The Supercopa de Espana victory for Barcelona was Xavi’s first title in charge at Camp Nou. But Andreas Christensen also had a personal connection to the victory.
The center-back has finally found his position in the team after a rocky start at Barcelona following a painful departure from Chelsea and has followed that up with his new team’s first trophy.
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Jules Kounde and Christensen started in the middle of the defense, with Ronald Araujo moving to the right to deal with Vinicius Junior’s threat. The strategy proved successful as Barca won 3-1; Vinicius Jr. was mostly unnoticed and Real was limited to a late Karim Benzema consolation strike.
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It was Christensen’s most recent performance that stood out. Just over a week ago, Barcelona defeated Atletico Madrid 1-0 on the road to move three points ahead atop the La Liga standings. This may have been his greatest performance for Barcelona.
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Why Gavi for Pedri on Barcelona’s left side against Real Madrid
Supercopa is only the beginning for Barcelona under Xavi.
Is Andreas Christensen leaving Barcelona?
The statistics demonstrate that. FBref reports that Christensen, ahead of Kounde and Araujo, completed 86 (of 90 attempts) of the passes made by Barcelona players in that game. Just two touches behind Kounde, he had the second-most touches (100) of any player on either side.
Christensen was the Barcelona player with the second-most balls retrieved (nine), one fewer than Pedri. He was as good in defense, collaborating effectively with center-back partner Araujo.
Christensen’s former team Chelsea lost 4-0 to Manchester City on the same day in the FA Cup.
Chelsea has spent a lot of money trying to bolster their backline after losing the center-back duo of Christensen and Antonio Rudiger. On free transfers to Barcelona and Real Madrid after their contracts ended last summer. However, they have not quite succeeded.
Wesley Fofana and Kalidou Koulibaly joined from Napoli and Leicester City, the latter for £70 million ($85.4 million). although neither has had much success.
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