Barça is off to a great start to their season. Following their surprising goalless draw at home to Rayo Vallecano, the Blaugrana have been on a five-game winning streak with impressive wins on the road against Real Sociedad and Sevilla. Today, they kick off their second group stage match of their Champions League group stage, where they face their rivals for the trophy, Bayern Munich. Today will show us if Barça are back where they belong or still have work to do.
Barça are flying under Xavi. 4 wins and a draw to kick off their new league campaign and top of their Champions League group stage, on goal differential, after one match day while playing entertaining football (15 goals in La Liga and 5 goals in Europe) while conceding only one goal in each competition. It’s true that Real Sociedad and Sevilla are off to a poor start, but those grounds are usually a tough trip for the Blaugrana. Nonetheless, Xavi’s boys went there and got impressive victories there.
The Blaugrana are flying high with the new additions of Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Jules Koundé, Andreas Christensen, Héctor Bellerín, and Marcos Alonso. However, today Barça get their first true test of the season when they face Bayern Munich. The German side has been a thorn in Barcelona’s side for the past few seasons. Yesterday, Xavi said Allianz Arena wasn’t a house of horror for the Blaugrana. However, their record on Bayern Munich’s turf is horrendous with four losses and two draws on their last six trips with the aggregate score of 14-4 for the home side.
Today is the first true test for Xavi and the players. A loss would not be devastating since this is still a work in progress and it’s still early into the season. However, a win would give the team a bounce in their step and validation for FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta for all the risky financial measures to allow the club to become a powerhouse again. Roma wasn’t built in a day but today could pave the road for the club to become a powerful empire again.
