Quote from: mamesso on Today at 02:54:33 AM

No one doubts Barcelona potential to get through the group phase as group winners, Barcelona quality is better than the other teams in their group. A number of Barcelona mainstay players injuries have had a big impact on their performance, Xavi had to use young players in several matches because his team was experiencing a player crisis due to being in the treatment room.

Barcelona is not yet fully able to compete with other clubs. The defeat that Barcelona just experienced in El Clasico indicates that Barcelona is still unable to maintain its momentum when it is ahead.
UCL which always presents big matches, will make it difficult for Barcelona when facing clubs such as Bayern Munich and Manchester City. There are still several tasks that Xavi must complete to make Barcelona able to compete with other favorite teams.

Based on my personal point of view, Barcelona has a competitive squad. It's just that, because several players were injured, their performance experienced a slight decline. Plus, the chemistry between Bacelona's midfield players has not yet reached maximum results even though they have shown quite good progress. For now, Barcelona's key is the role of Fankie De Jong. But gradually, Gundohan will return to playing as extraordinary as when he played with Manchester City.
For me, it's just a matter of time. In time they will become a very strong squad, especially if all the injured players fully recover. Barcelona will move smoothly in this group H phase by becoming group champions.

Talking about the match against El Clasico, the fact is that Barcelona was able to balance and provide resistance even though their front line was filled with young players. If only, if Xavi had rotated other players from the start to become main starters, perhaps the results would have been different. Fermine Lopez can be in the middle, Gundohan can be an attacking midfielder. Even though it seems risky, it seems ideal for experimenting. plus, Lamine Yamal's duet with Joao Felix. There's no harm in experimenting, after all Ferran Torres isn't that reliable.

Despite the fact that Barcelona lost the El Calsico match, it was not embarrassing for them, especially since Real Madrid's winning goal came in the 90+ minute. Next, Barca will be much more established and ready to challenge any team even though they are not favorites like Manchester City and Real Madrid. Even so, we agree, Xavi has a lot of work to do to make his squad more solid and ideal.