FC Barcelona cannot repeat this Thursday at the Bernabeu neither the forward nor the midfield of the Super Cup final. On January 15, the Blaugrana thrashed Real Madrid 3-1 in Riyadh. Two of the authors of the three goals six weeks ago are injured: Lewandowski and Pedri. Neither Dembélé, broken in Girona, is recovered and Ansu Fati has not yet exercised on Tuesday. So Xavi has no choice but to trust the defence, the only line of the field of his luxury eleven that remains intact.

The exceptional course of the leader of the League cannot be understood without the phenomenal performance that his rearguard is giving, which protects Ter Stegen, goalkeeper with the fewest goals scored, with only 8 goals in 23 games. Just like the absence of three of their tenors, who could not play in the double duel against Inter, well explains the premature elimination of the Blaugrana in the Champions League. The results are usually stubborn. And Barcelona has made a great leap in quality since the coach from Egar joined Koundé, Araújo, Christensen and Balde behind.

Three of them can be considered novelties. For the Frenchman, increasingly established in the band since he also played there in the World Cup in Qatar, 50 million were paid to Sevilla, the Dane arrived for free once his contract with Chelsea ended, while the young Balde, a youth squad player, barely he played 91 minutes between two games with Xavi last year. Only Araújo, who came to the subsidiary from Uruguay in 2018, was already a stronghold.

It is Xavi’s iron defense, the one he uses –since he discovered it at the Metropolitano– in big matches. They had not met until 2023. And since then, in less than two months, they have played six games together from the start. In fact, until Barça lost last week at Old Trafford (2-1), which meant saying goodbye to the first round of the Europa League, Koundé, Araújo, Christensen and Balde counted their games by victories.

They beat Atlético at the Metropolitano (0-1), Madrid in Riyadh (1-3), Real Sociedad at the Camp Nou in the Cup quarterfinals (1-0), Betis at Villamarín (0- 1) and Villarreal at La Cerámica (0-1) in five years of proficiency. At all times the defense was seen comfortable. Only United in the second half in Manchester, with Rashford, Antony, Garnacho and Bruno, was able to create a feeling of overwhelm.

In total, in three of those duels Ter Stegen was able to keep a clean sheet. And of the four goals conceded, the one from Benzema (91) and the one from Betis (Koundé’s own goal (85) arrived with the game very decided.

The four combine forcefulness to win duels, skill for anticipation, physicality to collide, speed on the cut and security from above, in addition to guaranteeing a good ball output from behind. Without forgetting that it is a defense with a great future since the oldest is Christensen, at 26 years old, and the average age of the four remains at 23.

Against Madrid, Xavi makes a small modification to the usual plan because he moves Araújo to the right. The Uruguayan controls Vinícius’ incursions well. For his part, Koundé knows Benzema’s movements well and one of Christensen’s virtues is that he doesn’t mind getting out of position to press when the striker goes down to receive. Lastly, the presence of the offensive and courageous Balde counteracts the Fede Valverde effect, forcing him to keep an eye on his rises on the left flank.

On the previous visit to the Santiago Bernabeu, in October in the League, which ended with a 3-1 victory for Ancelotti’s men, Barça formed with Sergi Roberto, Koundé, Eric Garcia and Balde. This Thursday Xavi can line up his favorite defense.