I wonder how the fact that Barcelona was able to beat the average shows that they are able to compete with Real Madrid? After the arrival of Xavi, the distance between the clubs remained practically unchanged (this despite the fact that Real Madrid won La Liga a few rounds before the finish line and had no motivation to win in every game).
I do not agree because I think Xavi has improved the performance of Barcelona a lot. I have to say that points are not everything if anyone wants to judge the performance. I believe the performance of Barcelona went up very rapidly. And I have to say that credit goes to the coach because he boasted the mentality of Barcelona players a lot. Real Madrid potentially had less competition this season because Barcelona did not play well at all from the start and I think the case will be different in the next season.
As for the mentality, this whole nonsense that Xavi used (joint meals, increased discipline, etc.) is a psychological pumping that gives a short-term effect. After some time, in my opinion, this rather gives a negative effect, now it’s not the 60s for players to endure this for a long time. As for the results of Barcelona, they have become better (but not in all tournaments hehe), but these are not the kind of radical improvements that allow them to hope for something.