The Barcelona players have just returned to the locker room when Gerard Pique posted a brief message on Twitter.
“We're back,” stamped the central defender.
Pique and his teammates spent a long time on the pitch of the Santiago Bernabeu stadium to celebrate their unappealable 4-0 victory against Real Madrid in the Spanish League. They jumped and sang euphorically with the handful of visiting fans who were still in the almost empty venue.
Inside, coach Xavi Hernandez waited to embrace each player
“Come on, let's go!” , was the regular exchange.
It was the kind of statement that Barcelona needed in a difficult year of transition after the departure of Lionel Messi and the collapse of its finances.
Sweeping away his staunch rival — one who was tuned for his big lead as the leader of the domestic tournament and after eliminating Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League — confirmed that Barça is moving in the right direction.
“It can change the dynamics of the present and the future,” Xavi said. In the recent past we didn't have much joy. We hit the table.”
“It can be said that we are coming back. We have competed against an entire Real Madrid, in their field. The match was spectacular and we could have scored more goals,” he added.
The Bálgranas are on the rise after a weak start to the season, in which they were eliminated in the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup.
After taking the reins last November, Xavi retouched Barça's attack and you can see a more vertical game that hurts rivals with lightning attacks.
In its last eight matches in all competitions, the Catalan club has scored 24 goals against five of its rivals.
The contributions of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ferran Torres have been key. Aubameyang signed a double and Ferran added the same, accumulating 15 conquests between the two since joining the club this year. Ronald Araújo scored the other Barça goal against a Madrid that had come from chaining five victories in the classic.
“This really reinforces me, the project and the game model,” said Xavi. “Although I don't need any glory, the players and the Barcelonismo better have it. I don't feel a personal victory, but a group victory and barcelonism. It's what makes me happy,”
Xavi beat Madrid after the failed bet of his counterpart Carlo Ancelotti to use Luka Modric as a false nine against the injury loss of Karim Benzema, the great merengue benchmark and top scorer in the league.
“We had the game very controlled, very well in high pressure,” said Xavi. “We created many chances, in attacking moves we trained, we were able to score more goals.”
“This victory gives us a lot of morale and confidence to keep working,” he added. “We have shown, above all to ourselves, that we can compete with anyone playing this way.”
Ancelotti took the blame for the defeat, acknowledging that he was wrong with his tactical approach. He tried Mariano Díaz at the helm in the second half and it didn't work. Eden Hazard didn't come off the bench.
“I've told my players that it's my fault,” said the Italian. “The approach was not good. Barça played better and deserved to win.”
Barcelona's high level received praise outside of Spain.
“It was a pleasure to see this great exhibition,” Bayern Munich attacker Thomas Muller commented on Twitter.
The victory prevented Madrid from widening the difference over their Sevilla guard to 12 points, with nine games to play. In a campaign in which he became stuck in the middle of the table, Barcelona was 12 points in third place and has one game pending.
“It's hard but they're letting us dream and dreaming is free, let's see what happens,” said veteran Barcelona winger Dani Alves about the options to fight for the league title and after playing his 400th match with the club.
Barcelona's next match in the tournament will be at home against Sevilla that leads him by three points. In addition, Barça is immersed in the Europa League quarterfinals after being shipwrecked in the group stage of the Champions League for the first time in almost two decades.
“We haven't won a title. You have to be humble,” Xavi said. “We celebrate it today and then we have to rest and think about Sevilla.”