Barcelona, ​​small against big | Sports

When the last classic ended, again with the players at the Bernabéu, the Real Madrid players commented on Barça’s defensive fragility among themselves, surprised above all by the mood and football of the youngest. “The children were shaking. Back you are a flan ”, a man from Madrid released, half joking, half serious, to a colleague of his from Barcelona. From the beginning, Xavi had lined up Sergi Roberto, Koundé, Eric García and Balde. And the scoreboard turns white: 3-1. The analysis made in the Madrid locker room after the Clásico is not too far from that made at Barcelona’s Ciudad Deportiva after the defeat in the Champions League against Bayern (0-3). The reality is that when the three central defenders fell (Koundé has already recovered, but Araujo and Christensen have not) the team fell apart. Everything is related. You can have the best strikers, but if they don’t feel safe with the defenders, you have a problem ”, they point out to Sant Joan Despí.

The duel at the Bernabéu caused as many laughs in the white locker room as fights in the area. The Barça expedition, with president Joan Laporta at the helm, had Xavi in ​​its sights. Some of the executives were surprised by Laporta’s anger. Others, who claim to know him better, say he is very temperamental. “It goes fast,” they explain. In sports I agree: “he is very exciting”. The same sources point out, however, that after falling in the Champions League, Xavi is not in danger. In any case, the message for the coaching staff is unequivocal: “We have to win something. We made a great effort “.

The effort of the board translates into a sale of assets for 727 million (the levers of Laporta) to be signed for 153. An investment in pink that went unnoticed against Bayern. “Barça plays games, but they don’t play. They have quality, but they don’t go well with the pressures nor are they intense, ”explained a member of Nagelsmann’s coaching staff after the duel at the Camp Nou. A thesis with which Pedri agrees: “They exceeded us in intensity”. In the Barça football department they have deepened the analysis: “With the starting defense, in Monaco we compete”, they say, referring to the defense that Xavi has lined up with Koundé, Araujo, Christensen and Alonso at the Allianz. “Without them, no”, add the same sources; “The quality of the groups is measured by their substitutes. And we still have to improve in this respect ”.

This Wednesday, Barça took the field with Bellerín, Koundé, Marcos Alonso and Balde. However, Xavi’s team was left speechless at the physical strength of Nagelsmann’s boys. “Football has evolved. We need players with Barça DNA, but physically strong. Watch the Premier, talented athletes. In the Bundesliga they mix technique and physics. Here we only know the technician ”, they insist in the sports area. Besides, why haven’t Barcelona strengthened better? “The reality is that we are stuck”, they defend themselves.

Piqué was spotted in the duel against Inter Milan at the Camp Nou and Alba played only one match in the Champions League: against Viktoria Plzen. “Without them we would have had more wage margin to bring reinforcements. In the end we had to settle for players who practically did not charge anything, like with Alves last year, ”says a source in the economic area. In the sports management they will try to do without Alba and Piqué in the next winter market. The heavyweights, for their part, defend themselves: “They ask us to lower our salaries and hire players who earn more than us”. The only captain who took the field against Bayern was Busquets, together with Ter Stegen, also protagonists of the last Champions League won by Barça in 2015.

Since then, with or without Messi, the azulgrana have taken their pain around Europe. “With Leo, at least, we played the Champions League,” defends a club employee. With Messi, Barça competed in Spain (they won the championship in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019). “Now, not even that,” insist the same sources. Xavi’s side got stuck at the Bernabéu in the same way they ran out of discussions in the Champions League, especially against Bayern. “It doesn’t give us anything to compete with the big names in Europe”, they conclude in the offices. They know him in Madrid, they have known him for a long time in Munich. Xavi’s Barça, therefore, with or without financial injection, will still have to fight for the Europa League.

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