Ter Stegen returns but Barcelona defense still a mess
Despite making his eagerly anticipated comeback from injury against Granada, Marc-Andre ter Stegen was unable to stop his club from conceding additional goals.
Barca’s season has been marked by few and far between clean sheets, and against Xavi’s club, the 19th-placed team in La Liga scored three goals.
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Since the beginning of the year, Barcelona has earned the unwelcome distinction of possessing the weakest defense among the top five leagues in Europe.
We’ve been talking about Barca’s defensive problems all season but it’s still staggering to note that they conceded just four times at home last season in La Liga.
This time around they’ve let in 19 goals in just 13 home games. That’s a quite ridiculous increase in goals conceded and they still have six home games left to play.
It’s not as if Xavi lacks for quality players in defense either. Yet whoever replaces the coach in the dugout will know he need to start at the back when it comes to rebuilding his side.
Lamine lights up Montjuic
Lamine Yamal is the best thing about Barcelona right now and it isn’t even close. The 16-year-old already knew what is was like to score against Granada and grabbed two more at Montjuic.
The first was a poacher’s finish at the far post to give Barcelona an early lead. There was also much more to like from the 16-year-old before he popped up again with a brilliant piece of play to make it 3-3.
Yamal regained possession with a great tackle, before turning and simply bending the ball past the goalkeeper. There was no time to celebrate either, he simply turned around and ran back to get the game going again. This kid wants to win.
In what’s been a difficult season for Barcelona, Lamine continues to shine brightly and live up to the hype that surrounded him for some time now. Whoever replaces Xavi knows they face a really tough job, but the prospect of coaching Lamine Yamal will be a big draw.
Xavi still can’t beat Granada
Barcelona’s draw against Granada means the club failed to take full advantage of Girona’s defeat to Real Madrid and finish the weekend five points behind Michel’s side.
Xavi refused to concede the title after the game, but the fact is that Madrid are now five clear at the top, 10 ahead of Barca and cruising to the trophy.
The boss hasn’t beaten the Andalusians in three attempts as Barca coach – another unwanted record.
Reports claimed Laporta was so furious after the game he ended up shouting and throwing a tray of canapes around.
The Barcelona president has said he won’t fire Xavi no matter what happens, but this was another worrying performance from Xavi’s side – particularly with a Champions League tie against Napoli on the horizon.
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