Xavi looks to adapt as Barca prepare for vital week
FC Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez has a difficult balancing act to do when his side plays Mallorca in La Liga on Friday night.
Joao Cancelo (front R) of Barcelona vies with Juan Iglesias (front L) of Getafe during the Spanish League (La Liga) football match between FC Barcelona and Getafe CF in Barcelona, Spain, Feb. 24, 2024. (Photo by Joan Gosa/Xinhua)
Barca has to win the game, which has been brought forward to allow it an extra 24 hours to prepare for next Tuesday's Champions League clash at home to Napoli, in order to keep in touch with Real Madrid. However, the fact that Barca's budget for the 2023-2024 season depends on it reaching the quarter-finals of the Champions League, means it is vital for it to continue in Europe.
That means Xavi has to juggle a squad that lost two key players in last Sunday's 1-1 draw away to Athletic Club Bilbao, with Frenkie de Jong out for around a month with an ankle injury and Pedri sidelined for six weeks with yet another muscle problem.
It's not the first time this season that Pedri and De Jong have been sidelined and it's no consequence that Barca's best moments this campaign have come when the duo have been fit and their biggest problems, when they have been injured.
Xavi has tried to compensate by pushing central defender Andreas Christensen into midfield to provide muscle, with youngster Fermin Lopez looking to provide the energy and movement that Pedri (and Gavi, who is also injured) are able to give to the side.
With Oriol Romeu struggling for form and no room for errors against a defensively solid Mallorca, Xavi's options in midfield are limited, but he has to ensure his players are as fresh as possible for next Tuesday.
"At the moment, there's not a lot to choose from in midfield, at the moment the only natural midfielders we have are Fermin (Lopez) and (Ilkay) Gundogan," admitted the Barca coach.
"We will have to adapt some players, as we have done with Christensen, which has worked well and we could adapt Joao Felix, Raphinha or Sergi Roberto," he added.
The coach must be tempted to give minutes to the talented, but mercurial, Joao Felix, who continues to frustrate with glimpses of talent mixed with too many moments when he is virtually invisible on the pitch.