Since Xavi Hernandez effectively tendered his resignation at Barcelona, the first-team have gone on a great run.
Though success in both La Liga and the Champions League is unlikely, the fact is that it is still possible.
If Paris Saint-Germain have an off night in the quarter-finals, Barca are perfectly capable of beating them, and they’ve a favourable semi-final draw if they get through too.
They’d likely need to beat Man City if they got all the way, but in a one-off game, who knows.
Barcelona want Xavi to stay – Haaland signing eyed
In the league, Real Madrid stand in their way after an excellent campaign, though an El Clasico win for the Blaugranes would mean just a five-point gap for the remaining few games.
Being the hunted rather than the hunter comes with a great deal of pressure and Los Blancos will have to be at it in every game before the end of the 2023/24 campaign if they want to fend off their biggest rivals.
The expectation is that Xavi will still walk at the end of the season, though as Mundo Deportivo report, the club desperately want him to stay.
President, Joan Laporta, vice president Rafa Yuste and sporting director, Deco, are all apparently in agreement that the club’s former midfield legend has to carry on in the dugout.
The carrot that they are dangling for that precise scenario to occur is the belief that they will sign Erling Haaland in 2025 to replace the outgoing Robert Lewandowski.
It isn’t clear at this stage how a club who are seemingly mired in debt will be able to sign the best striker in world football, but perhaps the thought of having an Mbappe/Haaland duel to rival the Messi/Ronaldo years is something that will enthuse Xavi.