The Spanish Super Cup, a level test for Xavi

Xavi Hernández returns tonight to a locker room where something remarkable happened a year ago, which will be taken as a reference to measure where Barça is.

The Super Cup semifinal had just finished —like today against Betis (8:00 p.m. Movistar)—, Real Madrid eliminated them in extra time (2-3) and the president, Joan Laporta, entered the dressing room of the Rey stadium Fahd to tell them that he felt "proud" of the party: "You have shown your face, you have shown pride, the ability to overcome, courage... As president of Barça and on behalf of my board, I congratulate you," he told them.

❝ We are proud and this is the path ❞

— President @JoanLaportaFCB — pic.twitter.com/7lbYXjMxCr

– FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_es) January 13, 2022

The message was not just for internal consumption of the locker room.

The official accounts of the club immediately distributed the video on the networks: “This is the way, mister.

We've had it, and now we just have to start winning”.

Since Piqué, in addition to playing in the Super Cup, began to earn four million a year for exporting it to Saudi Arabia and the format with four teams was introduced, the tournament has always been a defining point in Barcelona's career, and in particular of its dock.

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In January 2020, the first edition, played in Jeddah, led to the dismissal of Ernesto Valverde after losing the semifinal against Atlético de Madrid (3-2).

The season ended with the 2-8 thump against Bayern in the Champions League in Lisbon, with Quique Setién at the controls.

In 2021, at La Cartuja due to the pandemic, the defeat in the final against Athletic left Ronald Koeman very touched.

They finished the season winning the Cup, but before starting the next one they lost Leo Messi.

As Laporta explained then, in the first months of his management, that was part of the essential financial reconstruction of the club.

In parallel, and under the parameters dictated by the numbers, the sports rearmament was marching, whose progress can be measured in Xavi's return to the Super Cup, rare by Barça's recent standards.

Since Laporta's harangue, the day they saw that the team could compete, the club incorporated a differential piece, Robert Lewandowski, who provided an extraordinary leap in terms of scoring threat.

However, other unknowns remain in a fluctuating group that does not finish dispatching a great complete game, like the last one in the Metropolitan: a very good start that did not hold.

Betis, a team on a roll and that will challenge him for the ball, tonight is a significant occasion to measure progress since Laporta's speech, while Xavi awaits his first title as coach after 14 months in charge: "We've been in charge for a while without titles, and it would be our turn now.", he said yesterday.

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