Xavi has been a name mentioned frequently in these past few months by Barcelona fans. The Catalan club, one of the proudest institutions in the European game, has been living a moment of intense crisis in recent times. Lionel Messi has left Spain for Paris Saint-Germain, and the first team are lacking identity and mettle.
Imagine Xavi running this style with Barcelona 🤔 pic.twitter.com/t0wAhqLI46
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) October 5, 2021
Barcelona sit ninth in La Liga, and this past weekend were passive and uninspired as they took a 2-0 beating to Atletico Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano. In the Champions League, things are going even worse. Barcelona sit bottom of Group E and have just recorded back-to-back 3-0 defeats to Bayern Munich and Benfica.
Ronald Koeman has come under intense pressure, with many connected to Barcelona loudly calling for his head. Xavi, one of the icons of that great Pep Guardiola-era Barcelona team, has been strongly linked with the position, and a clip of his Al-Sadd team in Qatar playing scintillating football has been widely-shared. Many Barcelona fans are wondering whether he could re-introduce that style of football to their club.
