Delight or Disaster for Barcelona?
This could have been a fantastic week for the Blaugranas aka the Culers, in other words the Barcelona fans! With their 0-1 win over Girona the weekend started real nice for Barca. The weekend was rounded off with an even sweeter finish as Real Madrid dropped 2 crucial points in the La liga title race as they were held to a goalless draw against Real Sociedad.
But that is about all the good news to the naked eye for Barcelona. As we stare deeper into the incidents of the weekend, things start to look a little gloomy Barcelona.
First up, Ousmane Dembele. Dembele has been a source of major frustration for Barcelona since his big money move. So much talent, yet so fragile. He has spent more time on the hospital bed than on the football ground since joining Barcelona. So much so that, there was a troll recently during the world cup saying Dembele has spent so much time in the hospital that he has become a doctor and is treating his French teammates of the flu and minor bugs! It's sad that as a long time Barcelona fan, even I found this extremely funny.
Dembele has rarely been the talk of the town for anything positive. For the last few years, every time Dembele was on the news, without even reading it we could tell with almost 90% confidence that he was injured, again! Hence it was a welcome change after Xavi took over that Dembele was appearing on the news more and more for his performances and less for his holidays at the hospital! From the beginning of this season, he has been outstanding for Barcelona. Every time it seemed Barca has hit a brick-solid wall and couldn't break through, Dembele was almost always around to provide moments of brilliance and break the walls!
And hence it comes as one of the biggest blows that Dembele had to be withdrawn just halfway through the first half with what seemed a pretty serious Quads injury. When he will be fit again to play is not clear, but what is clear is the timing of interrupting his brilliant run of form could not have been worse for Barcelona as the La liga title race braces itself for an electric finish. Barcelona are also scheduled to face an in form Manchester United later next month.
The other concerning thing is, even though Madrid dropped points - anyone who has seen the match knows Real Madrid are getting back to they very dangerous best. How Vinicius or Rodrygo or Benzema was not on the scoresheet last night is a mystery! Had it not been for Alex Remiro, the Sociedad keeper who was rock solid between the posts - no one would have been surprised if Real Madrid came off with a big win.
All in all, with Madrid finding their dangerous edge again and Dembele out for uncertain period - Barca face a testing month ahead, and should they come out unscathed out of it they will be in pole position to win the La Liga once again.
The time when Messi signed out of the club, thats when I left watching La liga. Yet, the good old days were such pleasant,at the time Xavi and Puyol, Iniesta and Ronaldinho 's. There time has gone and so as the vibe.
Youngsters like Dembele wont replenish the vacuum, it is longer lasting. Spending times in Hospital and successive injuries determine the hours they put on practice sessions.Most likely, todays players tend to hang out to bars rather than grounds.
Thats modern days, ha ha..
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Youngsters of the modern era are indeed very fragile and injury prone. Too many off field antics and they lose their way too early in their careers.
Thats true, indeed.
Dedication has decreased and part of the ongoing competition play part also..
I'm a fan of Real Madrid and currently we are playing terrible, since the world cup finished we have serious problems in attack and defense, if Barça win it will be because they have known how to play better, the same is happening with arsenal and manchester city
Barcelona, while they have found ways to win always seemed just one big blow away from disaster. I hope this Dembele injury doesn’t turn out to be a big setback.
Real Madrid's draw last night was good news for Barcelona fanbase, I am a Barca fan and I can say we are winning the league this season and the match that will decide the league title will be the second meeting against Real Madrid in March.
Dembele's injury is not good news, we have a busy schedule next month and his creativity will be needed in the match against Manchester United but still, we have Raphinha and he needs to up his game because he will be needed more to create chances for Lewandoski to score goals. Barcelona are still in safe hands, if the team could pull up 3 wins without Lewandoski then they can do the same without Dembele.
Yeah I think the next el classico will play a huge part in tipping the title one way or the other.
Dembele's creativity will definitely be missed. But this also means Ansu Fati will get quite some regular game time and that might be what he needs to get back his form he had before the injury setbacks. For now, we need to win ugly if that's what it takes and maintain the gap at the top.
Barcelona are playing well this season. Already Xavi made a competitive team. After messi's departure this club passed very bad times. Hope they can beat others to win la-liga this season.
Hi,
Yeah Demby injury is something,yet it could be the emancipation of another player who cab be just as deadly– Fati.
How you excused Vinicius' atrocious misses against Sociedad and that has been a consistent theme in his game this season is rather surprising. Are you a Real Madrid fan?
Well whatever your status, fact is that as much as someone like Fati has to hurry up and be the champ he can be, Vinicius has to hurry up and be as decisive as he can be.
Cheers