{"id":175311,"date":"2024-04-25T16:32:11","date_gmt":"2024-04-25T16:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/25\/4-reasons-why-barcelona-lucked-out-with-xavis-u-turn\/"},"modified":"2024-04-25T16:32:11","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T16:32:11","slug":"4-reasons-why-barcelona-lucked-out-with-xavis-u-turn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/25\/4-reasons-why-barcelona-lucked-out-with-xavis-u-turn\/","title":{"rendered":"4 reasons why Barcelona lucked out with Xavi\u2019s U-turn \u2013"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>After weeks of speculation, Xavi has now confirmed that has reneged on his decision to leave Barcelona in the summer.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The ex-midfielder had previously stated his intention to depart back in January, however an impressive run of form and the emergence of a number of new La Masia stars has seemingly led to him\u00a0opting to stay put.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s why that\u2019s great news for\u00a0Barcelona.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"_9xn15xdha\">2024 form<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/01hwa4r3qdgvec7j1map.jpg\" alt=\"Raphael Dias Belloli 'Raphinha'\" title=\"Raphael Dias Belloli 'Raphinha'\"\/><\/figure>\n<p>Barca have been much better in 2024 \/ Eric Alonso\/GettyImages<\/p>\n<p>This past week aside (in which they lost to Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid), Barcelona have actually been pretty damn good under\u00a0Xavi\u00a0in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Their run of 13 games unbeaten in all competitions \u2013 scoring 26 goals and conceding just nine \u2013 between the end of January and mid-April was rather remarkable, and proof that when Xavi has his favoured personnel to call upon, he certainly can get a tune out of Barcelona.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"_6oex31pmk\">The 2022\/23 season<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/01hwa4s7hw7xetfqvvk2.jpg\" alt=\"FC Barcelona vs Real Sociedad - La Liga\" title=\"FC Barcelona vs Real Sociedad - La Liga\"\/><\/figure>\n<p>Prior winning-experience \/ Anadolu\/GettyImages<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of Xavi\u2019s ability to get a tune out of the current Barca squad, the legendary former midfielder inspired the club to a stunning La Liga title triumph during the 2022\/23 season \u2013 La Blaugrana\u2019s first in four years.<\/p>\n<p>Xavi\u2019s Barca were head and shoulders above the rest of La Liga in 2022\/23, besting Real Madrid by a whopping ten points to coast to the title.<\/p>\n<p>The accumulation of 88 points from 38 games was thanks in large part to Xavi\u2019s ability to set up defensively, with his side conceding a measly 20 goals through the campaign.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"_67cayuyu1\">Trust in Barcelona\u2019s youth<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/01hwa4try4agzwkdrnj5.jpg\" alt=\"Lamine Yamal\" title=\"Lamine Yamal\"\/><\/figure>\n<p>One of the many young stars who has been given their debut by Xavi \/ David Ramos\/GettyImages<\/p>\n<p>Pau Cubarsi, Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Gavi, Pedri, and Alejandro Balde. That\u2019s quite a list of young footballers, but it perhaps wouldn\u2019t be as impressive had Xavi not rocked up in Catalunya in November 2021.<\/p>\n<p>The manager has been firmly committed to utilising the seemingly endless fountain of talent in La Masia, and Barca have reaped the benefits of this commitment \u2013 seeing the likes of Yamal and Cubarsi becomeintegral members of the starting lineup as a result.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s no surprise that Barca\u2019s vice-president\u00a0Rafa Yuste said\u00a0that a key reason for Xavi\u2019s decision to stay at the club is due to these young players.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"_3djnszxpa\">There\u2019s no one else<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/01hwa4vzws1j9j7wtekv.jpg\" alt=\"International FriendlyGermany v Japan\" title=\"International FriendlyGermany v Japan\"\/><\/figure>\n<p>Hansi Flick was linked \/ ANP\/GettyImages<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a list of some of the managers that were linked with taking over at Barcelona in the summer:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Hansi Flick<\/li>\n<li>Thomas Tuchel<\/li>\n<li>Rafael Marquez<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>None of those managers jump out as an upgrade on Xavi, do they?<\/p>\n<p>As Liverpool and Bayern Munich have found in recent weeks, finding a top quality manager that is available this summer is proving to be quite a difficult task. And with the Liverpool and Bayern jobs being more appealing that the Barca job (no offence, but look at Barca\u2019s financial situation), it\u2019s likely that La Blaugrana would\u2019ve been third on any top manager\u2019s list of potential destinations.<\/p>\n<p>With that mind, Barca fans should be breathing a sigh of relief over Xavi\u2019s decision to stay put.<\/p>\n<p><!-- AI CONTENT END 1 --><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After weeks of speculation, Xavi has now confirmed that has reneged on his decision to leave Barcelona in the summer. The ex-midfielder had previously stated his intention to depart back in January, however an impressive run of form and the emergence of a number of new La Masia stars has seemingly led to him\u00a0opting to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":175312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-175311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>4 reasons why Barcelona lucked out with Xavi\u2019s U-turn \u2013 - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/25\/4-reasons-why-barcelona-lucked-out-with-xavis-u-turn\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"4 reasons why Barcelona lucked out with Xavi\u2019s U-turn \u2013 - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After weeks of speculation, Xavi has now confirmed that has reneged on his decision to leave Barcelona in the summer. 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