It appears that Barcelona are all but set to take on Girona at the Montjuic Stadium. A clash of great importance, both Catalan teams will enter with the objective to win.
Their goals are similar when it comes to La Liga this season, so expecting a heated yet open game is what excites many about it.
Yet, there are definitely certain issues that must be addressed beforehand. Danish defender Andreas Christensen finally returns from his paternal leave, having requested some time off which included the training sessions on Thursday and Friday.
However, there is some bad news on the other hand. Marcos Alonso, former veteran of Chelsea and now a Barcelona first-team defender, was unavailable in the latest training session.
Reports have confirmed there to be a minor injury that he is currently suffering with. Now, as a result, he was unable to appear in the crucial session ahead of the game.
In his stead, as reported by Toni Juanmarti, Barcelona and Xavi have called upon Pau Cubarsi. The 16-year-old is a central defender who primarily represents Barcelona Atletic. However, he has been hailed as one of the most promising names within the Barcelona subsidiary.
As per the report, his inclusion in the squad for Barcelona’s game against Girona is now very likely. He would cover for Alonso’s absence in the face of the Spaniard’s injury. However, there is another dilemma for Xavi in this scenario as well.
In light of Barça’s great recent performance against Atletico Madrid, there is a likely possibility of repeating the same lineup against Girona. For that scenario, Ronald Araujo, Jules Kounde, and Andreas Christensen would simultaneously be in the starting eleven.
In turn, this would mean that Barcelona would play with no first-team defenders on the bench. As a result, in case of an injury or any unfortunate issue, Xavi would only have Pau Cubarsi as the primary backup or potentially one of the three first-team players if the manager decides to tweak the original starting eleven.
