-Swapnil Mukherjee
FC Barcelona won their first La Liga title under Xavi Hernandez, and the club’s first in four years, when they beat Espanyol, their cross-town rivals, 4-2 in the derbi on Sunday evening. Victory was doubly sweet as it left Espanyol in 19th place, four points adrift of safety with just four matches remaining.
Barcelona’s 27th La Liga crown – only Real Madrid, with 35, have more – was sealed at the RCDE Stadium thanks to two first-half strikes from Robert Lewandowski, and further goals from the defensive duo of Alejandro Balde and Jules Kounde. At full time, Barca’s players were forced to flee to safety of the tunnel and dressing room as angry Espanyol fans stormed the pitch and tried to attack them.
After several years of turmoil, on and off this pitch, this was a significant title win. “Happy Sunday to all the Barca fans,” said Joan Laporta, the clearly delighted club president. “I hope this is the first of many titles. We saved the club financially, and brought joy back to Barcelona. And now, we will win important titles that will hopefully start a great era.”
The gap to second-placed Real is currently 14 points, but no one who follows Barca can ignore the enormity of the challenges that lie ahead. A group-stage exit in the Champions League, and the subsequent loss to Manchester United in the Europa League said much about how far Barcelona have fallen since the days when Xavi was in his prime as a midfield prompter.
Though they have conceded just 13 goals in 34 La Liga matches, Barca need cover at right-back, instead of Kounde, a centre-back by trade, filling that slot. The already announced departure of Sergio Busquets, captain and club icon, will also leave a void. In addition to midfield reinforcements, the patchy form of Ferran Torres, Raphinha and Ansu Fati could see at least one of the trio sold this summer.
Xavi’s 4-3-3, with four midfielders and Gavi in a false left-winger role, leaves room for just one pure winger. That is likely to be Ousmane Dembele, who was part of the French World Cup squad. Laporta is trying to extend his contract until 2028. If Dembele gets injured again, as he did at Girona in January, leading to a three-month absence, Barca will have to rely on other players to deliver from the wings.
Lewandowski had started the season in scintillating form after joining from Bayern Munich in a €50 million ($54.6 million) deal. He is still likely to win the Pichichi as La Liga’s top scorer – at present, he has 21 goals to Karim Benzema’s 17 – but his form since returning from Poland’s ill-fated World Cup campaign has been inconsistent at best.
One of the main obstacles that Laporta and Xavi will face as Barca seek to strengthen in the summer will come from the Financial Fair Play rules. Barca need to remove 200 million euros ($219 million) from their wage bill to balance the books, and have been ordered to do so by Javier Tebas, the La Liga president. For the moment though, Xavi and his team, and their legions of supporters, will celebrate this victory. On Monday night, they will have an open-top bus parade through Barcelona’s city centre.