“It would be a mistake to focus only on the Champions League and Tuesday’s game against Naples. There are 11 games left in the League. We still have a chance of winning it and we will try until the numbers say we can’t,” warned Xavi Hernández, who believes that the best way to face the second leg of the round of 16 of the top European competition against the Italian team with the 1 -1 harvested in the first leg, is to beat Mallorca, finalist of the Copa del Rey.
The club also remembers that three very important points are also at stake to secure the position among the top four. Xavi’s Barça is now 8 points off the lead and still has to go through the Bernabéu. They are also one point behind Girona in the standings and have a runner-up finish within reach that would give them the right to compete in the next Spanish Super Cup. That implies a fixed income of 6 million for participating, another more for being a finalist. The champion earns two more million. That is the economic challenge.
But that will be next year and, for now, without Xavi who does not want to go into evaluating possible substitutes. His challenge now is to draw an eleven without Pedri, Gavi and De Jong, who are injured. Gavi said goodbye to the season in November after tearing his meniscus and cruciates with Spain. In San Mamés, Frenkie de Jong fell due to a sprained right ankle and Pedri due to his usual problem: his right thigh. “There is not much to choose from. We have Fermín and Gündogan as natural midfielders. We have to reinvent footballers, as we have already done with Christensen, who I think is going very well. We can readapt João Félix, Raphinha, Ferran or Sergi Roberto. But they are not typical midfielders,” the coach assumed.
The injuries of the Canarian and the Dutchman make the coaching staff consider a change of system for the return of the Champions League round of 16 and Mallorca could be the test bed to put it into practice. The fourth midfielder, who provides stability, can make way for two wingers who are pure forwards to have more of a sense of goal.
De Jong will return in a month and Pedri is expected in a month and a half. “It’s not as serious as we thought,” said Xavi. “I have told Pedri that he must think that it is the last injury. He is not the first to have a lot of injuries at the beginning of his career and then they don’t come anymore,” added the coach.
The Barça infirmary has revolving doors. In addition to Pedri, De Jong, Balde and Gavi, Ferran Torres is still injured, who is training outside the group and will try to be available for the match against Naples. Marcos Alonso, who underwent lower back surgery last January and returned to training this Wednesday, is also not medically discharged. Alonso has not played since last November. Araújo will not be against Mallorca either, sanctioned. Not even Xavi himself, who will experience the match from the Montjuïc booths.
On the other hand, everything is good news at the Balearic club. Aguirre has the entire squad available with the exception of midfielder Omar Mascarell, suspended, and center back Martín Valjent, with discomfort. Furthermore, on April 6 he will fight in Seville to win the Cup 21 years later and in the League he is fifteenth. He increased the distance from relegation to 8 points after beating Girona. Even so, he has not won in the Barça fiefdom (2-3) since 2008, a match in which he lost 2-0 in the 66th minute.
