This Tuesday night in Montjuïc a door of time opens. The match against Porto will mark whether Barcelona travels towards the hopeful future and advances to the round of 16 of the Champions League, putting an end to the recent hardships. Or if, on the contrary, Xavi's team returns to the stagnation of the dark past, it still cannot find its personality and life is complicated in the top continental competition for the third consecutive season.
The message could not be clearer. A victory over the Portuguese team takes the Blaugrana to the next phase as group winners. “It would be fulfilling one of the objectives of the season,” confirmed Xavi Hernández. The tie could even classify them – the position would remain to be elucidated –, although that will only be known minutes before 9 p.m., if Shakhtar is surprised by Antwerp. It remains to be seen how it would be digested at Can Barça in the event that the ticket arrived more due to the errors of others than due to its own merits.
The team is at a point where half measures are not worth it. The Vallecas draw was not the best preamble to face the visits of Porto, Atlético and Girona, who will visit the Lluís Companys in two weeks. A European disaster would lead to a crisis in which even the fine print of the project would be questioned and no one would be safe. Victory or barbarism, it would be a fatalistic summary.
However, right now, Xavi does not feel that his chair on the bench is moving, despite the fact that the team is not doing well and has fallen to 4 points behind Real Madrid in the League. The coach assures that he notices the support of the entire club and does not feel alone. "Only? Luckily not".
“I speak daily with the person in charge, the president, and I notice a lot of trust. Also from the sports director. There is faith in the project. Laporta, Deco, Márquez... we are all adding. I firmly believe that we will play well again. If not, I wouldn't be here,” he said. “But let me try,” he demanded a little peace from the surroundings.
In that sense, the one from Terrassa does not give any second reading to the fact that the president was with Barça Atlètic in Palamós on Sunday and the club itself distributed the photograph congratulating Márquez and the reserve team. “It is a sign that we are united. The president always goes down to the locker room with us. There is no interpretation, but it denotes a feeling of normality. He also does it with the feminine, with the sections…”, he recalled.
Big games are coming and Xavi chooses to turn a deaf ear to concentrate on finding the key that will make Barcelona's game evolve. From the inside out, the coach conveyed an image of calm and having the situation under control. “I'm fine, energetic and positive. I think the harder I work, the luckier I am, that's what they taught me,” he revealed about his state of mind, before proclaiming his blind faith in footballers. In his opinion, they also identify with their model and his style. “People are comfortable with the plan,” he noted.
Of course, it tightened the screws a little on a team that has a hard time dominating games and unbalancing rival defenses, with some forwards in low hours. “There are times when we have to be more generous, more humble and work harder,” he harangued. Xavi still does not know if he will be able to count on Ter Stegen, who will be tested this Tuesday.
It is not the first time that Barça has everything at its disposal and in front of its fans to put both feet in the round of 16 of the Champions League and it is wrong. He already happened to Xavi in 2021 against Benfica, whom he could not beat (0-0) and ended up in the Europa League for the first time in 18 years. And it was repeated last season when they needed to beat Inter at the Camp Nou but the 3-3 score practically meant goodbye. On the third time, Xavi cannot fail. “You have to go all out from the first minute. “You have to be a competitive animal.” Barça is playing to forget the calamities of the recent past or to relive them.
