Just the day that Barça kept a clean sheet for the first time in the last four games, defenses were falling. All injured. The scene in the second half played in San Sebastián was more than worrying for Xavi, who was forced to substitute three players (Araujo, Alves Y Pique) from his starting defense against Real Sociedad due to various physical problems.
The first to leave the Basque pitch, and the most worrying, was the Uruguayan center-back. He threw himself on the grass, touching his right knee after performing Araujo a superb defensive action avoiding a great scoring chance from sorlot, the Norwegian forward of the Real. He shot into the air, without touching the player from San Sebastian, but when he fell he stepped wrong and his knee moved.
At the end of the game, and with a victory that is a great treasure because it stops the team from falling, the center-back underwent various medical tests that confirmed the existence of “some discomfort in his right knee & rdquor ;. In that brief medical statement issued by the Barça club, it is not indicated that there is an injury, something that was feared at first.
Just in case, the defense must be subjected to “more tests & rdquor; when the team arrives in Barcelona since they spent the night in San Sebastian. There was no communication, however, about Alves, the second defender to be substituted. Nor for Piquethe third and last defender to leave the match early due to physical discomfort.
Three of the four starting defenders (Araujo, Alves and Piqué) were replaced in San Sebastián due to physical problems
Until Jordi Alba, the fourth and last defender, suffered “ramps”, as Xavi admitted, which made him finish the game exhausted because there was a moment when he requested the change. The left-back was, finally, the only one to complete the 100 minutes (regulation 90 plus 10 added time) in a match won by Barça thanks to two decisive saves by Ter Stegen.
❝He is a very important footballer for the team❞
xavi about @mterstegen1 pic.twitter.com/jD95ywE1UQ
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_es) April 22, 2022
Xavi found an explanation for so much physical discomfort from his players, especially on the defensive side. “We have changed the model of the game and I try to press the 90 minutes up front because it has been years since Barça did that. And we are suffering, we are suffering, that is the reality”, acknowledged the Barça coach after the victory over Real ( 0-1) thanks to the goal of aubameyang.
In addition, they even took the ball from Barça in San Sebastián. He lost the battle for possession for the first time since Xavi sat on the bench last November. 55.7% for the Basque team; 44.3% for the Catalans, according to official LaLiga statistics. Something that had not happened in the previous 30 meetings.
La Real won the possession battle against Barça (55.7% to 44.3%). It is the first team in the ‘Xavi era’ that takes the ball from him
“This change in the model of the game is to have the ball and be in the opponent’s half. It’s what I experienced as a player,” Xavi acknowledged. “I want to get the ball back, high pressure, pressure after loss and that hasn’t been done for years by Barça. There are many players who have been here for many years”, underlined the coach.
“Physical fatigue is obvious, especially at the back because they have to make 20-metre efforts, throw the defensive line into the midfield and come back because they put the ball behind us. These players are not used to all that because they didn’t do it”
Xavi, Barça coach
“For this reason, sometimes I ask for patience and more time because physically we are noticing it. Physical fatigue is evidence, especially behind because they have to make 20-meter efforts, throw the defensive line into the midfield and come back because they put the ball to us. the back”, Xavi has argued in a tactical key. “These players are not used to all that because it is a change of model.”
We have given everything in one day and against a very difficult rival. Great job and great win, team! ✅
By the way, the discount has been short… 💯 #RealSociedadBarça pic.twitter.com/vTmgnUJBsl
– Ferran Torres (@FerranTorres20) April 21, 2022
Later, Xavi He wanted to value the work of his players. “The effort they are making is highly commendable. They are playing with discomfort, some half injured. Gerard is spectacular what he is enduring”, he said in reference to Piqué. “He put up with the team until the 80th minute. And Ronald, who from the 20th minute, looked at us because he had discomfort in his knee”, he added about Araujo.
“We are at the beginning of a project”
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“The same Dani who has ankle discomfort, look how he stayed in Levante and continues playing. Jordi had ramps from the 60th minute”, he stressed in reference to Alveswhich should have been replaced, and Jordi Albathe only one of the four who finally resisted the match in San Sebastián.
“All this is not because we don’t train well, but because there was another model of the game five months ago. Before we used to go to mid-block and low-block, now, no. Now I don’t want that, now I want to push up and get the ball back. But the The calendar is so demanding that there are moments of the game that it doesn’t give us”, the coach has confessed, acknowledging that “the players end up dead because of that effort. But we are at the beginning of a project”.