Xavi’s men take on Inter and Real Madrid showing signs of physical decline
Barcelona no longer overpowers its rivals. The team led by Xavi defeated Celta de Vigo at Camp Nou this Sunday, but did so in a match where the Catalans went from more to less, suffered as the minutes passed and ended up suffering a lot. Not having their best moment, the azulgranas are heading into an important week in the Champions League and League feeling like they’ve lost their spark. The national team’s break and the hustle and bustle of matches have diluted the good physical tone of the start of the season.
“We flew three weeks ago and now we don’t. We’ve played a lot of games in a row, we’ve traveled a lot and now it’s time to suffer, grit our teeth, improve and play better football than in the second half,” Xavi assured after watching his team a hard time securing the win by the minimum against Celta Up to fourteen auctions gathered that of Eduardo Coudet, one more than the Catalans, to the despair of a local hobby already catching glimpses of what a full-blown physical downturn is.
And it is that Barcelona played a game in which his legs put a lot of strain on him. Xavi’s men tried to bring classic Barça style to the pitch; with post-loss pressure, possession and constant changes of tempo from the wings to create imbalances. That was the usual plan, but the lack of freshness meant that everything was lost along the way. Barca blamed Milan’s commitment and showed, as in previous commitments, that it is no longer flying like three weeks ago, as the coach acknowledged.
That lack of spark translates into numbers. Barca have seven consecutive wins in the League, yes, but the number of goals per game has fallen drastically. The Catalans defeated Real Sociedad (1-4), Valladolid (4-0), Sevilla (0-3) Viktoria Pilsen (5-1), Cádiz (0-4) and Elche (3-0) before the break of the National team ). Bayern barely beat a mole in Munich with a defeat that slowed a scoring pace within the reach of only the best teams in the Old Continent. Today that scoring torrent is delayed. The ‘FIFA virus’, which also brought injuries, has caused drought for the Catalans, who have added just two goals in three games since the resumption of competition.
Another problem Barcelona has had in recent games is the attacking trident. Lewandowski has seen his scoring production plummet due to the lack of depth from the Catalans and the biggest problem is in the wings. Xavi has tested Ansu Fati, Ferran Torres, Ousmane Dembélé and Raphinha, but none of them seem to be having their best moment. Against Inter, Lewy was an island, he got no help and the game ended without testing Onana despite the Catalans having up to 68% of the ball.
Especially worrisome are the sensations of Dembélé. The Frenchman got off to a blazing-fast start to the season, winning the game against Raphinha in an instant and becoming a perfect partner for Lewandowski, but has disappeared from the race at this decisive moment. Against Inter Milan, he hit the ball a hundred times and lost a whopping 38 balls, a burden for a team that, if it doesn’t find its way, are more likely to look to the former Dortmund player to hurt rivals.
Source: La Verdad
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