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It only takes one good or bad game for the fortunes of a club to change and Barcelona have experienced that first-hand in the last six days.
Having gone on a 15-match unbeaten run stretching across three months, the Blaugrana were recently served a reality check. They suffered back-to-back defeats to Eintracht Frankfurt and Cadiz in the past one week.
Those losses have since proven to be even more damaging, with Xavi’s side exiting the Europa League and also dropping to third in La Liga.
A week ago, Barcelona were flying and dreaming of finishing the season with silverware. But now they have to build themselves back up, starting with the game against Real Sociedad on 21 April.
Barcelona aim to return to winning ways
It is imperative that the Catalan giants quickly return to winning ways in their game against La Real, or risk falling into a mini-crisis.
When the team was doing well, Joan Laporta constantly stressed that they hadn’t given up on the title despite trailing Real Madrid by a huge margin.
As it stands, the Blaugrana are 18 points behind Carlo Ancelotti’s side and are not even safe in the top-four race. They sit level on points with fourth-placed Sevilla and just three points ahead of fifth-placed Real Betis.
Real Sociedad will prove to be a tough nut to crack, especially as they’re playing at home. But Barcelona need the three points to get their season back on track and must do everything to get the result.
Blaugrana need to respond under pressure
It has been a week to forget for Barcelona after their hopes of winning the Europa League and La Liga ended in the space of four days.
Currently, the Blaugrana seem broken but they can’t afford to keep their heads down at this crucial point in the campaign.
“They (Real Sociedad) can’t beat us in faith and desire,” Xavi said in his pre-match press conference, as quoted by Football Espana. “We have to get excited again. It’s hard to do this when our goal is second place in La Liga but this is our reality.
“We must engage the fans," he added. "Great stories are written with a good beginning. We’ve entered an emergency dynamic; now we have to reset.”
Against Real Sociedad, the Catalan club's character will be tested following a week where their performances and results have been very poor. How they respond, however, will explain how far the team has come psychologically under Xavi.
