Barcelona best effort this season is to maintain its position in the top four of the standings. It is very difficult for Barcelona to compete to defend the trophy, where Madrid and Girona appear very consistent. We can see the latest defeat to Valencia as another setback to their strength, conceding 5 goals in one game is something that needs to be underlined, Xavi has stated that he will step down as head coach at the end of the season. It is true that the financial crisis they are experiencing has had an impact on the club growth, Xavi steps have been hampered in the transfer window because he does not have an adequate budget to recruit new players.
If you look at this season's performance, a quite logical target is to finish in the top 4 of the final La Liga standings because in my opinion, defending the title is almost impossible for them.
I am not surprised by Xavi's statement to leave Barcelona's coaching chair because it is quite natural, the absence of adequate support from team management makes it quite difficult for Xavi to build this team. If we look at Xavi's quality as a coach, it is actually quite good, he is able to bring Barcelona to the championship Last season and since Xavi's arrival he has made quite a lot of positive changes.
Defeating at home against Villarreal and having to concede 5 goals certainly indicates that this team is not doing well and it seems that the current Barcelona team does not have strong chemistry between players.
Their bottom line was quite highlighted when they conceded 3 goals at the end of the match, causing them to suffer a humiliating defeat at home, but I don't think their back line is entirely to blame because overall the Barcelona team's performance was quite bad in all sectors.
Maybe in the Champions League they can get past the round of 16, Napoli certainly have better attributes than opponents like Valencia, Xavi must motivate his squad so they can show a different performance. Barcelona defense line is very porous, Xavi has tried his best to field his best squad, but we can't blame him completely. Currently, Barcelona is 8 points adrift of Girona and 10 points from Madrid, ATM and Bilbao are threats that must be carefully watched because they have the potential to shift their position in third place.
The current condition of the Barcelona team is quite bad so I don't think they will be able to recover in the Champions League, in the round of 16 maybe there is still hope for Barcelona because they will face Napoli, where the Italian team also has had the same problem this season. However, more than that, I believe Barcelona will not be able to go further in the Champions League this season.