Monday morning is always bad, but it will feel a whole lot worse for Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez, his players and the club’s supporters, who witnessed humiliation on the world stage on Sunday, as Real Madrid picked up the Spanish Super Cup after a comfortable 4-1 victory in Riyadh.
Understandably, Xavi has taken most of the heat for the poor performance in the Saudi capital, and most media outlets across the world have not held back, as reported by Diario AS. Catalan daily newspaper Sport called it a “humiliation”, with Mundo Deportivo labelling Barcelona as “soulless and fragile”.
L’Equipe, as is so often the case, took the harshest approach, and they took aim at Xavi for his decision-making before and during the match.
“Led by their Brazilians and a hat-trick from Vinicius, Real Madrid beat an overwhelmed and disorganised Barcelona. Real Madrid dismantled a Barcelona side weighed down by their defensive errors and Xavi’s suicidal tactics in the Spanish Super Cup. The coach had asked his players to defend high, he was punished by the speed of Rodrygo and especially Vinicius, author of a hat-trick, who made him pay dearly for that game plan.”
The interesting thing is that Xavi has often got his tactics right against Real Madrid, so this situation comes as even more of a surprise. There’s little doubt now that his future as Barcelona manager is on the line, with big results needed in the next few weeks.