Musical chairs and sack races
Despite the show Barcelona put on against Villareal at the tail end of Matchday 34, it’s much too little, much too late. Real Madrid continue their relentless march to the LaLiga title by being ruthlessly efficient, picking up their third consecutive 1-0 victory thanks to another Ramos penalty up in Bilbao. Los Blancos have four games left now, and with Barça trailing by four points, they know that even if the Catalans take maximum points from their remaining games — hardly a certainty given the club’s up and down form – they only need to accumulate eight points to make any pursuit statistically pointless. With games at home to Alavés and Villareal, plus visits to Granada and Leganés, the chances of not getting a minimum of eight points are roughly equivalent to Quique Setién still being in charge of Barcelona when the new season starts.
The Catalans were entertaining but, that’s about as far as it goes. The race is over, the pressure is off, so let’s go out, stretch our legs, and put a bit of a performance on. The question is, of course, where has that been all season. Messi is zeroing in on the all-time season ‘assist’ record set by Xavi a decade or so ago, and the fact that this is in a team hardly having the best of seasons makes you question what will happen when the Mercurial Argentine finally calls time on his career at the Camp Nou. If, as suggested above, Setién is eased out of his position at the season’s end, there’s a quandary for the club as to who they can persuade to take over. Two former players would be near the top of the short list, in the shape of Xavi and Ronald
Koeman. Before the pandemic threw football up into the air, it seemed quite likely that both would be available in the close season. All that may have changed now though.
News broke over the weekend that Xavi had signed a new deal with Qatar club AlSadd, adding a further year to his time there. A quick glance at the Qatari Stars League table though suggests that his maiden job as a coach may not be the success that many have painted it to be. Al Sadd sit in third place, but are ten points behind leaders Al Duhail and six astray of second placed Al Rayyan. The chances of clinching the title look remote to say the least. Any cynics, and let’s face it mis amigos, football makes cynics of a lot of us, may think that signing a year’s extension deal may just be a way for the club to exact a few more euros from Barcelona if they come calling. Let’s be honest, it wouldn’t be the first time a club has said to a coach or player likely to be in demand shortly, “Tell you what, buddy. Sign this deal, of course we’ll let you go, but we can squeeze a bit more brass out of the deal and you can have a share too!” So, don’t count Xavi out of the equation quite yet.
The situation with Koeman is different. This time last year, the plan may well have been to let him take the Oranje to the European Championships, and then he would have been happy enough to come back to Barcelona. Problem is, of course, that with the tournament postponed for a year, that plan has been stymied. Would Koeman be prepared to ditch his Netherlands dreams and hitch himself to a Barcelona club locked into another of those periodic internal bloodletting feuds, or even look at a short-term job share? You can’t really see it, can you? All that said though, there’s one thing more unlikely than Xavi leaving his contract in Qatar, or Koeman waving goodbye to the Oranje before the European Championships, and that’s Messi et al tolerating Señor Setién for another season. Another stop gap appointment perhaps? Who knows? It’s Barcelona, so anything is possible.
On the subject of coaches moving on, Alavés parted company with Asier Gartiano last weekend. He’d survived in post for just over twelve months, but with the club in a run of five successive losses, the curtain came down on his tenure at the Mendizorrotza. It was the eleventh change of coach so far over this extended season, and with the end of term clear outs on the horizon, as relegated or disappointed clubs take out their frustrations on the man charged with delivering success, it’s a number only likely to rise in the coming weeks.
On a similar theme, you have to wonder whether Espanyol are seeking some kind of record. After disposing of David Gallego in October, two months later Pablo Machin was also pointed towards the exit door at the RCDE Stadium and, last month, Abelardo was handed his membership card to the rapidly growing ‘Espanyol Ex-Managers Club.’ With social distancing in place, they’ll need a pretty big room for their annual get together! Now with Voro promoted to an interim post, and four games still to play, there’s time to shuffle another couple in and out before the curtain goes down on the club’s sorry season and they drop through the relegation trap door.
Going nowhere, unless he chooses to do so of course, is Zinedine Zidane. The former world star who staggeringly has won more silverware as a coach than in his glittering playing career looks set to point Real Madrid towards a period of prolonged domination as Barcelona spend time contemplating their navel again. Even though the team has been shorn of the services of Eden Hazard for much of the term, it looks very much like the title will be secured at an amble. Plus, with every possibility of more recruits arriving in the summer, Hala Madrid could be the ringing out for a while yet, and even when that music pauses for breath, in the LaLiga game of Musical Chairs, Zidane’s seat will be safe.
We’ll talk again next week when there’s likely to be a victory lap for Los Blancos, and bringing the curtain down on the bottom three clubs. There are still European places up for grabs though so, as always, plenty to talk about. Catch you next week, hasta luego!