After an abrupt start to the season, Xavi’s Barça seeks to improve its offensive production in 2024 and recover its great defensive version in the four competitions to which it aspires. Seven points behind Real Madrid and Girona in the League, the Blaugrana squad will have the chance to mark a new turning point in Las Palmas against García Pimienta’s team. He will do it with a much more forceful Xavi Hernández in his speech, demanding of his squad and convinced that the talk he had with the players at half-time of the match against Almería resonated with the squad. “The message arrived. I think we needed to speak clearly and emphatically. Hopefully in Las Palmas we will see a Barça like the one in the second half of Almería. We have trained well but that’s it. Now it’s time to talk on the field,” said the technician, who acknowledged that the Christmas break “has been very good for all of us to disconnect.”
The team, which returned to work on January 29, travels to Las Palmas without Pedri, Ter Stegen, Iñigo Martínez, Marcos Alonso or Gavi. But Vitor Roque will be there, who will be registered in the next few hours. “He is available. He is physically well. He has taken great care of himself these months and the adaptation is good. We will go little by little with him, we cannot burden him with responsibility because he is 18 years old,” said Xavi, explaining that Raphinha and Araújo are helping Roque to adapt, just like Bojan, and that he has had several video sessions with the Brazilian forward. He also pointed out that, although the competition is good, Roque and Lewandowski can coexist in the same eleven because the new Barcelona addition “can also play on the wing.”
And your goal for 2024?”
“I’m taking these remaining months to see if we compete well, if we find the key to finding a good game dynamic. The objective is to improve in the two areas, although perhaps the one that worries me the most is the defense. In Granada, Mallorca or Girona have scored two goals or more and they haven’t won. It’s too tight,” said Xavi, who, although he would like to add one more midfielder, sees it as complicated because Barcelona has excessive fair play. “I have not spoken with Aleix García or any other footballer,” he said in reference to the Girona midfielder, one of the most liked. “But I still think we are on the right track. I think we can win with what we have. Convinced,” he insisted.
The first test of 2023 will not be easy. The Barcelona team visits the Las Palmas stadium by García Pimienta, a coach who spent 28 years in Barcelona youth football and who shares the same football idea. “With the permission of Girona, Las Palmas is the revelation team of the season. They play good football, and have an offensive proposal similar to ours. I have a lot of esteem for García Pimienta, we were teammates in Barça B and I wish him the best better. They are doing a great job,” said Xavi.
