Barcelona swung from Christmas to crisis in the space of a month, having defeated Real Madrid 4-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu, two defeats at home to Eintracht Frankfurt and Cadiz have flipped the narrative in Catalonia.
That was reflected in the frustration shown by Xavi Hernandez in his post-match press conference. Xavi questioned the character shown by his players against Cadiz.
There was one player he was impressed with however. Even if he noted the room for improvement.
“What Ousmane generates almost nobody else does but then you have to take advantage of it and he does too, in taking the final decision.”
The comments were covered by Mundo Deportivo. Despite not taking advantage of what the Frenchman created, Dembele remains the top-assist provider in La Liga, along with Karim Benzema on 11.
The Frenchman has been part of a heated contract dispute with the Catalan club and despite Xavi’s requests, no deal has been struck with his contract expiring in the summer.
Dembele’s the only player who’s been showing any kind of fight or urgency. There shouldn’t be any doubts/questions regarding his contributions when there’s players like Torres who neither create nor finish off chances yet play 90mins every game. I hope for success for all Barca players, but some players need only make 1 mistake to be relegated to the bench and vilified, whilst some players cost us every single game without so much as a mention. Let’s keep the same energy.
Dembele showed his skills except when shooting on the net. If he could learn to score hw would be a real gem.