Ten reasons for Barcelona to win in Almeria

Barça, before the Madrid derby, had plenty of reasons to travel to Almeria with a special motivation. There was the elimination at Old Trafford against Manchester United. Or the need to win without two of the team's key players so far this season, Pedri and Dembélé. Even the fight for the Pichichi is a powerful argument for Lewandowski's goals to lead the Blaugrana to victory. Also the Zamora award for Ter Stegen, who has only conceded seven goals in 22 games. 

Xavi, in fact, will not need to encourage his players too much in the hours before they take to the pitch. There is too much at stake and, this Sunday more than ever, Barça are obliged to take three points. Failure is not an option and, at this stage, getting it wrong is not an option. 

And, as if that were not enough, Real Madrid dropped two more points in the derby against Atletico Madrid in a 1-1 draw that is already a very bad result for Los Blancos, but which would become a dismal one, practically Madrid's surrender in La Liga, if Xavi's side return to Barcelona with a win. Ancelotti's side is seven points behind the league leaders, a significant difference that could be even greater in Almeria. A win would mean a ten-point lead.

Translated on paper, Madrid, to catch Barça, would need a minimum of four games to close the gap, in which they would have to make it three in three and the Blaugrana the opposite. La Liga, the main objective of Xavi's project in his first full year in the Camp Nou dugout, would be in their hands. Winning today is everything on a sporting level, it is to start winning for real.

To date, Barça have played twelve away games, where they have shown impressive efficiency. With the exception of the visit to the Santiago Bernabéu, where they dropped all three points, they have won every single one of their away games, including at stadiums as difficult as Anoeta, La Cerámica, the Metropolitano and the Benito Villamarín. In fact, the defeat by Real Madrid remains the only defeat on the Blaugrana's La Liga record this season.

A win against the team coached by the Catalan Joan Francesc Ferrer, 'Rubi', would mean a seventh consecutive away win, numbers that prove the consistency and seriousness with which Barça are competing, who want to regain the hegemony of Spanish football in the fast lane. 

This streak away from the Camp Nou is accompanied by another that also speaks very well of the firmness with which the Culés are defending their lead. The team has won seven home games in a row, and they have also won seven away games in a row.

Beating the team coached by Catalan manager Joan Francesc Ferrer, 'Rubi', would mean a seventh consecutive away win, numbers that prove the consistency and seriousness with which Barça, who want to regain the hegemony of Spanish football in the fast lane, are competing. 

This streak away from the Camp Nou is accompanied by another that also speaks very well of the firmness with which the Culés are defending the leadership. The team have won seven games in a row, both home and away, so returning with the three points would take them to eight and, in the process, 62 points from a possible 69, a record shared by only two coaches in the history of the competition: Pep Guardiola in the 2010-11 season and Tito Vilanova in 2012-13.

Xavi hopes to write his name alongside two coaches who, with those numbers, did not fail to win the title with Barça.

Beyond the statistics that allow us to dream of a title that the club has not tasted since the 2018-19 season, the project, still under construction as Europe has shown, cannot afford to waver. The foundations look very good, but they are not sufficiently settled to allow fragility. To win today is to turn the page on the goodbye to the Europa League, to overcome the disappointment and to focus almost definitively (with the exception of the cup semi-final against Real Madrid) on the title marked in red, publicly and privately. It is to return to the positive dynamic installed in the dressing room led by Xavi, whose work at the helm of the team has given Barcelona fans hope.