Xavi gets clasico formula just right as Barcelona dream of return to glory days

Roberto and Kessie played key roles in win over Real Madrid, providing hope to Camp Nou faithfuls that club is on right path

Sergi Roberto celebrates after scoring Barcelona's first goal in their La Liga victory over Real Madrid on March 20, 2023. Reuters

Xavi Hernandez was in a dilemma. It kept him wondering “up to the last minute” until he named his starting XI for the most important fixture, in terms of the attitude of the crowd, of his tenure so far as Barcelona manager. It was his first confrontation at home against Real Madrid since he took the job in November 2021. He needed to get his midfield just right.

The dilemma was whether to pick Sergi Roberto or Franck Kessie alongside captain Sergio Busquets and Frenkie De Jong. The choice was much like many Xavi has had to make in a season of mixed fortunes and one preceded by a high turnover of players. The long-servant? Or the newcomer?

Sergi Roberto is a homegrown, one-club man, appreciated for his versatility but not always applauded by fans – he is not a cherished, generational academy product in the way Xavi himself, or Andres Iniesta, were as Barca midfielders.

Kessie is a hired expert. The Ivorian joined from AC Milan last summer, a footballer of many strengths and proven champion calibre. He was crucial to Milan winning Serie A for the first time in 11 years last May.

In the end Xavi opted for Roberto, who was once his playing colleague and a man with a history of playing in clasicos against Madrid that dates back 12 years. It turned out well.

Roberto took his goal just before half-time superbly, a well-timed equaliser just as Barcelona were thinking Madrid might hold out on the 1-0 lead they had established early on via Ronald Araujo’s own goal.

Barcelona 2-1 Real Madrid: Player ratings

A Madrid win would have kept the race for the Liga title very much alive, at six points separating Barca in top place and the reigning champions, Madrid, in second.

As it happened, a dramatic close to the game – Madrid had a ‘winner’ ruled out for offside by VAR and Barca, through substitute Kessie, then made it 2-1 in injury-time – would leave Barcelona 12 points clear with 12 games to go.

Supporters left Camp Nou late on Sunday night chanting ‘Campeones.’ It does look very likely Barcelona will win the league from here, with their strong defensive record, at least in domestic football, and with all the knowhow assembled in their squad.

Some of that is concentrated in the longer-serving players – such as Roberto, Jordi Alba and especially Busquets, who was part of midfield including Xavi and Iniesta that, a decade-and-a-half ago under a young Pep Guardiola – set about making Barca the most admired club side in the world. They won La Liga almost routinely then, and would claim three Champions League titles between 2009 and 2015.

Nobody is ready to interpret Barca’s huge lead in the 2022-23 Liga race as a return to those glorious days, not while Xavi is still digesting elimination from both the Champions League and Europa League at the first hurdle of both competitions.

But confidence in the domestic tasks – they face Madrid, armed with a 1-0 first-leg lead, in the Camp Nou leg of their Spanish Cup semi-final next month – is built on the increasingly reliable blend of homegrown excellence with the proven savvy of those, like Kessie, who came in the close-season.

Milan certainly miss Kessie. Their defence of their Serie A title has collapsed. They trail runaway Italian leaders Napoli by 23 points and, having lost at the weekend, are in a battle to retain their current fourth place.

The big summer recruit at Barcelona was Robert Lewandowski, 34, but deemed worth a lavish four-year contract for his tried-and-tested excellence as a finisher. He is the leading scorer in this season’s La Liga. The selling club were Bayern Munich, and to look at the Bundesliga table now is to believe Bayern do miss the Polish centre-forward.

He set various records while his goals were taking Bayern to eight successive league titles with him in the side. Post-Lewandowski, Bayern are currently chasing Borussia Dortmund in the table, having lost for the second time in five games at the weekend.

Xavi has valued the contributions of two additions from Chelsea, Andreas Christensen and Marcos Alonso, both part of the London club’s 2021 Champions League squad. He continues to back, in spite of less playing time than he would like, Ferran Torres who joined in the winter window of 2021-22 having won a Premier League title with Manchester City.

Christensen stood out, like a champion, against Madrid. Torres came on to add some energy in the later stages, as did the delighted Kessie, whose winning strike will secure him an enduring place in the affections of Barca fans. Xavi’s dilemma had its perfect solution. “I was in doubt over whether to go with Sergi or Franck,” he explained. “In the end it all turned out very well because both of them scored.”