Yusuf Demir He was a starter in the European premiere of Xavi’s Barça at the end of last November. He played on the right flank of the attack, hitting a ball off the crossbar that might have changed his future at the Camp Nou. And the team, of course. Now, Demirtransformed into an imaginative midfielder, plays the Europa Conference League with Rapid Vienna, the club from which he came on loan in June and which beat Vitesse Arnhem (2-1).
Barça, meanwhile, is on the precipice of being left out of the second continental division, conditioned as it is by the tie in the first leg (1-1), punished for its obvious lack of aim. Symbolized in the tears that a disconsolate Ferran Torres shed as soon as the game ended.
Xavi has managed to straighten the course of the League, but has run into, for the moment, with the direct qualifiers. They couldn’t beat Benfica, which would have automatically opened the door to the knockout stages of the Champions League.
That frustrating equalizer (0-0) sent Demir Austria and Barça to be expelled from the European aristocracy. In Munich, he went through what always happens with the azulgranas (3-0 against) because it doesn’t matter who is always the coach since the Bavarian hegemony is indisputable. Already separated and far from the elite, last week’s meeting with Napoli revealed, once again, the problems, serious problems, that are blocking Barça’s growth.
Demir, Memphis, Auba…
Just look at the attack with which he debuted Xavi andn Europe (Demir, memphis and Gavi, acting as a winger and fourth midfielder) to check the evolution that the team has undergone. In Germany, the technician used an unusual destinationright winger, memphis and Dembele.
‘No one argues with him’. Gavi character. #The day after pic.twitter.com/fiqTMi3mss
— The Day After on Movistar Plus+ (@ElDiaDespues) February 22, 2022
This Thursday, at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium, the offensive formula is much more powerful and balanced, as was demonstrated in Mestalla with four goals in 63 minutes, having a winter trident with aubameyang (three goals with the one granted by the arbitration act), escorted on the wings by Fernando Torres and the pardoned Dembele.
Now, Xavi handles many more resources than last November. Not only that. He also has alternatives on the bench. There is the speed and stampede it generates adamaalso arrived in January, has the aerial strength of Luuk de Jongdecisive with four goals in 2022, and has not had to resort to the almost unprecedented Braithwaite: just 13 minutes in San Mamés in the Cup and then he has already chained five consecutive games without even taking off his substitute tracksuit.
The curse of the knockout
The problem now of the Barça of Xavionce the vital signs in the League have improved, offering symptoms of recovery and hope in their game, Europe has become torture for everyone.
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He has not yet been able to win a single game of the three he has led (he adds one loss and two draws), together with that curse of the qualifiers that caused him to lose two titles in just eight days: he fell in the semifinal of the Super Cup (Madrid) and then in the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey (Athlétic). Both falls after suffering extensions.
And Naples remains as, perhaps, the last great test for a Barça in permanent reconstruction, which has only scored one goal in the last 270 European minutes. And it was a penalty. the of Fernando Torres to meret almost a week ago at the Camp Nou.