How Xavi is Reigniting Barcelona

The Santiago Bernabéu could almost have resembled a battlefield after Barcelona’s stunning 4-0 win last weekend, with Real’s heroes fallen and wounded after an onslaught by their fierce Catalan rivals.

Quite aside from reigniting an ‘El Clasico’ series that had seen Los Blancos win the previous five encounters amid Barca’s marked fall from grace, Xavi’s evolving side also breathed life into a behemoth of a football club that was in disarray as recently as October.

But how exactly is the former Barca legend re-energising the club, and just how far can his new-look team progress? Let’s get into it!

Bringing Barcelona Back From the Brink

Barcelona’s gradual decline has been underpinned by significant financial issues, which culminated when club legend Lionel Messi was forced to leave last summer despite agreeing to a sizable wage cut.

This cast a tenebrous shadow over the iconic Nou Camp, as Barcelona’s ailing squad won four of their first 12 La Liga games under the stewardship of manager Ronald Koeman.

At the same time, the club lost 3-0 at Benfica during a disappointing Champions League campaign that saw them exit the competition at the group stage for the first time in 21 years.

Barca’s struggles came to a head following a shock 1-0 defeat at Rayo Vallecano, which left the side ninth in the La Liga and precipitated the sacking of their Dutch coach.

The subsequent appointment of Xavi was one of football’s worst-kept secrets, with the iconic midfielder having made 505 appearances for Barca in all competitions and helped the club to three Champions League titles during his time.

Since being confirmed as head coach on November 8th, Xavi has won 15 of his 26 competitive matches, while losing just one of 16 La Liga clashes in a run that has seen Barca ascend to third in the table and on the cusp of UCL qualification.

Even more ominously for their rivals, Xavi has won six of his last seven league games, plundering 24 goals during this run and comfortably beating both Atletico and Real Madrid for good measure.

So, while many thought that Xavi would have to rebuild the club almost from scratch, he has worked quietly and efficiently to kickstart the new revolution.

The Tactical Turnaround At Barcelona

In this respect, Barca’s stunning win at the Bernabéu was the culmination of marked improvements in recent weeks, as Xavi has overseen a string of increasingly convincing performances that bear the hallmark of the man’s playing style.

Assessing the Tactical Turnaround At Barcelona

In truth, Barca’s stunning win at the Bernabéu was the culmination of marked improvements in recent weeks, as Xavi has overseen a string of increasingly convincing performances that bear the hallmark of the man’s playing style.

Of course, this style has been largely inspired by his former teammate and manager Pep Guardiola, particularly when you look at Barca’s new-found emphasis on positional play and the desire to control matches through consistent possession.

Certainly, Barcelona have dominated the possession charts in La Liga since November, commanding more than 60% of the ball on average and even outstripping league leaders Madrid during this time.

Xavi’s organised and effective press was also evident against Madrid, as Pedri, Frenkie de Jong and the industrious Ferran Torres in particular consistently won the ball high. The clear goal here was to win and retain possession in the attacking third, in this case with a view to capitalising on Madrid’s tactical disorganisation and lack of numbers in defensive midfield.

However, it’s arguably Xavi’s tactical flexibility that has had the biggest impact on Barca’s recent revival. To achieve this, the Spaniard has borrowed heavily from another former teammate in the form of Luis Enrique, by incorporating much more direct tactics when transitioning from defense to attack.

As both Luca Modric and Toni Kroos emptied the midfield as part of Carlo Ancelotti’s bizarre 4-6-0 system in El Clasico, for example, Barca were more than happy to invite Madrid’s high press before playing longer balls out of defence to the final third.

On multiple occasions, such passes found de Jong and Pedri breaking forward off the back of an isolated Casemiro, creating numerous chances and directly leading to the fourth goal by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (when a long ball from goalkeeper ter Stegen found Torres who supplied the assist to the Gabon striker).

This combination of influences and a keen attention to detail has had an immediate impact on a youthful and technically brilliant Barcelona side, while some shrewd recruitment in January has also enabled Xavi to create a more competitive and competent team in a relatively short period of time.

The Last Word

Veteran defender Gerard Pique tweeted that Barca “were back” after the demolition of Madrid, but there’s obviously a great deal of work to be done before the club once again scale the heights of the previous decade.

However, Xavi’s obvious presence and well-defined style of play is clearly helping the club to move in the right direction, while Barcelona’s plethora of young talent also hints at a promising and trophy-laden future.

This number includes players such as Pedri (19), Gavi (17), Torres (22) and defender Ronald Araujo (23), while the precious Ansu Fati (who didn’t feature against Madrid) has only just turned 18 and is another product of Barca’s famous ‘La Masia’.

With talents such as this being guided by a clearly outstanding coach in the form of Xavi, the sky is surely the limit for this Barca side. As a result, we may look back on the brilliant 4-0 win in Madrid as the moment when a sleeping giant finally stirred from its temporary slumber.