After Barcelona’s considerable summer spending, there’s great hope and anticipation that Xavi can lead them to a successful 2022-23 campaign.
But they suffered an underwhelming start, with a 0-0 draw in their opening La Liga fixture at home to Rayo Vallecano.
Andoni Iraola’s men took six points from Barcelona last season and have now kept three successive clean sheets against them, keeping out new signings Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski at Camp Nou.
It’s a rare disappointment for Barcelona, who have only failed to win their opening fixture on six occasions in the 21st century. Here’s what happened next the last five times.
2019-20
Ernesto Valverde returned to his old stomping ground San Mames for the opener of the 2019-20 season, in which he was looking to lead Barcelona to a third successive La Liga title.
But Aritz Aduriz had other ideas, and the big Basque centre-forward’s 89th-minute strike proved to be the match-winner in a 1-0 victory for Athletic Club. Barcelona registered 72% possession but lacked a cutting edge without sidelined star man Lionel Messi. They mustered just two shots on target.
Further wobbles followed, particularly on the road, with a 2-2 draw at Osasuna and a 2-0 defeat at Granada, but Messi soon returned and they gradually recovered their form to spend the mid-portion of the season top of the table.
Valverde was sacked in January, despite Barcelona being top of the table, and poor results under Quique Setien in the post-lockdown period of the season ultimately cost them the title. They ended up finishing five points behind champions Real Madrid.
2008-09
Pep Guardiola was not a universally popular choice as manager back in 2008. The local boy had achieved great success in charge of the B team but was a young and unproven coach at the top level.
It’s crazy to think now, but many – including some within the club hierarchy – would’ve rather had Jose Mourinho, who was a former assistant to Bobby Robson and Louis van Gaal and was the biggest name going after leaving Chelsea.
There was immediate pressure on Joan Laporta’s controversial decision to appoint Guardiola when he led Barca to a 1-0 defeat to Numancia in the La Liga opener. They then followed that up by drawing 1-1 at home to Racing Santander.
Predictably, there was outrage in the Catalan sports dailies, but Johan Cruyff rode to his former captain’s defence.
“This Barcelona looks very, very good,” wrote Cruyff in El Pais after Guardiola’s side…
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