FC Barcelona get injury boost ahead of Athletic Club game
Xavi hasn’t been able to field FC Barcelona’s strongest starting XI for some time due to a number of injuries, and the inconsistent results have reflected that.
Barca currently find themselves 3rd in the La Liga table, 3 points behind leaders Real Madrid.
Despite 1-0 wins at home to Seville and away to Porto in the Champions League, Barca have struggled to start a winning run with draws against Mallorca and Grenada, two teams you’d expect the Catalonia outfit to beat.
A lot of that has to do with injuries. The likes of Pedri, Frenkie de Jong, Raphinha and Lewandowski have all spent time on the sideline and Jules Kounde is expected to miss time along with captain Sergi Roberto.
Xavi delivered some good news on the injury front ahead of Athletic Club game
But, it’s not all bad news on the injury front. In his press conference for the game this weekend, Xavi confirmed that Alejandro Balde, Ronald Araujo, Ilkay Gundogan and Lamine Yamal were all available for selection this weekend. Yamal and Balde were the two players who were most in doubt, so it’s great to see them fit and ready to go.
Xavi also confirmed that Lewandowski is making good progress, and while this weekend and the Champions League game in midweek are too soon, everyone is watching this situation with an eye to the Real Madrid game later this month.
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As to what caused the influx of injuries, Xavi is simply putting it down to the workload from a hectic calendar and a bit of bad luck:
"“The injuries? We consider it as a challenge, we go step by step. I think the injuries are due to the calendar and bad luck. There are three injuries to very important players due to bad luck.”"
Barcelona just need to hope that they don’t experience any further injuries this month, otherwise, they’ll be struggling to field a first-team squad by the time El Clásico comes around.