Analysis
The culé team is the best in the League so far this year and already has a shot at the second place that Sevilla occupies
Barça faces one of the most important weeks of the season and does so with morale through the roof. Xavi’s team faces the matches against Galatasaray and Real Madrid after a balsamic rout against Osasuna 4-0 that serves to clear up doubts after the puncture in the Europa League and recover the good dynamics shown throughout what has been going on played in 2022. The Catalans have added 23 of the 27 points at stake so far this year, a mark that no one can match in the competition.
«More than a wake-up call, what happened the other day was reality. If you lower the intensity…”, assured Xavi after the important victory against Osasuna. The words of the Catalan coach are those of a coach who wants at all costs to maintain the good dynamics in which his team has settled in the second half of the season. Since the beginning of 2022, the Catalans have beaten Mallorca, Alavés, Atlético de Madrid, Valencia, Athletic, Elche and Osasuna, and have conceded just two draws against Espanyol and Granada. This streak has allowed the azulgrana team to settle in the Champions League positions and shorten that distance that seemed insurmountable with Sevilla for second place. Five points separate them today and the Blaugrana have one less game.
The good dynamics of Barça has led Xavi’s men to be the best team so far in 2022 in the League with 23 points out of the 27 they have played. These figures are higher than those of Atlético de Madrid (22), which has also put the direct in the new year, Villarreal (20), Real Sociedad (18), Seville (18), Elche (17) and Real Madrid (17 ) at the expense of what the whites add in their league commitment against Mallorca. To find a team that maintains better figures in the five major European leagues, it is necessary to look at the Premier League and a Liverpool that has managed to drastically reduce its distance with Manchester City with 25 points scored out of the last 27 at stake. Only those of Jürgen Klopp surpass Xavi’s pupils.
This Barça streak has coincided with the goalscoring explosion of a team that has resolved once and for all its problems against the rival goal. Against Osasuna, the Catalans scored a new poker thanks to the efficiency of Ferran Torres, Aubameyang and Riqui Puig who joined the party. With these four goals, Xavi’s men have achieved 23 goals in nine games this year, figures that place them as the second team with the most punch in the domestic championship, only behind Real Madrid. Barça arrives with morale through the roof to a week in which its future in the Europa League is at stake and in which the classic will again measure what is the real moment of the Blaugrana against the eternal rival.
I hammered, another register between cottons
Gerard Piqué is on his way to becoming a true legend for Barcelona. The 35-year-old center-back played his 600th game as a culé this Sunday, a figure that places him among the five players with the most games in the entity’s history, only behind his teammate Sergio Busquets (667), Andrés Iniesta ( 674), Xavi Hernández (767) and Lionel Messi (778).
Piqué started against Osasuna in his 600th game and played 62 minutes before being substituted as a precaution by Clement Lenglet. Barça’s ‘3’ has been against cotton for several weeks and with the match already sentenced, Xavi thought it was the best time not to take risks. “He has been in pain for days, we have protected him,” said the technician.
