Barcelona, Xavi Have No Time to Celebrate as Treble Quest Continues

Barcelona finished off their La Liga campaign with a 2-2 draw against Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday, having already clinched the Spanish title the week before. While the match took on a celebratory tone for the home side as Xavi Hernandez marked his final league match with the club, there was no time to relax. For Luis Enrique and his players, everything is still to play for.

Two matches remain in Barcelona's season, and both feature the highest of stakes. First up is the Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao this Saturday, in what amounts to a home game for the Blaugrana at the Camp Nou. A week later, Luis Enrique's side will travel to Berlin to face Juventus in the UEFA Champions League final.

Win both, and Barcelona will claim a league-cup-Champions League treble for just the second time in the club's proud history. Doing so would put the current side on comparative footing with the 2009 edition, which was the first to accomplish the feat. The latter, though less so than the 2011 vintage that also won the Champions League, is considered one of Barca's best, as noted by Sid Lowe of the Guardian. That the current side has a chance to equal the achievements of 2009 pays testament to the job Luis Enrique has done this season.

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Following a disappointing 2013-14 campaign, Luis Enrique inherited a team with an uncertain outlook. A transfer ban was looming. Xavi was past his prime. The squad had regressed under former manager Tata Martino.

Then Luis Enrique came in and, despite drawing criticism in the early days of his tenure, led Barca back to the top of La Liga. Real Madrid might have won 22 straight games at one point, but by the end of the season, there was no questioning which team was Spain's best.

Enrique, a former Barcelona player, did it by mixing the style of Pep Guardiola with physical strength, as B/R's Guillem Balague has noted:

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Luis Enrique, who received a lot of criticism from many quarters early on in the season, deserves enormous credit for the re-creation of a side very similar to the great Pep Guardiola team of the recent past.

And he’s done it with the return to the culture of effort and by reverting to the pressure-high tactic of play. It is a tactic that demands a combination of attitude and physique, and one that this Barcelona side has shown in abundance at the business end of the season—when it has mattered most.

Neither Tito Vilanova nor Tata Martino were able to maintain it in the psyche of the side for long periods, and even Guardiola himself found it impossible to achieve toward the end of his inordinately successful reign at the club.

Luis Enrique has lit the flame again, and in the process, we are now seeing a side that looks physically awesome, which is also down to the manager's excellent rotation of his squad.

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Now, with Spanish superiority secured, history is at stake. And the story could hardly set up any better. Xavi, Barcelona's longest-serving and most decorated player, is leaving the club at the end of the season for Al Sadd, in Qatar. The league finale served as an impromptu celebration of the legendary midfielder, but what better way to send Xavi off than with another treble?

An integral squad member for the first treble six years ago, Xavi has played a supporting role this campaign. But that has hardly diminished his greatness, and Barcelona will surely be eager to add two more trophies to his already-impressive haul. Per Richard Martin of UEFA.com, Xavi said the following:

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I'm delighted with how well my career has gone. I've made the most of my assets as a footballer. I feel very happy right now. It's just a question of winning these two trophies that are left and saying goodbye to the fans. I've been at the club for 25 years, I couldn't have been in a better place.

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Two games and two trophies remain for Barcelona this season, as well as for Xavi's illustrious career. For other clubs, this past weekend would have been a time for only celebration. But Barca are hoping the celebration has just begun.