Three talking points ahead of Valencia vs Barcelona | La Liga

72 hours after their heartbreaking defeat to Royal Antwerp in the UEFA Champions League, Barcelona will spring back into action in La Liga. Making the trip from Catalonia to Valencia, Xavi’s men lock horns with Ruben Baraja’s men at Mestalla in a tricky clash.

Los Che have endured a mixed start to the season so far, with five wins, four draws, and seven losses to their name in La Liga. They sit on 19 points from their 16 games and are eleventh on the league standings as it stands.

Barcelona are in a more comfortable position from the leaderboard standpoint, but not the same can be said about them in sporting terms. The Blaugranas are in a deep trough looking for light at the end of the tunnel. As it stands, there does not appear to be any.

Barça Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Valencia vs Barcelona.

Looking for light

It is not every day that Barcelona experience two losses on the trot. The Catalans, as one of world football’s greatest institutions, live by high standards where even a single defeat is seen with concern.

For a squad of such quality to win just three of their last seven games and lose as many is alarming, more so in the club offices.

The pressure on Xavi has been mounting for a long time now, and the defeat to Girona went a long way in enhancing the same. To step out midweek and lose three more points, this time in the Champions League rubs salt into the wounds.

Barcelona may have got away with the defeat to Royal Antwerp without short-term consequences, but the story in La Liga is different. Losing to Girona extended the leaders’ advantage to seven points, and any further defeats will bear heavy consequences for Blaugrana.

Saturday’s clash thus becomes significant. Playing Valencia away from home, Xavi’s men stare one of the season’s most challenging fixtures in the eye under ominous circumstances.

Robert Lewandowski’s rut

72 minutes. 0 goals, 0 assists. No shots on goal, no attempted dribbles. 15 accurate passes, possession lost on six occasions.

For starters, one wonders how a player performing at such an underwhelming level survived 72 minutes on the field without being shown the way out. Considering that the statistics come from a game against last-placed Royal Antwerp in the UEFA Champions League only brings matters to a better perspective.

Robert Lewandowski’s decline has been obvious for a long time now. The Polish striker no longer seems to be the lethal threat in front of goal that he was, and his contributions off the ball have begun reducing in recent games as well.

The veteran has not experienced such a severe rut in front of a goal across his long and illustrious career. Yet, there is not much it appears he can do about the same.

Lewandowski has scored just two goals for Barcelona in his last seven appearances across all competitions and four in his last fourteen. What began termed as a transient dip in form is now creating significant concern in the board, and the damage could be irreparable.

The only question left to answer – has Xavi seen enough to relegate the established goalscorer to the bench? If so, who will take his place in the starting lineup tomorrow?

More permeable than ever

One would not expect a defence boasting names like Ronald Araujo, Andreas Christensen, Jules Kounde, Alejandro Balde, and Joao Cancelo with defensive frailty.

While the full-backs are indeed more attack-oriented than traditional defenders, the three centre-backs, alongside Inigo Martinez, are amongst the best in the business.

Just last season, Barcelona boasted of the league’s, and perhaps Europe’s best defensive numbers. Scoring past the Catalans was seen as a herculean effort, and their defensive heroics went a long way in securing the league title.

The story this time around has been different, and the situation has only gotten worse in recent games. Barcelona’s defensive showing against Girona last weekend was horrific. They conceded time and time again owing to blatant errors or distribution hiccups.

Matters only got worse midweek. Coming up against Royal Antwerp, the Azulgrana backline suffered to no end. Oriol Romeu’s disastrous outing coupled with some defensive slip-ups saw the Catalans concede thrice in the defeat.

Most notably, they conceded a winner within seconds of equalising in the dying minutes of the game.

A lot needs to change in Barcelona’s defensive approach, right from the root level organisation to the understanding between players.