Athletic Bilbao v. Barcelona Match Review: Xavi’s Barca Are Susceptible And The Back Line Is Old

The Barca Breakdown discussed another tough loss in a big game. In the Round of 16 of the Copa Del Rey Barca were knocked out by Athletic Bilbao who just lost in the Supercopa against Real Madrid. Seeing as the Barca Breakdown have believed Barca were on a small upswing this game has really highlighted the teams deficiencies. First and foremost, the Barca backline is old and slow. We constantly have Dani Alves, Busquets, and Jordi Alba playing defense against some of the fastest players on the pitch and time and time again they fail to keep up and prevent counters. Of course we can say that these players are old and under performing to the caliber they once had, but who is really to blame? It is clear and obvious these players are old, but we see them time and time again playing a full 90 minutes on the pitch and constantly let us down. Xavi is clearly choosing to start the players and not making tactical decisions to minimize or account for the players deficiencies. Furthemore, it seems we lack the strategies to prevent being susceptible to counters and set pieces which have resulted in many goals against the Blaugrana. With the benching of Ousmane Dembele, due to his lack of contract agreement, Barca were left to head the game with Abde, Jutgla, and Ferran Torres. Essentially, all three were non-existent in the front attack and really lacked creativity and open space to press. This could have also been a result of the fact that Barca could not keep Bilbao out of their half for most of the game. Only a few players were a delight to watch, the top three being Ronald Araujo, Pedri, and Marc Andre Ter Stegen. Barca have a lot of work to do, but It needs to be orchestrated by Xavi to realize his vision and Barca success.