JAKARTA - Barcelona experienced a minor decline after the international break just at the most important moment of the season. The reason is, this week they played against Inter in the Champions League and then came El Clasico.
The Blaugrana have won both La Liga games since international matches, but not with the same confidence and sharpness as before, and lost at Milan.
Barcelona believes that international commitments, injuries, match schedules, and the many matches the team has played could be some reason for this performance drop.
"Three weeks ago we flew and now we don't," Barcelona coach Xavi said after last weekend's match against Celta.
MARCA sees important points to understand the current situation. This week, Barcelona had to return to its best form. They have a lot at stake.
The Blaugrana squad was disturbed by injury. Before the break, the treatment desk was practically empty, except for a slight disruption to Sergi Roberto. However, in the last three weeks, the number of injured players increased and the defense was most affected.
Jules Kunde, David targetrin and Ronald Araujo have been out of action for the past few games and on Sunday Eric Garcia was not a starter due to minor physical problems, which were not serious.
Against Celta, Xavi even fielded three left-backs, with Alejandro Balde playing right, Marcos Alonso at left centre-back and Jordi Alba in his natural position.
Thankfully, said Barcelona fans, thanks to Marc-Andre's outstanding performance at Stegen, the Catalan team had only conceded one goal in three games.
Very good first half yesterday, where in the second half we suffered against an inspired opponent. 3 important points to keep leading La Liga. 👏🏻Now recovery and focus for Wednesday night back here again. 🦾 pic.twitter.com/UY4KBUWgqB
— Marc ter Stegen (@mterstegen1) October 10, 2022
Barcelona fans are used to seeing Robert Lewandowski score goals in every game and create chances. At Mallorca, he broke the deadlock with a goal, but against Inter and Celta he was not the decisive player like at the start of the season.
On Sunday at Camp Nou, he ended six consecutive games by scoring goals in La Liga. Since his arrival at Barcelona, he has failed to score against Rayo, Bayern Munich, Inter, and Celta, with the last two games played sequentially and after the break.
However, it wasn't only Lewandowski who saw the number of goals decreased. In eight games played by the Blaugrana before the last international match, the Catalan team had scored 23 goals between the two competitions.
The average was almost three goals per game. On the other hand, in three games in October, they only made it twice, leaving an average of 0.6.
They won with one goal against Mallorca and Celta and lost at Milan.
There are players who still have a lot of room to improve their performances. Raphinha, Ansu Fati and Ousmane Dembele, among others, have not found their best form.
Dan Xavi membutuhkan semua pemain untuk berada dalam kondisi 100 persen dalam rangka penting musim ini, terutama dengan mempertimbangkan banyak cedera yang dialami tim.
The players who enter as substitutes tend not to be the catalysts the coach wants.Against Celta, for example, there is no substitution that is able to change the dynamics of the second half which is bad. The same thing happened against Mallorca and Inter.
Xavi admits that if they play like the second half against Celta this week, they will get into trouble.
"In the second half we didn't play well, we stopped pressing, we stopped pushing high... maybe because of fatigue, fatigue," said Xavi.
We experienced a decline psychologically and you ended up with two or three clean chances against us.
A similar statement from what he made at Mallorca: "In the first half we were good, but in the second half we experienced a decline and we couldn't allow it. We had to chase a second and more ambitious goal."
At Milan, on the other hand, the team was late for the game. And as a result we can see that Barcelona failed to complete 90 minutes at a high level.
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