Barcelona were able to take all three points with them home from El Sadar on Sunday night, despite a less than convincing 2-1 win over Osasuna. It also saw three debuts for the Blaugrana.
Inigo Martinez was finally registered and available for the Blaugrana, but much of the attention was focused on Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix. The former came on for the final half hour, and was steady if not outstanding. Meanwhile Felix saw the final ten minutes of action. He gave one excellent pass behind the defence for Raphinha, but was missing in defence.
Cancelo: "It has been a very complicated win. My teammates had already told me that it was a very difficult ground and so it has been."
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) September 4, 2023
Xavi has a plan for both of them, with Sport saying, to little surprise, that Cancelo will come straight into the side. He is expected to be a starter straight away, and Xavi has noted publicly that his years under Pep Guardiola should stand him in good stead for what he is asking of Cancelo positionally.
Yet with Joao Felix, the situation is a little different. Xavi is keen to ease him into the fold, and expects a gradual adaptation to what he expects of him. The Catalan daily that not only are Diego Simeone and Xavi likely to ask different things of him, but that Joao Felix‘s natural position, in behind the striker, does not exist in the latter’s plans.
Felix is used to coming off the left with more freedom in his ideal world, and while Xavi will not mind creativity with the ball, without it Felix will be required to press. In addition, Xavi has specific duties and positions for each position that Felix will also have to adapt to.
This may be the largest obstacle to success for Felix. While Simeone’s ideas and Xavi’s are on the face of it very different, Barcelona were praised for their miserly defending last season. Simeone also requires tactical discipline and strong sense of position in his sides too, which Felix struggled to adhere to over the last five years – Xavi and Simeone might have more in common than meets the eye.
