FC Barcelona are set to take on Granada in their upcoming La Liga game on Sunday. The Catalans will be looking to keep their winning run going with important victories against Sevilla and Porto in the last week.
However, this match would be even more difficult for Xavi, primarily because he is missing several important players due to injury, with Frenkie de Jong, Pedri, Raphinha, and Lewandowski all out of action.
Guiu’s debut against Vissel Kobe
With these injuries and an already thin squad, Xavi will have to regularly call up players from the youth team to accompany the first team in their matches. One such player from the youth team called up for the Granada match is the forward Marc Guiu.
The 17-year-old Juvenil A forward has already made his debut with the Barcelona first-team under Xavi as he played in the friendly against Vissel Kobe after the last league match last season. While this match did not count officially, he still got the meaningful experience of playing with the first-team stars.
Guiu came on in the second half for Robert Lewandowski and came close to scoring with a great header from a corner kick in that match.
Xavi and Deco like the youngster
According to Mundo Deportivo, Xavi and Deco both like and rate the youngster highly, who has been at the club since he was seven years of age. Deco already liked the youngster before he became the Barcelona Sporting Director, especially after seeing him play for Barcelona youth sides and in the European U-17 Championship held this summer.
While Lamal took the spotlight in that tournament, Guiu was another Barcelona player who shone with Spain, reaching the semi-final stage and being one of the joint top-scorers with Yamal and two others with four goals.
The youngster has five goals with Juvenil A this season and has already made his debut with Barcelona Athletic under Rafa Marquez. His height, strength, speed, and shooting ability make him a useful player to have in attack, and he might get to show these attributes in tonight’s game against Granada with Lewandowski absent for this match.
