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5:06
Xavi Hernández cannot do miracles with Barcelona
This Tuesday, Barcelona faced Benfica in the group stage of the Champions League in what became Xavi Hernández's second match as coach of the Catalan club. After a rainy afternoon and with less than half an entry into the Camp Nou, the Catalans could not go from a draw to zero goals.
From the beginning of the match, Barcelona played very fast and thinking very well each one of their movements, that was how they demanded a lot from the visiting defense. A wet grass and a ball that slid very fast across the pitch.
As has become customary in the whole of Catalonia, the team generated danger, showed quality in the game, but the lack of ideas to be able to finish directly at the rival goal was still manifested. That is how many very good starts were seen, but very disappointing ends.
A Barcelona without clarity of play
A lot of intensity in the first minutes by those led by Xavi, so much so that at 20 minutes you could see their fatigue and their little ability to generate pressure on the Benfica team.
Luckily, for the Spanish the rival team was not capable of showing any danger, and even the ability to score a goal was not seen.
Until the 26th minute of the first half it was possible to see the first danger on the part of Barcelona that would come from Jordi Alba and would be stopped by Vlachodimos, who continues to show that he is a very good goalkeeper. However, the Barça forwards continue to leave many doubts, since they are not capable of generating these types of dangers that come from the defense.
On the other hand, Gavi continues to show all his quality of play, while Lenglet is the opposite and continues to leave many doubts in the team, for many he does not deserve to be wearing this shirt.
At minute 32 came the first important opportunity for the visitors, this time it would be through a free kick where Yaremchuck almost scored the first after a header that Ter Stegen managed to get out with his legs. The first fifteen minutes of Barcelona had disappeared, they lost the ball and the attention of the plays.
They were very bad minutes for the Catalans, all this as a result of fatigue due to everything shown during the first fifteen minutes of play.
Xavi desperate and worried
The bad moment that the team was going through had the new culé coach very angry, who in his second game as coach could see how bad Barcelona is and realize that it is not so easy. Also, they were lucky to have an ineffective rival in front, Benfica was basically no danger to anyone in this match.
Basically you could see a Barcelona where the individual players shone, but collectively it was not the same, Nico and Gavi were the most prominent of the Spanish club. That was how the first half ended at the Camp Nou and you could see Xavi Hernández quite worried and unconcentrated.
Clearly, the Spanish coach expected another type of presentation from his team and not what was being seen on the court, which was more of the same as always. The same thing that happened with Ronald Koeman during his tenure. That is how what was proposed on the court in this game was not so far from what was seen with Ronald Koeman when he placed Dembélé as a lane.
Little hope for Xavi's
The second half of the commitment began and everything looked bad for Xavi Hernández's men, Benfica looked much more complete, while Barcelona continued to show tired, a little clumsy and without a sense of play. Demir looked completely drained from everything he did during the first half.
That was how Demir urgently needed to be changed, but Xavi insisted on leaving him. Memphis missed a clear goal chance where it was too slow, although the defense of the Portuguese team also had merit in that game.
The minutes passed, and Xavi Hernández did not make the decision to make changes while he continued to see a team without ideas on the field. That is how until minute 62 the Spaniard called Dembélé to enter the field and was received by the Camp Nou as the hope of the team.
Dembélé and a new air for Barcelona
With the entry of the Frenchman, Barcelona again took a breather and began to unbalance again and press much higher so that they would be able to lock Benfica in their own field. De Jong was very close to scoring after a header for the hosts, but again Vlachodimos saved the Portuguese.
From the entrance of Dembélé the panorama changed for the premises so much so that Benfica seemed to disappear from the game little by little. However, those led by Xavi did not have clear scoring chances despite showing a better game.
Benfica coach Jorge Jesús would make a very good decision and manage to neutralize the Frenchman with Grimaldo and Lazaro. Finally, in discount minutes, Seferovic would inexplicably miss a goal. A failure that allows Barcelona to stay alive in the group stage of the Champions League.
Despite this, the current panorama in the European Cup for Xavi's is quite critical, they are practically forced to go to Germany to beat Bayern Munich, a really complicated match for the Catalans that puts their pass to the round of 16 at risk.
An elimination in the group stage that would reveal the bad moment of the club and that would clearly show that Xavi is not the savior of the team.
They changed coaches in search of hope, but really those who are on the court are still the same as they have been all this time, so miracles are difficult to happen.
