Having played and won their Champions League tie against Shakhtar Donetsk last night, FC Barcelona can now fully focus their attention towards their La Liga encounter against arch-rivals Real Madrid.
The coming El Clasico will be an extremely important match for Xavi, as not only will a win boost the morale of the team and the fans, but it will also send Barcelona ahead of Real Madrid on the league table, possibly on the very top if other results also go in their favor.
Some players can return for El Clasico
However, winning this match will not be a walk in the park. Winning one of the biggest matches in world football is never easy, as every player wants to give his best on the pitch. But for Xavi, this particular El Clasico will be even more difficult as he will have several starting players unavailable due to injury.
Kounde, Raphinha, Lewandowski, Pedri, and Frenkie de Jong have all been unavailable for Xavi for the last few matches, and all of them are important starters for Barcelona this season. One piece of good news for Barcelona fans in this regard is that some of these players can make their return for El Clasico.
As already reported here, three players, Raphinha, Lewandowski, and De Jong, were in contention to participate in the match against Real Madrid, while Pedri and Kounde have already been ruled out.
Raphinha, De Jong, and Lewandowski training with the group
Latest reports from Mundo Deportivo now claim that Raphinha has completed a part of the training with the rest of the Barcelona team in order to test his fitness.
The journalist Javi Miguel reports that Raphinha has even participated in a game with his teammates, but Lewandowski and Frenkie have participated only in rondos for now. He further reports that none of these players is currently ruled out of El Clasico.
The sporting and coaching departments at Barcelona are clear that no risks will be taken with any of these players, and they will be played only when they are fully fit to feature on the pitch. Even a match as big as El Clasico will not force Barcelona’s hand in this regard.
