Barça travels lively to Bilbao. It has been such a restorative week that there was even speculation that Xavi would go back on his decision to leave the club at the end of the season. Barça’s life depends on the score and the latest results have been especially positive since the coach announced that he would not fulfill the remaining year of his contract. The team has won four games and drawn two, one in Naples and the other against Granada, that day when the canapés that Laporta likes so much flew into the Montjuïc box. The stadium was paralyzed by a 3-3 that seemed like the continuation of the horror movie that began with the 3-5 against Villarreal the day in which the coach announced a resignation by letter that surprised even a person cured of horrors like Laporta. .
The president then assumed that he could hardly dismiss the coach if necessary in the same way that Xavi understood that if his decision did not have an immediate effect he would have no choice but to anticipate his departure. It was necessary to gain time based on an agreement agreed upon because of who Xavi was and with a minimum objective linked to the Champions League: it was necessary to reach the quarterfinals of the current edition – that is, eliminate Naples – and guarantee classification for the next one – that is, being among the top four in the League. The tie against the Italian champion is pending in the second leg (1-1 in the first leg) and the position in the table has improved both due to their own victories and the defeats of others.
The context of March has nothing to do with that of January when Xavi won. The coach understands that his team “is on time for everything” after his resignation has served to “change the dynamic”, an opinion shared by the president: “Of course there is a League.” Laporta has also recovered his optimism. The last 4-0 against Getafe refers to the 5-0 achieved against Betis and Antwerp when Xavi confessed to going through “the best moment since I have been a coach” after the deployment of a team led by João Félix. The changes are as constant as they are difficult to endure for anyone who is not Laporta or is not part of the core of friendship of the Barcelona president.
The president’s behavior is exhausting and unpredictable and also far from the stability that a sports or financial director aspires to, no matter how difficult a club like Barça is to govern. There are already more than 20 executives who have left the entity since Laporta arrived in 2021. Some entered and left practically the same day, many have taken a little longer, there are also those who were fired and it is known that more than one will follow the path of Xavi, Giráldez and Markel Zubizarreta. The decapitalization of the sections is progressive, the areas of training and methodology are shrinking and there is almost no one left from the Espai Barça leadership. The loss of talent and competitiveness affects teams as well as offices because there is no other plan than Laporta’s. It’s time to agree, resign or watch how the president rules.
Barcelona fans are in a waiting room watching a team that they do not necessarily recognize as their own and that plays on a field that is strange to them. Sometimes it even gives the feeling that nothing that happens on the Olympic mountain counts for inventory purposes, the culés are prepared for a blank year sportingly and sentimentally, and that many will not be active again until their Barça returns to the new Camp. Nou, without knowing very well what the accounts of a club will be like in debt, mortgaged and in the hands of agents and investment funds.
There is no money in the box nor any social pressure on Laporta beyond a polite letter from former candidate Víctor Font. It will not be easy to cover the budget because there is already a deficit of 30 million, mainly due to the Montjuïc ticketing, and Libero has not received the expected 40 million. Laporta, however, did not fool anyone because he won the elections with the same baggage and project with which he runs the club.
There may be no choice in June but to transfer a player in the same way that Messi could not be retained three years ago. The distance with Madrid, meanwhile, will continue to increase because Florentino already has the stadium ready, can sign Mbappé and whoever he wants and remains committed to organizing the Super League. Laporta’s challenge is to buy time to find a coach and explore to the limit different formulas to earn millions – the last one could be manufacturing and distributing his own shirt if he breaks with Nike.
There is no impossible dream for Laporta, especially with the score in his favor, as has happened since he accepted Xavi’s formula. Lewandowski has recovered the goal, Christensen offers balance, Gündogan is Gündogan again, Koundé agreed to play as a winger and Masia shines with Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí. Nobody knows what would have happened on the field and in the box if Márquez was put on the bench. Today Xavi feels more liberated, less pressured and just as optimistic as ever. The next challenge is to maintain the undefeated status on another’s field against Valverde’s packed team, a club coach par excellence who was not allowed to continue at Barça as a leader after having won two Leagues – Txingurri’s problem was always Europe.
Laporta and Xavi do not rule out winning the League and who knows if the Champions League. The greatest miracle in any case is that Barça continues to stand with what has happened and what is happening.
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