Three talking points from Almeria 0-2 Barcelona

Xavi hits 100 but how many more?

Xavi took charge of Barcelona for the 100^th time in La Liga on Thursday night but his future is in serious doubt yet again with reports claiming Joan Laporta is ready to pull the trigger on his coach.

Indeed it seems that the win over Almeria may well have been Xavi’s last as first-team coach. The Catalans ran out 2-0 winners against already-relegated opposition but gave up enough chances to have lost the game fairly comfortably.

Xavi now has 69 wins, 16 draws and 15 losses in his 100 La Liga games and has seen his team score 193 goals and concede 86 in that time. They are figures that only Pep and Lucho have surpassed but don’t look enough to guarantee this future.

Barcelona go on to play Rayo and Sevilla in their final two games of the season but may have a different man in charge for those fixtures.

Interestingly, if Barca were to win both matches they’d finish on 85 points – just three points off last season’s title-winning tally.

Fermin into double figures

The one big winner from Thursday’s victory was Fermin Lopez. The midfielder has made a habit of grabbing first-team chances with both hands and was at it again at the Power Horse Stadium

Lopez opened the scoring with a far-post header from a great cross from Hector Fort and then finished off Almeria with a fine strike in the second half when Barca were struggling to put the visitors away

The 21-year-old now has 10 goals this season in all competitions, meaning the only players in the squad to have scored more are Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres.

The fact that Fermin has hit double figures despite starting the season as a Barcelona Atletic player and having only made 17 starts in all competitions makes his tally even more impressive.

It’s no surprise Xavi was happy to dish out the praise afterwards.

“We were told that his loan had been very good,” he said. “I had liked him for a couple of years. When we tried him in pre-season, I saw that he was ready to compete. He’s a player for many years.”

Fermin is, quite simply, an absolute joy.

Vitor Roque appears!

After making it crystal clear that Vitor Roque wasn’t in his plans, one of Xavi’s final acts as manager looks to have been giving the young Brazilian his first minutes in over a month against Almeria.

Vitor Roque was handed the last 17 minutes of the game after Fermin Lopez had made it 2-0 and effectively killed Almeria off. There was no lack of effort from the Brazilian but he couldn’t make much of an impact and ended up picking up a yellow card.

The forward will no doubt be watching the current circus at Barcelona with extra interest as whether Xavi stays on or not will in turn have a big impact on whether Vitor Roque remains at the club in the summer or moves away.

Xavi suggested previously he could go out on loan in comments that did not go down well with his agent. A new manager could offer Vitor Roque the playing time at Barcelona that he wants following his January move.