After a phase of relative calm in the last few weeks, there is once again a lot of uncertainty and instability at FC Barcelona, and a lot of news coming out of the club that sheds a bad light on the institute itself, as well as on its players and staff.
One such news that recently came to the fore was that of Raphinha’s misbehavior, as it was reported that being unhappy with his substitution in the match against Valencia, the Brazilian had hurled insults at Oscar Hernandez, Xavi’s brother and a part of his staff.
In retaliation, Xavi reprimanded the player and told him that he would not start the subsequent match against Girona.
While Raphinha actually did not start the game at Montilivi and came on the pitch as a substitute only in the 70th minute, Xavi’s coaching staff, with whom SPORT got in touch about this matter, have denied that any such thing happened.
The staff agrees that Raphinha was not too happy with his substitution, but the Brazilian did not insult Oscar Hernandez or any other member of the staff. Furthermore, as no insults took place, there was also no retaliation from Xavi.
With this denial, one can rest assured that things are not as bad as they look at Barcelona. However, there are still a lot of problems surrounding the team, and Raphinha is not the only player who has been reported to be having problems with some of Xavi’s decisions.
In his press conference before the match against Rayo Vallecano, Xavi assured the reporters that he does not believe anything has changed and that he still enjoys the confidence of Laporta and Deco. But with news of his disagreements with the board as well as the players, Xavi might have some difficult days ahead of him.
