Xavi successfully led FC Barcelona to a victory in the crucial match against Paris Saint Germain in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals last night, which puts the Blaugrana team in a favorable position to advance to the semi-finals of the tournament.
However, there is still the second leg of the tie set to be played in a week’s time, and while the overall result of the first leg was clearly in Barcelona’s favor, there are still some negatives that the Catalans will have to take into the next round.
For instance, both Sergi Roberto and Andreas Christensen got yellow cards in this match, which means they will both have to miss the game this coming Tuesday. Both got their yellow cards for clearly punishable offenses, and thus there is also no questions of getting any of their penalties overturned.
As SPORT has noted, this situation puts Xavi somewhat short of options in the midfield, and he will have to do some thinking to identify the ideal partner for Frenkie de Jong and Ilkay Gundogan in the center of the pitch.
In this regard, the two most likely candidates for Xavi are Fermin Lopez and Pedri. The latter would be a clear starter for Xavi in normal conditions; however, he has only just returned from injury, and Xavi will have to be careful about how he uses him, especially keeping in view his already worrisome injury history.
Still, Pedri was able to play against PSG in the first leg, and put in an impressive half-hour shift, in which he also assisted Raphinha’s and Barcelona’s second goal. Thus, Xavi can once again decide to use him in the second leg, but with the idea of replacing him with someone else in the second half.
Fermin Lopez will be another good option for Xavi, especially as the trainer has already shown his trust in the midfielder in some prior key matches, like the Round of 16 tie against Napoli and against Atletico Madrid in La Liga.
Beyond Lopez, Xavi will also have the option to play Oriol Romeu or Marc Casado, but neither of them has a particularly realistic chance of getting into the starting lineup for this crucial season-defining Champions League fixture.
