi left the pitch in the 86th minutein amid a huge celebration by the fans of the club in recognition of what he has achieved for this shirt and for his place in the history of Barcelona.
The presence in that match against Deportivo La Coruna was 93,743 spectators, while the attendance media in the stands for that season was about 80,000 fans per game.
But things are now completely different, not only because of the restrictions related to the Corona virus, but also because the public is not satisfied with the situation reached by the team, and the greatest proof is that the number of participants in the “Camp Nou The stands in the last home game against Alaves (1-1) attracted no more than 38,000, which is the lowest number in a championship match in this stadium since 2001.
And it’s not just about a match, but the media overall in this season hasn’t exceeded 40,000, which will make Espanyol gleefully remember what was released by “Blaugrana” defender Gerard Pique in 2014 when he mocked the neighbor by saying, “They call themselves the wonderful minority that they are not. in able to fill their playing field.
And now that the son of the club, Xavi, has returned to take over the duties of supervising a mixture of experienced and young players, Barcelona are hoping to restore its fans and enthusiastic atmosphere of the “Camp Nou” to try and save the season.
Unlike injured Barcelona, Real Madrid will try on Sunday with their Italian technical expert Carlo Ancelotti to exploit the plight of their seventeenth host Granada to stay at least in second place, hoping that Valencia will. in a second time. time by dropping leaders Sociedad or forcing them to a draw, which will give the Royal Club the opportunity to lead if they achieve their thirteenth consecutive win over Granada.
The opportunity will be there in front of Sevilla, third, with a goal difference from Real, to put under pressure quest’last and the Sociedad and lead provisionally when on Saturday they host Alaves, while the champion in charge of Atletico hopes to take advantage of the two years of the earth and the public when they meet Osasuna on Saturday also to stay in the match group, four points behind: for his next arch, Sevilla and five for the advantage.
ta / ah / b
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