Barcelona will be without several players for Sunday’s La Liga fixture against Valencia. Ousmane Dembele, Robert Lewandowski and Pedri are injured, while Gavi is suspended having picked up a fifth booking of the season against Almeria last weekend.
He wasn’t the only to pick up a suspension for the match against Los Che, with head coach Xavi Hernandez also banned having also accumulated a fifth yellow card in the defeat to Almeria on Sunday. As such, he will be missing from the Barcelona dugout at the Camp Nou.
Xavi has accepted responsibility for his suspension, and in his pre-match press conference ahead of Thursday’s El Clasico fixture against Real Madrid, he stated that he has no excuses over his behaviour that will see him miss Sunday’s game, as per Relevo.
“It’s my fault. I’m competing and many times I protest when I shouldn’t. I will serve the sanction and start from scratch.”
It remains to be seen how much Barcelona will miss their head coach against a resurgent Valencia side on Sunday, as they look for a reaction from the defeat to Almeria last weekend.
