Ferran Torres convinces Xavi Hernández. In reality, it is the capacity for resilience of the Valencian striker, impassive when the club put up the sale sign for him last summer, patient when Lewandowski and João Félix, the favorites (protected) of the players, won the fight in the starting eleven. offices. “He has turned the tables by himself,” highlighted the Catalan coach after Ferran Torres promoted with his hat-trick against Barça against Betis (2-4) and will relieve the coaching staff in a week that is key for the future of the Barça team in the season, but above all that is presumed vital for the future of the coaching staff, again in the wire after the blow in the Super Cup against Real Madrid.
Last season, when Barcelona was breathing easy in Spain, champion of the Super Cup, leader in the League (it was crowned champion), the praise from the coaching staff went to Lewandowski. The Pole was pointed out as the example to follow for his teammates in training. “It’s a spectacle how he works. He has a very good relationship with young people,” the Barça staff noted. However, the unexpected happened: he dried up. It was unexpected because the Pole had always stood out for his relationship with the goal, also for the price that Barcelona (50 million, more than 10 in commission) had paid for the transfer of a 34-year-old player, now already 35 .
With the vacation goals, Lewandowski began to look around. First, to the tactical system: he understood that his football was diminished when the team played with four midfielders. Then, to the physical preparation: he was not convinced by the job. So, when his figure began to be uncomfortable for the locker room and the staff, in the offices of the Ciudad Deportiva they warned him: “Robert, veterans have to add. You have had great coaches and Xavi is a young coach. Talk to him. Help the coach and your teammates.” Lewandowski followed the advice, but Barça did not recover the goal. “We must be one of the worst teams in Europe in terms of effectiveness. We are not very efficient,” Xavi analyzed. The Pole had gone six games without scoring until he scored a double against Alavés (November 12). Since then, he has only scored a single goal against Girona (December 10). That is, three goals in the last 12 games he has played (0.25).
And Xavi can no longer hide it. In the last two duels, the Barça coach replaced the Pole. Against Las Palmas he did it in the 72nd minute; against Betis, in 63 against Betis. Before he had only changed him in a single game, against Real (57), when the forward was recovering from an ankle injury.
Xavi, in any case, has not only cornered Lewandowski. João Félix, another of the darlings of the board, has been dropped from the eleven. The case of the Portuguese is peculiar, his football like his state of mind, it is an emotional roller coaster, sometimes in heaven, other times in hell, the Barcelona coaching staff has chosen to leave it as a shock, as happened against Betis . Against Almería, Ferran Torres replaced him at half-time. And the formula remained intact, against Las Palmas and against Betis, Ferran Torres started, while João Félix took the field in the second half. “Ferran embodies what it is to be a mentally strong footballer. Here, on a day-to-day basis, they make you feel that you are worthless, whether you are a player, coach or press officer. This is Barça, it’s a shame, but that’s how it is,” Xavi commented before the duel against Betis; “He is positive, I think he has eight goals. “He is positive,” Xavi on the eve of the trip to Benito Villamarín.
Ferran Torres responded to his coach with three goals and now has 11 this season. Lewandowski is the Barça top scorer with 12. However, the Pole has played 2,026 minutes compared to Ferran’s 1,519. Third in the table is precisely João Félix: seven in 1,525. “He sent me a spectacular message in the summer telling me that he was going to succeed at Barcelona. He has great mental strength, one of the most I have seen in my career and he has earned it hard,” Xavi recalled. And Ferran explained his version of his good moment: “It is the fruit of work, discipline, perseverance, believing in oneself and taking advantage of opportunities.” There is almost no doubt about that at Barça, now without the protection of Mateu Alemany (they signed him in 2021), the Ugly Duckling of the squad’s forwards prevails over two media stars like Lewandowski and João Félix. The coaching staff appreciates it, Pini Zahavi and Jorge Mendes, agents of the Pole and the Portuguese respectively, old friends of Joan Laporta, suffer from it.
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