He is 21 years old and his talent is indisputable. And pampering Pedri physically and mentally has been the great objective of FC Barcelona after eight muscle injuries in two and a half years, five of them in the right thigh and three this season. His last injury was on March 4 in San Mamés. Mission accomplished. The Canarian, who did his best, went back out and enjoyed football in Paris to play the last 33 minutes. His return, with a goal pass included, was very celebrated and everything indicates that Xavi will initially bet on the Canary Islander. At least that’s how Pedri, who also had another half hour in Cádiz, staged it, with “I feel strong enough to play 90 minutes. We all want to play as much as possible, but I prefer to play 80 minutes, give 100% and when I don’t If I can do more, I will ask for the change.
Because Pedri feels that he is facing the most important game of the season and even of his career. “This and the Euro Cup semi-final will be the most important. I hope there are more to come. Especially because the fans deserve it. We have been wanting to provide this type of matches to the fans for a long time and I hope they will help us take the team to the semifinals,” outlined a Pedri who was 14 years old when Barça, with Luis Enrique on the bench, came back against PSG at the Camp Nou. “I saw the comeback against PSG in my father’s tavern. I didn’t believe it. They are games that stay with you and that you now comment on with Sergi Roberto,” he staged.
Beyond physical recovery, the focus was also on recovering emotionally. “I needed to reset,” said sources close to the footballer. The victory in Paris and his performance calmed him down. Especially when he saw that the assist was with his right leg. “When I go out on the field I don’t think about what I’ve had. The pass was with my right and I didn’t realize it until the end of the game when they told me. I don’t think much. The desire and enthusiasm make up for everything,” explained a Pedri did not need a psychologist to overcome the trance but he did have the help of the team’s readapters.
Conservative and preventive treatment worked. Slowly but surely, this path that involved several sessions of physiotherapy, a gluten-free diet, Pilates to gain elasticity and a treatment with hyperbaric chambers to oxygenate the muscles bore fruit. All to avoid surgery and help the team in the final stretch of the season and, incidentally, to begin dealing with its renewal. “I am very happy here. I know that Barça is going to maintain what we have talked about and I am happy to be in the team of my dreams.”
Barcelona won the 2022-23 League with a dominant midfield in which De Jong, Gavi and Pedri were in charge, in addition to Busquets, now in Miami. This season, due to injuries, Xavi has had to manage to play without his ideal helm in the midfield. Pedri and De Jong met again for 13 minutes in Paris, coinciding with the third Barcelona goal that Christensen scored. “I think that despite not being with the team, there are other players and the team has held up. We are a complete squad and we The most important thing is to be united, to be a family. We had a time of many injuries but we have moved forward,” explained Pedri, who wants to dedicate the passage to the semifinals to the injured Balde and Gavi. “This is for them. It hurts my soul when I see Gavi watching training. He always wants to come in.”
The last time Barça reached the Champions League semi-finals was in the 2018-2019 season. Valverde’s Barça beat Manchester United and said goodbye in the run-up to the European final after losing against Liverpool. Five years have passed. Before returning to that long-awaited semifinal, it will be time to beat PSG. “We have to be cautious because they are not coming to give us anything. But knowing the coach. We have to go out as if there were no such advantage. This is how we have to go out for things to go well, to beat Paris. There has been a mental improvement Before, when they scored a goal against us, we spent 10-15 minutes doubting. We are young and it is something that we are going to improve over time. In Paris we turned it around and we have a lot of credit for what we did,” he prescribed.
This was requested by president Joan Laporta, who visited the training session. “He told us to give our all and to go out with great enthusiasm for the game,” said Pedri. The canary does not care about the position in which Xavi places him. “At the base you touch the ball more and have more participation and at the top you are more for the last pass and finishing. I like both and I try to do my best,” he said.
