Physical problems and injuries have plagued FC Barcelona since the start of this season, and this problem does not look likely to be subsiding any time soon as well.
The Catalans have missed several of their key players at different points in this season, and currently also had a significant part of their backline unavailable for the recent encounter against Real Betis.
Inigo Martinez, Joao Cancelo, and Marcos Alonso have been unfit for some weeks, and even Andreas Christensen entered the list of unfit players in the game against Unionistas de Salamanca.
The Danish defender asked for a substitution at half-time in the previous CDR game, and as he still had some discomfort after that game, Barcelona did not take him for the match against Betis to let him rest and recover from this problem.
Furthermore, there also was no medical statement given by the club, showing that the defender was not suffering from any serious injury, and his rest was only a precautionary measure.
Another key Barcelona defender, Joao Cancelo, suffered an injury in the first match of the year against Las Palmas and has not been available to Xavi since then.
Now, the journalist Alex Pintanael reports that Xavi can have both Cancelo and Christensen available for selection against Athletic Club. However, nothing is certain for now, and a decision regarding their return will be made tomorrow.
The Barcelona head coach will be looking forward to getting both key defenders back as soon as possible, despite the good form shown by the team in the last match.
