From a tragic week to a fantastic one at Barcelona
Madrid is proving to be an unequivocally decisive team. Not bright. But, yes, powerful. Very powerful. And Barça will have to offer their best version to be able to compete with Ancelotti's team. To win this league, they will have to approach the 100-point record, which is shared by Mourinho's Madrid (in the 2011-12 season) and Barça under the lateTito Vilanova (2012-13). Or, even, that historical record will have to be beaten. At the moment, Los Blancos are demonstrating an enviable level of reliability: 31 points out of a possible 33, with ten wins and only one draw (against Osasuna) in eleven games. An almost perfect start to the campaign that suggests that it will be very difficult to see any stumble coming for the current leaders. The effectiveness of Madrid will demand even more from a Barça still under construction. All matches will be finals, at least until the World Cup break. Because then we will have to see how the disconnection of a month and a half affects, physically and mentally, the teams. Barça has no choice but to win, win and win. And win again. To keep growing through victories.
Xavi, of course, is aware of this challenge. And he needs the best performance from all his players. Hence the rotations that he made against Athletic, giving rest to Jordi Alba, Ansu and Ferran Torres, three of the players who shone the most, along with Lewandowski and De Jong, against Villarreal. And he returned Dembélé to the line up, whose benching has been very good for him. Because against Valverde's team (who returned to the Camp Nou almost three years after his dismissal) he played one of his best games since joining the Blaugrana. Four actions by the French winger sealed the match: one goal and three assists (to Sergi Roberto, Lewandowski and Ferran Torres). Dembélé was once again that electric, fast and unbalancing footballer. On this occasion, in addition, he was right in all his decisions. And when Dembélé thinks before executing, the result is usually spectacular.
Dembélé's individual festival was enough for Barça to easily overcome Athletic, in an almost identical repetition of what they did against Villarreal. After a tragic week, with the painful draw against Inter and the disappointing defeat in the Clasico, a fantastic week has arrived with two soothing victories. Now we're waiting for another week in which we have to pray for a miracle to occur in the Champions League, one in which almost nobody believes... Or maybe they do...?
