Another tight win and another step towards the title for Barca

First final, first victory. And the league, a little closer. There are still 14 games to go, but Barça took a momentous step towards the title on Sunday. Xavi announced on Saturday that the moment of truth had arrived for the Blaugrana. That all the matches until the end of the championship were going to be decisive. That it was forbidden to fail. That mistakes like the one made in Almeria could not be repeated. The team took on board the coach's message and faced the duel against a Valencia side in crisis with absolute intensity. 

Nobody wanted an unpleasant surprise that could generate a new 'mini-crisis' in the environment. The pressure on this Barça team that is being built is enormous. The demand to be champions is not easy to cope with. And only the experience of Xavi, who knows better than anyone what Barça is and what it means, can make this constant scrutiny more bearable. The European disappointments, moreover, have increased the tension. That is why, little by little, securing the league title with victories like today's against Valencia helps to calm the spirits and give oxygen to a team that knows it is under constant scrutiny.

It was not a good game for Barça. Too many key absentees (Pedri, Lewandowski and Dembele through injury and Gavi through suspension) which forced them to put together a different XI. Xavi decided to return to 4-3-3 and gave the starting line-up to Ansu who, once again, showed he was far from his best form. Raphinha's goal after 15 minutes seemed to augur an easy game. But nothing could have been further from the truth. Valencia, despite struggling dramatically to avoid relegation, created more problems than expected in a Spotify Camp Nou that once again suffered. 

Ferran (with a missed penalty) and Ansu (with a shot against the post) could have made it 2-0, but Araujo's dismissal forced Barça to play the last half hour with only 10 players. The Blaugrana held on as best they could and managed another narrow victory (their tenth) that brings them one step closer to the title. Suffering, but three more points... awaiting what Madrid do tonight against Betis.

Xavi was unable to celebrate his 50th league game as Barça coach on the bench. He was suspended for accumulation of cards. His passion on the sidelines has cost him this disappointment. That's alright. As he says, the technical team is precisely that, a team. And it was his brother Oscar who led the match with Xavi in the stands. Xavi's record could not be more satisfactory: 37 wins, 7 draws and 6 defeats. With 74 per cent of victories in these half a hundred matches, Xavi is already one of the best coaches in the history of the Blaugrana. Now all that remains is for the titles to certify these statistics.