Barcelona star causing Xavi Hernandez headache as Catalans search for balance

Barcelona have already been through several stages of their season in terms of the mood around the camp, from an underwhelming start, to fireworks, to exhaustion, to frustration.

Yet as the heart of the season approaches and Xavi Hernandez gets injured players back, he is facing a number of major calls with his line-up. Up front, Joao Felix is coming into focus for his lack of goals, but in terms of equilibrium, the presence of Joao Cancelo is proving a tricky piece to fit into the puzzle.

Last season Xavi found a balanced team, if not spectacular, with three central defenders, and Alejandro Balde pushing forward on the left-flank. Yet thus far, with Cancelo involved, Barcelona have looked unbalanced outside of a few performances.

As pointed out by MD, it is difficult for both Balde and Cancelo to have the freedom to move forward, and in Cancelo’s case often inward, to extract their best virtues, without leaving their defence significantly exposed. While Xavi got it right against Real Madrid, his three at the back formation proving successful in dominating the midfield for the most part, it became a disaster against Real Sociedad. Barcelona didn’t have enough of the ball to release Balde into space down the line much, while Cancelo was above all absent on the right, not being a factor in attack or defence.

The three at the back is an option to allow them both to move forward, but without the forwards ahead of them to occupy defenders, against La Real at least it allowed the opposition full-backs to move forward rather than them, while unbalancing Barcelona’s attack further forward. It appears as if Xavi will have to perfect that or another system in order to get the best out of both of them at the same time, or look to sacrifice one of them. Either way, the balance has been lost for now.