Regardless of how much praise the Barcelona players receive for the win against Almeria, in truth the game was a difficult encounter. La Blaugrana, heavy favorites heading into the game, were left perplexed by their bottom-placed opponent. Ultimately, while Barcelona did emerge victorious, it was hardly a convincing victory.
Much of the blame for this rather close affair goes towards the first half. Sluggish from end to end, the Barcelona players were in it to showcase another frustrating performance. However, the man who has arguably suffered the most abuse and criticism ended up rising to the occasion and demanding more.
As highlighted by Mundo Deportivo, Xavi Hernandez was the one responsible for waking up this Barcelona team. After the halftime whistle, the Catalan coach arguably gave his most aggressive and demanding team talk to date. Beyond just casual frustration, the Barcelona coach was angry about the way his players performed in the first half.
“At halftime, I had the toughest talk as a coach. Did it work? You’ve seen it.”
The coach was directly targeting certain players as well. Always considered a rather lenient coach, Xavi did not hesitate to make early changes this time around. Both Joao Felix and Andreas Christensen were replaced at halftime by Ferran Torres and Jules Kounde respectively.
In the case of the Portuguese forward, Felix’s involvement in the game was pretty stale. Blocked shots, unsuccessful flicks, and unnecessary movements summed up his game. Instead of him, Xavi opted to trust Ferran Torres instead.
The Spaniard was an instant improvement in several ways, but he was the first taste of what Xavi could manage with timely changes. Another early change was made for Christensen, who was replaced by Jules Kounde.
That specific substitution was made more so because of the booking that Christensen had already taken with an early yellow card, but it was also a performance boost from the Frenchman. Ultimately, both choices paid off and Barcelona managed to come out victorious both on and off the field.
