Real Madrid’s English star Jude Bellingham’s goal against Barcelona in Sunday’s El Clasico not only clinically decided the local league “La Liga” in favor of Los Blancos, but also ended Barcelona’s journey with its coach Xavi Hernandez.
Xavi Hernandez, who is in his third season at Camp Nou, has suffered a significant decline in results this season, which prompted him to make the decision to leave Barcelona and not back down from it despite the management’s efforts to keep him.
Barcelona suffered from many shortcomings throughout the current season in several aspects, the most prominent of which was related to focus at the beginning and end of matches.
Barcelona received a number of goals, both locally and in Europe, at strange times, whether in the first and second minutes or in stoppage time.
He lost El Clasico twice against Real Madrid, with a goal from the same player Bellingham in the league, in stoppage time, “90+2” in the first round, then “90+1” in the second round.
Against Villarreal in round 22, Barcelona lost 3-5, as Barça conceded the fourth and fifth goals (90+9 and 90+12 minutes).
In the match against Mallorca in the seventh round, Barcelona conceded a goal in the third minute of stoppage time in the first half, in a 2-2 draw, and against Girona in a 2-4 loss, Barcelona conceded a goal in the 90th +5th minute.
This is at the league level, but in the King’s Cup, Barça received a goal from Barbastro from the third division “90+3” and a double from Athletic Bilbao in the quarter-finals in stoppage time of the first and second extra halves, which led to the team’s exit from the tournament with a 2-4 loss.
At the Champions League level, Barcelona lost in the 90+2 minute to Belgian Royal Antwerp at the end of the group stage with a score of 2-3, then Kylian Mbappe scored the fourth goal against Barcelona in stoppage time in the second leg of the quarter-finals.
First minute goals
If conceding goals in stoppage time is a normal thing, even if it is negative and reflects a lack of focus and low levels of physical fitness, then the strangest thing is Barcelona becoming a victim of goals at the beginning of the match in an incomprehensible way.
This season, Barça conceded several goals in the first and second minutes, including Royal Antwerp’s goal in the 2-3 loss in the Champions League group stage, which came after a minute and several seconds.
In the Spanish King’s Cup, Gorka Rodriguez scored for Athletic Bilbao against Barcelona in the first minute, and the same was done by Brian Zaragoza, a Granada player in the league, and Samuel O’Mordien from Alaves.
In total, Barcelona conceded 4 goals in the first two minutes, 11 in the last minute and stoppage time, with a total of 15 goals in dead time.
Major confrontations
Barcelona have struggled in the major matches they have faced in their current season, both locally and in Europe.
Barcelona lost 3 times to Real Madrid, a negative number that has not happened since 2013, including twice in the league, 1-2 and 2-3, in addition to losing 1-4 in the Spanish Super Cup final.
Against Paris Saint-Germain, despite the 3-2 win in the first leg, the end was painful and reflected the true level of Barcelona with Xavi, the team’s lack of experience, and the lack of technical capabilities of its coach, with a resounding 1-4 defeat at the “Luis Companys” stadium.
Defensive suffering
Barcelona suffers from a series of defensive crises that appeared in the two matches against Paris and Madrid, whether it is related to weak speeds, poor positioning in crosses, or the quality of the players’ movement in set pieces.
In addition to the ease of committing mistakes in the penalty area, which led to a penalty kick being awarded in the Clasico and the same against Paris Saint-Germain.
Barcelona, no matter how far they advance in the score, cannot build on this superiority, but rather collapses easily in the face of the reaction attempts of the first-class teams.