Barcelona are on an 11-game unbeaten run since Xavi announced he is leaving at the end of the season – a statement win over PSG tonight could force a major U-turn over his future

Barcelona are giving serious consideration to the possibility of keeping Xavi as manager beyond the end of this season after an impressive run of 11 games unbeaten. But his revival roadshow stops off at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday night and defeat against Luis Enrique Martinez will change all that.

It’s Luis Enrique that Barça president Joan Laporta would put in charge if he could pick any coach he wanted. The 53-year-old, who won the treble at Barcelona in 2015, is open to the idea of a return, but not this summer in the middle of his two-year contract in Paris.

So Barça are actively sounding out alternatives to Xavi, or at least they were until the team’s form improved so much that keeping him in charge went back to being the most viable option.

It was just before the international break when Barcelona had their ‘magic week’. They knocked Napoli out of the Champions League at the last-16 stage and then thrashed Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid 3-0 away in La Liga.

They now look set to finish second, qualifying for the Spanish Super Cup which amounts to an extra €5million (£4.3m) in the club’s coffers. If they win the Clasico at the end of the month they could even give La Liga something very much resembling a title race with the gap closed to just five points.

Barcelona chiefs are seriously weighing up whether to keep the former captain in the dugout

Barca have gone on an 11-game unbeaten run with the Catalan giants travelling to PSG next up

Xavi says a cloud lifted over the team when he announced he was going at the end of the season and that his decision to stand down was the smart move for that very reason.

It’s debatable whether or not he really did stand down. The announcement that he was going this summer came after a humbling 5-3 defeat at home to Villarreal. And listening to president Laporta and Director of Football Deco talk about the decision it sounds far more like a case of him avoiding the immediate sack by asking to see out the season. ‘We said yes because it’s Xavi’ Laporta has since said.

But what is clear is that there has been a massive improvement since then. Of those 11 games unbeaten eight have been victories. Certain under-performing players stood up to be counted when they saw the club sliding towards chaos and Xavi out on his ear, and that has made all the difference.

Robert Lewandowski is now playing as well as he did in the first half of last season when he first arrived from Bayern Munich. He organised a squad barbecue at his house just a few days after the news broke that Xavi was leaving and started showing the sort of leadership you would expect from such an experienced player.

Jules Kounde is another who has been transformed since January. Before it was all long face and slumped shoulders about having to play at right back and not in the centre of defence where he made his name at Sevilla. He is so much sharper now and has been Barcelona’s second best defender over the last two months.

Only second best because Pau Cubarsi has been astonishingly good. He only turned 17 at the end of January but along with Lamine Yamal – who will not turn 17 until July – Barcelona look to have two of the best young players in Europe. Cubarsi has the passing range of Gerard Pique and from the way he recently had Napoli forward Victor Osimhen in his pocket he is not going to need any Pique style loan to a Premier League team to toughen him up for Europe’s best centre-forwards – he already looks close to the finished article.

Xavi must take credit for playing both Cubarsi and Yamal when he could have been more cautious in his team selections. He should also take huge credit for the reinvention of Andreas Christensen from centre-back to Barcelona’s best holding midfielder.

The former Chelsea defender has stemmed the tide of goals conceded by Barcelona because of their inability to deal with quick transitions. And he has also released Ilkay Gundogan to play further forward, closer to goal, where he was always far more effective for Manchester City.

Xavi’s opposite number Luis Enrique would be the man Joan Laporta would hire if he had the choice of any coach in the world

Xavi can be credited with the emergence of both Pau Cubarsi (left) and Lamine Yamal (right)

Add to these various plusses the fact that Marc Andre Ter Stegen is back from the injury that kept him out for three months, and the good form of Fermin Lopez, who at just 20 has more than filled the boots of the injured Pedri with five goals from attacking midfield, the spectacular turnaround is easy to understand.

But there is still a doubt among supporters that until a big Champions League night away from home is safely negotiated it’s too soon to say Barça are back.

Real Madrid-bound Kylian Mbappe and Barcelona old boy Ousmane Dembele will be a massive test for that vastly improved defence. And PSG’s general level of sustained intensity will push Barça – not used to it in La Liga – to their limits.

And then there is Luis Enrique. One of only two Barça coaches to do the treble in the club’s history, and the man who Laporta makes little secret of believing is better than the current Barcelona coach. If Xavi gets the better of him tonight and next week in the second leg, then it really does feel like the club are set for a major U-turn on his future.