The last few weeks have not been kind for FC Barcelona, especially on the fitness front, as several starters for Xavi are currently out with injuries.
Players like Raphinha, Lewandowski, Kounde, Pedri, Frenkie de Jong, and Sergi Roberto are all unavailable for Xavi, and their absence will be felt even more by the Barcelona head coach as the team is scheduled to play a number of important matches in the coming weeks.
Pedri ruled out for Real Madrid match
Some of these players are nearing their returns from injury, and some previous reports indicated that stars like Pedri and Raphinha could make their return in time to play in the coming El Clasico.
Pedri was reported to be recovering really well, and there was a high degree of optimism that he could play the match against Real Madrid.
However, El Barca Juga a RAC1 has now reported that Pedri is definitely not going to play in El Clasico. The midfielder has been unable to get back to his full fitness in time, and thus Xavi will have to go into this most important clash without one of his favourite midfielders.
Other players can return
Still, other players like Raphinha, Lewandowski, and Frenkie de Jong can recover in time for the Real Madrid match and thus provide Xavi with some much-needed relief on the injury front.
Raphinha is the most likely to recover for El Clasico, followed by Lewandowski, and De Jong has the lowest chance of making it among these three players.
With the absence of De Jong and Pedri, Xavi has an extremely thin midfield available to him. In fact, only two first-team midfielders, Gundogan and Romeu, will be available to him for tonight’s match against Shakhtar Donetsk, as Gavi is suspended.
Xavi will have to rely on players from the subsidiary and has called up up to eight players from the youth ranks for this match. However, Xavi will have the services of Gavi against Los Blancos as he is only suspended for one game in the Uefa Champions League.
