Ansu Fati returns the joy to Barça. He returns this Sunday. Three months after the last injury, from the collection of mishaps that are tormenting him, the young striker is ready to reappear. “I can anticipate that he will be in the squad and that he will play for a few minutes”, announced Xavi Hernández, as happy or more so than Fati himself to see him on the pitch.
“He is a star player, special, differential and will help us a lot,” said the coach, who expects an immediate improvement from the team. With Fati, but also without him. From the start of the match against Mallorca (9pm), he wants to see Barça that he hasn’t seen in recent games.
🗣️ Xavi: “We have to take a step forward to move this forward. We have to team up more than ever. Be more united than ever” pic.twitter.com/Wf7QFZ0HHF
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_es) April 30, 2022
Fati will be a substitute, but he will come into play with all the guarantees and with all the deadlines and all possible precautions met so that the conservative treatment that the player chose instead of the operating room has been effective. On Thursday he participated in a more or less real game in group training and confirmed the good feelings he had, feeling ready to tell the coach to count on him.
A star player
And Xavi, naturally, will enter him in the squad this Sunday. “He is a star player. The rebound falls to him. He has a goal, he has a nose, and that is why he has to be close to the area,” analyzed the coach, who sees Fati both as a center forward and starting from the left wing. “He looks happy and happy” explained Xavi, as happy and happy as his pupil, who has overcome his bad mood throughout this week.
🗣️ Xavi: “The Club is made to win titles. Those who have the most faith and desire will enter the Champions League. We have to have that motivation” pic.twitter.com/s2WOK4g0OW
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_es) April 30, 2022
Three consecutive defeats at the Camp Nou (with the parenthesis of a hasty victory in San Sebastián) have caused perceptible damage to Barça. Irreparable has been only one, against Eintracht, which has eroded all levels of the club. From the team to the box, between the defeat and elimination of the Europa League and the invasion of German fans who took over the stadium due to the ineffectiveness of the board.
“The crack cannot be a player, it has to be the team. The crack must be available to the team. If we only have one to pull the car and he is not there, the car does not pull”
Xavi Hernandez
The other two (Cádiz and Rayo) have been more moral than irreversible. With two wins, Barça would have virtually assured qualification for the Champions League; Without them, he will have to try harder in the last five days and avoid another mistake of the many already made. Mallorca, belonging to the same condition as the last two assailants of the Camp Nou (fight to save themselves), will put Barça’s recovery to the test.
Frenkie has to give more
Related news
It doesn’t depend only on Fati, even though he has all those virtues that Xavi highlighted. “The crack can’t be a player, it has to be the team. The crack has to be available to the team. If we only have one to pull the car and he isn’t there, the car doesn’t pull,” explained the coach graphically, unloading pressure the footballer although he considers him a pillar of the future. Presently, Xavi’s presently, he has not been. He has only been able to use it twice when he returned in January: in the Super Cup against Madrid and in the Cup against Athletic.
The responsibility must be shared by all players. One of them is Frankie de Jong. Xavi had an individual chat with him after observing the frustration of the Dutch midfielder, substituted against Rayo for his poor game. “He is a player who has to make a difference,” he told him, demanding more perseverance and more personality for Barça to overcome “the pothole” in which he fell two weeks ago.