Xavi pushes FC Barcelona back into the Top Four

Atlético Madird may have taken the lead against FC Barcelona, through a well taken strike from Yannick Carrasco but this was to be FC Barcelona's day. Jordi Alba scored an absolute screamer, plucking the ball out of the air and giving Jan Oblak no chance. With the scores level a 173cm tall Gavi managed to get to the ball before the 181cm tall Croatian defender Šime Vrsaljko to head Barcelona into the lead. The goals scored by Alba and Gavi were the first that FC Barcelona had scored against Atlético in four meetings and Atlético Madrid looked shaken. The game had taken off, something that Barcelona fans were not used to seeing of late.

Journalist Sid Lowe added some insight into an incredible opening thirty minutes, “Barcelona had scored from their first two shots on target, Oblak isn’t saving things anymore. And that is a surprise, only to be happening all season. And I don’t want to focus on Oblak because it’s not about him and it’s not fair. That moment when Oblak and Carrasco between them, almost gifted Barcelona a goal. What was it twenty, twenty-five minutes into the game. That was a real sense of, there’s an uncertainty here. How long it seemed to take to realize that Mario Hermoso was completely isolated with Adama Traoré and Alves going for him … it felt like they were slow to react to that.”

A defensively unstable Atlético Madrid is all but unheard of but it had been the story of their season. Oblak, who would not make a single save in the game was caught out by a Piqué header that hit the crossbar in the 43rd minute. A scramble resulted in Uruguayan defender Ronald Araújo smashing the ball into the back of the net. 3-1 to Barcelona at half time. Not long after the second half began, Dani Alves made it 4-1 with a beautiful strike from just inside the Atlético box. The game was all but done but Luis Suárez would score a consolation goal to make it 4-2. Despite a rather ridiculous red card by Dani Alves, it would be FC Barcelona to take home a desperately needed three points and rise to fourth on the table.

Sid Lowe crowned the FC Barcelona performance off by saying, “The thing that really struck me throughout this game was the most basic thing of all, it was fun. It was fun in a way that it hasn't been here for a long time. It was enjoyable. Now look this doesn’t mean that next week they're going to play well. They might go next week and be absolutely awful again but tonight at least this was a lot of fun, there was a real sense of ‘wow there’s something here’. Now it may not be enough but look at this in statistical terms, its put them back in a Champions League place ... It was quicker, the ball was moving better. They were defensively vulnerable yes, but they played.”

Former Chelsea midfielder Craig Burley added, “It felt different today during that game, it had energy. The football was good. It just felt that the whole place was revitalized.” He also sensed that João Felix might be the wrong fit for Atlético, “There's no doubt he's a heck of a talented young man but his career is going (gestures towards a downwards slope) that way at the moment … They outlaid a lot of money on him, they're unlikely to get that money back because of his form and the amount of time he spends on the bench … Looking at it from the outside, I feel that he's probably going to have to go and kick start his career somewhere else because the two at the moment, Atlético Madrid and Diego Simeone are not a good fit for João Felix.”

Xavi had only lost once in La Liga since taking charge, a 1-0 home loss to Real Betis, who currently lie third on the La Liga table. 21 points from ten matches has meant the new Barcelona manager is guiding his side in the right direction. With trophies in short supply for the Blaugrana, maybe the very least Xavi might be able to do is get his side back to where they belong, the UEFA Champions League. As for Atlético Madrid, they are now outside of the Champions League with Sevilla and Real Betis dropping points in their weekend matches. The battle for top four is definitely heating up in La Liga.