Barcelona need another Super Cup turning point – but now the stakes are higher

“You all know I attribute great importance to how we win. Tonight, I could not be happier.”

These were Xavi’s words as he reflected on Barcelona’s 3-1 victory over Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup final last January — his first title as the club’s manager.

“When we win but have not performed as we should, I don’t go home fully satisfied,” he said. “You always need to win no matter what, because at Barca if you don’t have success, you don’t receive confidence from the media, the club… but in the back of our heads, there’s always how we should win.”

Barcelona’s performance in that game was exactly what their fans had dreamt of since the legendary midfielder took the reins at his boyhood club in November 2021. They outclassed Madrid with a slick display of attacking football that recalled better times in Catalonia.

Xavi described it as “a gift for all the Barca fans who in recent years have been through thick and thin”, adding: “We are now creating a project that we hope can convert this trophy into the first of many.”

Barcelona went on to win La Liga too — their first league title in four years. But now, 12 months on from that Super Cup success, Xavi finds himself in a very difficult moment.

His team are seven points behind Madrid and surprise challengers Girona in third place at the top of La Liga. They have not won a match by a two-goal margin for four months. It’s hard to see how his team have progressed and Xavi is under pressure.

This month last year, Barca were top of La Liga with 41 points from 16 games (they have the same number of points today, but after 19 matches). But they had been knocked out of the Champions League at the group stage — another traumatic elimination from Europe — and had deservedly lost a La Liga Clasico in Madrid.

Xavi found his turning point in the Super Cup by putting a new system into practice, a four-midfielder setup with Gavi operating as a false left-winger. When, in May, the title was clinched at the ground of city rivals Espanyol, Xavi said in his post-match press conference that he saw the team progressing and evolving with this system in place. But right now, he does not really have the players to play it.

Pedri has already lost practically half of the season through thigh muscle problems and Gavi suffered an ACL knee injury and won’t play again this campaign. Frenkie de Jong has been absent too with ankle trouble, and summer signing Oriol Romeu has disappointed. All of these factors have contributed to Ilkay Gundogan, another newcomer at the start of the season, being deployed deeper than Xavi would have liked.

There are problems in attack as well.

Robert Lewandowski has only scored three times in La Liga since September and his recent performances have disappointed. Now 35 years old, he has been erratic in terms of his link-up play and has not helped the team’s pressing. Loan signing Joao Felix is not expected to start these Super Cup games in Saudi Arabia after a string of uninspiring displays. There is excitement over the recent signing of 18-year-old Brazilian forward Vitor Roque — but he is inexperienced and cannot be expected to have an immediately transformative impact on the team.

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As for the defence, Barcelona had conceded seven goals after 19 matches last season. They have already let in double that amount at the same stage in this one; goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, so crucial to their title win, is still out injured too.

It is unlikely that failure in the Super Cup this year would see Xavi fired (although you can’t ever fully dismiss any scenario at Barcelona). The club intend to maintain their trust in the manager, at least until the end of the season. But, as The Athletic has previously reported, their dismal run in December, when they were beaten at home 4-2 by Girona and then lost 3-2 at Royal Antwerp in the Champions League, saw scrutiny climb to critical levels.

The only potential candidate who has been timidly lined up to replace Xavi in case of emergency is Rafael Marquez, the Mexican former defender for the club now in charge of Barcelona Atletic, the reserve team largely consisting of academy graduates who compete in Spain’s third tier.

Club executives have never publicly expressed doubt over Xavi’s position, and in September he extended his contract up to the summer of 2026. But well-placed sources at Barca, when asked by The Athletic about what the future might hold, all pointed out that Marquez is very highly-regarded among decision-makers at the club.

Hired for his current role in July 2022, the 44-year-old has a good relationship with Joan Laporta (Marquez publicly expressed his support to the club president during his successful 2021 election campaign) and is also very close to sporting director Deco, who was among his team-mates at Camp Nou.

But while Marquez taking over might make sense financially, he is unproven as a manager at elite level — although last year his Atletic side reached the play-off semi-finals for promotion to Spain’s second division, losing out to Real Madrid Castilla. Hiring him to lead the first team would be an extremely risky gamble.

Still, calm heads seldom prevail in Barcelona. There’s a constant storm in the city, where the sunlight is still able to lure top footballers in.

With a title on the line (albeit a minor one), this trip to Saudi Arabia provides Xavi with a fresh new opportunity. And the stakes are higher than they were last season.

(Top photo: Pedro Salado/Getty Images)