One year since the final that changed everything
This Sunday coming, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid will be facing off in the Spanish Super Cup Final in Saudi Arabia. That's by no means an unfamiliar situation, for that is exactly what was also happening a year ago to this day. On that occasion, Barça were by far the better side and romped home to win 3-1 and claim the first trophy of the Xavi Hernández era.
Turning point
Winning that trophy was important in itself, but what perhaps made an even deeper impact was the effect it had on the team's morale. Until then, things weren't quite gelling as brilliantly as one might have hoped. They may have been top of the domestic league, but elimination from the Champions League group stage was still fresh on Culer minds.
But as Xavi said after the victory in Riyadh, "I'm so happy for my players, who have been receiving a lot of unfair criticism. Today they were liberated. This is a huge boost for our confidence and will allow us to work in peace."
And he was right. From then on, the Catalans went on to win the league in emphatic fashion, making it a mathematical certainty with several games to spare.
The likes of Gavi, Lewandowski and Pedri all shone in last year's Super Cup Final. Sadly, the former won't be there in Sunday as he's out through injury, but the Polish striker netted a confidence-boosting goal against Osasuna in the semi-final, and the Canary Islander marked his comeback from injury with some fabulous football on Thursday.
History repeating?
There are other similarities between this and last season, albeit inverted, for Barça did make it into the knockout stages of the Champions League, but a worryingly wide gap has opened up between themselves and the frontrunners in La Liga. And as in 2022-23, Barça are going into the Super Cup knowing that they were beaten by Real Madrid in the most recent Liga encounter.
Last season, they responded by convincingly defeating the all-whites in the Middle East. More of the same would be another huge injection of morale as we move into the business end of the football season. Bring on Sunday!