Frustrations are a common part of football, especially for players at clubs like FC Barcelona. Given the kind of pressure and expectations that can be found there, it is only natural for players to feel like they could do more or feel disheartened. Unfortunately, such is the reality of FC Barcelona and every other major club in the sport.
Certain players, no matter how hard they try, often finds themselves playing second-fiddle to some other superstar. For several months, current Barcelona captain Raphinha had to get through the same kind of struggles while Xavi Hernandez was head coach of the club.
Often seen as the secondary option for the wing behind Ousmane Dembele, Raphinha’s start to life in Catalonia was hardly all sunflowers and rainbows. Instead, it took a lot of determination and resilience for the Brazilian forward to hold onto his position and make it as far as he has.
In a recent interview with El Pais, however, he was asked to comment on the fact that Xavi typically only used to play him for 60 minutes and very rarely gave him the opportunity to play full games, to which Raphinha gave a straightforward and honest reply, one that implies a sense of helplessness about his situation:
“That’s more complicated. I laugh because that happened to me a lot. It’s not a criticism of Xavi. Unconsciously, I already knew I’d be subbed off. I’d try to do everything in 60 minutes, and nothing would work. And other times, when things were going well, he’d still take me off.”
Interestingly, under the leadership of Xavi Hernandez, Raphinha only completed seven out of sixty games. Moreover, while the player did mention it in a light-hearted tone, there are plenty of examples to showcase that the player did not take those substitutions well most of the time.
Instead, common occurrences where he visibly showed his frustrations included games where he could be seen letting out his anger. As a result, the relationship between him and Xavi Hernandez was reportedly not always too positive and certain altercations between them even caught the media’s attention.
