The return of the Canarian to the team has coincided with the football improvement of the Blaugrana team
“With a control you clean up a play and only top players do that,” they say in the locker room.
Pedri has missed twelve of the twenty games that Barça has played this season, a figure too important for the team not to notice his absence. He started playing against Getafe and Cádiz in the League and was injured. He returned, already recovered, against Real Sociedad in Anoeta playing the last half hour. He repeated those thirty minutes before the Shakhtar Donetsk in Hamburg and, since then, he has always been a starter, offering game by game a version much closer to what is assumed for quality. It is no coincidence that the best moments of Xavi’s team coincide with the return of the best Pedri.
The coaching staff is aware of this and is very clear that Barça has suffered in the engine room, largely due to the absence of a player who makes Blaugrana football recognizable. If you add to his presence that of Gundogan and De Jongthe idea that Xavi has in mind begins to take shape on the grass naturally.
Today we have enjoyed and we have made them enjoy… Objective accomplished, culers! Thank you for your support 🤜🤛 #BarcaAtleti pic.twitter.com/zZNRtdIpyu
— Pedri González (@Pedri) December 3, 2023
“It’s a shame not to have Gavi now,” they explain from the locker room, aware that in this midfield the one from Los Palacios would shine even more than he already did before getting injured. And Xavi understands that the daily work, the idea, the plan remains the same as a few weeks ago, when the criticism was intensifying. In football the players rule and the more quality they have, the easier it is for everything to flow: “Pedri is a player who, with one control, cleans up the entire play”, describe about the canary. “How easy! Yes, because it’s Pedri,” they add.
Football belongs to the footballers
There is only one Pedri and hence his absence represents a huge obstacle for a squad that does not have an abundance of troops. If you add the losses of other important footballers to him, things get complicated. “We are equally good or bad, but those who execute are the players“, they comment from within, aware of the limitations suffered in this first third of the season.
Xavi and Pedri, direct to the Champions League round of 16
| EFE
A period of time in which the midfield has not been consistent due to the constant forced changes that Xavi has had to assume. The good news is that these circumstances have allowed us to discover the maturity of Fermín López, who has earned the coach’s trust, or the versatility of Joao Cancelo either Raphinhabut with Pedri you live better.
Next challenge: the goal
Efforts are now focused on recovering the scoring capacity of a team that is suffering too much from Lewandowski’s drought. There are no doubts about the Pole and they are convinced that it is only a matter of time before he scores regularly again, but they understand that not all the pressure can fall on him. It’s time to ask the rest of the forwards to step forward and add goals to the team’s scoring statistic. Especially taking into account that the midfield that was seen against Atlético is capable of generating a lot of danger against any rival.