EXCL: Former player Emmanuel Petit full of praise for Barcelona's strong start to 2024-25 season
Barcelona have made an excellent start to the 2024-25 season, having won eight of their opening nine games in La Liga. Hansi Flick has instilled a new belief and desire in Catalonia, which was missing during the last months of Xavi Hernandez's tenure.
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At this early stage of the season, Barcelona are still three points ahead of bitter rivals Real Madrid. His form in the last two months has surprised many, and among them is Emmanuel Petit, who spent a year at the club during his playing days.
Speaking to Football España alongside BetBrainPetit has been impressed with his former side, who had been expected to struggle this season.
“To be honest, I'm surprised. With all the problems they went through, I was surprised how good they were. Their results were excellent, and they showed a lot of quality. However, it's only the beginning of the season.”
Barcelona's decision to sack Xavi at the end of last season was one that raised eyebrows, especially as the club legend had reversed his decision to leave just weeks earlier. However, these early stages of the current campaign have shown that Joan Laporta's decision to bring in Flick has been vindicated.
Petit spoke highly of the job the former Bayern Munich and Germany manager has done so far, and considers it even more impressive when you take things off the pitch into account.
“It's a very hard job to be manager of Barcelona, there is a lot of pressure. Step by step, they have to do things differently because they don't have the same finances as before. Flick has been limited because of that, but so far, he's doing well. He's still missing some players, but the younger members of the team are stepping up – they're setting an example.”
Barcelona's form has been even more impressive when you also consider the fact that they have been without several key players. The likes of Gavi, Ronald Araujo, Dani Olmo, Andreas Christensen and Frenkie de Jong have been missing for most of the season so far, and although he will improve the squad, Petit fears the abundance of options could affect team harmony.
“They had a lot of injured players coming back, although Flick cannot trust them to start immediately. It is up to him to change his mind, but he must remain confident in the players who have shown responsibility since the beginning of the season. S “he chooses to keep faith with what he has used so far, he could soon face problems with players who want to play, but have been consigned to the bank”.
Petit addressed the fact that it is the first stages in the current season, which is why Barcelona should not be too far ahead. However, he also believes that a strong result in next weekend's Clasico at the Santiago Bernabeu should be a major highlight in the campaign.
“The Clasico is coming soon. Real Madrid will not be 100% ready for that, so it will be very interesting to see what happens. I think this match will be a barometer to see how the season goes for both clubs.
Barcelona will inevitably hit some bumps in the road in the coming months, despite the fact that the players are ready to return from injury in bulk. The key for Flick will be to regularly win games, even when performances are not up to standard.
