For the second season in a row, Barcelona have been struck with injuries at the wrong time as Gavi, Pedri, and Frenkie de Jong, all three are unavailable ahead of their clash against Napoli in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16.
Gavi tore his ACL playing for Spain and has been ruled out for the rest of the season. De Jong and Pedri, meanwhile, picked up injuries against Athletic Club in the league, and have been ruled out for a month each, at the very least.
Barcelona were missing several key players last season in the Champions League, as well, and eventually were relegated to the Europa League after being drawn up against Inter Milan and Bayern Munich in the group.
Before Xavi can even start assessing his options for the Napoli game, though, he will have to see off Mallorca in the league today. There are three ways he can shuffle his midfield for both games.
1. The obvious: Fermin in
Barcelona were left without Pedri and Frenkie de Jong earlier on in the season as well, but at least had the services of Gavi at their disposal.
The youngster was inarguably their best player of the season up until that point before eventually succumbing to the hectic schedule and poor man-management.
Xavi opted to give Fermin Lopez regular minutes at the time, and the Spaniard stepped up to the pressure, and put in some inspiring performances against Sevilla, Mallorca, and even Real Madrid.
Fermin is far from the composed midfield presence of de Jong or Pedri, but his energy and ability to play between the lines is second to only Gavi in the midfield roster.
Further, unlike the rest of the options in the centre of the park, Fermin has a keen eye for goal and is a threat from outside the box. He showed this during pre-season vs Madrid, and then again vs Shakhtar Donetsk, binning the ball into the top corner.
Trust Fermin. (Photo by LLUIS GENE/AFP via Getty Images)
There is one clear disadvantage to playing the 20-year-old, though, and that is Gundogan’s…
Source link : https://barcauniversal.com/three-midfield-solutions-xavi-can-implement-for-barcelona-against-mallorca-and-napoli/
Author : Udhav Arora
Publish date : 2024-03-08 15:59:15
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.