Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez is feeling the pressure after a poor run of form of late, and it comes at the worst time, with a gauntlet run facing Xavi. The Blaugrana face Porto, Atletico Madrid and Girona, their closest rivals in the Champions League, and two of the three sides ahead of them in La Liga.
The Blaugrana are level on points with Porto going into Tuesday’s clash after their shock defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk before the international break. It opens up a scenario in which Barcelona not only lose the lead, but potentially fail to qualify if they are beaten by Porto – something that looked eminently possible in the first leg between the two.
As per MD, Ronald Araujo and Raphinha are set to return for that clash, as Xavi turns to one of his key players and one of their star signings two summers ago. Diario AS agree with that assessment, and also note that Marc-Andre ter Stegen will return from his back pain that kept him out of their draw against Rayo Vallecano. Sergi Roberto will also be back in the squad after two months out injured.
🚨 Raphinha is set to start vs. FC Porto! Ronald Araújo will also return to the starting XI. @gbsans pic.twitter.com/VceirBsGlP
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) November 27, 2023
On the whole, they expect Xavi to go for a solid and more veteran line-up, with Joao Cancelo moving to left-back, and one of Jules Kounde or Ronald Araujo at right-back. Fermin Lopez, Oriol Romeu, Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres and Andreas Christensen are all expected to fall to the bench. Ilkay Gundogan will also return to the starting line-up.
It seems with results becoming essential now for the Xavi project, he will revert to his favoured three-central defender system from last season. The idea will be to secure the back line and hope to find a goal further forward, as was the case for much of the latter part of last season.
