Barça vs. Leganes: How Blaugrana respond to PSG loss will shape season
The players must take a step forward after a week packed with a lot of noise
“The best advice I can give to everyone is not to criticise them that much because they've proved everyone wrong before.” There are few people capable of waking Barcelonismo up from lethargy.
Pep Guardiola is one of them. Even from afar. The man from Santpedor knows how to stir emotions. He knows how to get in the players heads. And how to excite fans. Pep lit the fuse. But the point of inflexion arrived from Luis Suarez. “If we come back, we will always remain in the club’s history.”
There’s no-one better than the Uruguayan — one of the players with the most faith in the dressing room — to get things moving. To recover good vibes after a painful blow in Paris. Football, in addition, offers weekly opportunities to pick yourself up.
The first one comes on Sunday. Against Leganes. Barça are attempting another comeback in La Liga as they look to hunt down Real Madrid. Garitano’s side visit Camp Nou after a week full of noise, with doubts about Luis Enrique’s future following the loss to Paris Saint-Germain.
Humiliation at the Parc des Princes invited a period of deep reflection — ‘end of a cycle’ was even mentioned — but the team are just focused on taking things one game at a time.
The Blaugrana self-help manual only includes the present, positive thinking and focusing on themselves, despite Madrid overcoming Espanyol on Saturday to move four points clear at the Catalan side.
POINT OF INFLEXION
Barça find themselves in a key moment of the season. How they react to the PSG game could shape the rest of their campaign. It’s time for the players to take a step forward and enhance their legacy. Luis Enrique, too, needs to maintain his competitive spirit.
He was at his sourest in Saturday’s pre-game press conference. He feels he’s at the centre of all the criticism. Condescending once again, with the journalistic opinions. “I never hear you. These days I don’t go near a television — not even when I’m drunk.”
Luis Enrique was always action over words. He didn’t even want to talk about the challenge which now lays ahead in Europe. “Since Wednesday that game has been in my head every night and every minute, but there’s still a month until the return leg.”
The sensation is that the wear and tear from the bench is more and more like what happened with Guardiola. And, as with the Man City coach in his day, he seems to want to buy some time before making a big decision. “I’ve still not decided my future, but it has nothing to do with what happens during these coming months.”
On Sunday he’s without the suspended Busquets. Just as the midfield is the centre of all debates. Madrid’s win against Espanyol obliges Barça to continue running against the current in La Liga. A reaction is needed. Barça are always better when they’re more focused on the game than the epic.
