Xavi’s first decision

Xavi recovered this Wednesday afternoon from a stroke to his last round of internationals: Ronald Araújo, Lenglet, Balde, Frenkie de Jong, Coutinho, Demir, Coutinho and Memphis. For now, they are all healthy. For a long time in Barcelona nobody waited with such expectation for an eleven as Xavi’s first, which will mean many things. But that has some problems.

Xavi promised extremes upon arrival, but he has none because Dembélé will not arrive on time, at least to be a starter. And there are no more wing players unless I place Abde or Ilias in the eleven. Bucket is a side, like Dest, so whatever it takes to put either of these two players in will be a patch.

The logical thing is that the Terrassa coach recoils and, when he has taken a look at what he has, he has verified that the best he has are midfielders. Not only in quantity, but also in quality. As is Barça, It is very difficult to think that Xavi is going to do without Busquets, Frenkie de Jong, Nico and Gavi. We will have to wait to see how he organizes them in the field. Logic invites us to think that the Andalusian will act as a false winger in one of the bands.

Xavi’s first eleven has nine safe players, except for last minute improvisation. They would be Ter Stegen, Piqué, Eric, Alba, Busquets, De Jong, Nico, Gavi and Memphis. There is a doubt in the right back (Dest, Mingueza and Sergi Roberto) and in one of the extreme theoretical. Normally, the chosen one should be Philippe Coutinho, but Xavi is aware that he does not have the best relationship with the Camp Nou, so he may not want to cloud the atmosphere of the derby. That’s where the coach’s touch of genius comes in. For the bad, as it happened to Cruyff with that historical alignment of Lucendo. Or for the good, like Guardiola with Pedri and BusquetsPlayers who were raised from the reserve team to the first team without warning and stayed there for a lifetime. Ilias, Abde or Balde have options to be the surprise of the new technician. According to Sport, Pedri will not be able to play because he has not recovered from the injury he suffered in Lisbon. It is also difficult for Ousmane Dembélé, who was injured two days after his reappearance in Kiev in a new sign that he is not a reliable footballer, no matter how much Laporta, Xavi or Daniel Alves himself have put him through the roof these days. This Friday, starting at 3:00 p.m., there will be new tracks. Xavi will speak for the first time as Barça coach in the preview of a match that represents a new time. “The team needed a change; at the end each one tried to solve their own ”, explained Mingueza yesterday on TV3. Now, it is up to the coach and the players to keep up the illusion that has been generated.