Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez is coaching for his job – or at least to see out his job until the summer – according to some reports, which claim that he could be removed after a bad first leg or overall elimination at the hands of Napoli in the Champions League. He is set to revert to a shape that has brought him the most success for their trip to the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
The Blaugrana have few forwards available, with only Lamine Yamal, Vitor Roque and Robert Lewandowski at Xavi’s disposal, and all three started in their win over Celta Vigo at the weekend. However Diario AS believe Xavi will shift to four midfielders on Wednesday night. Their plan is to use central defender Andreas Christensen in the pivot role, which has been tried in recent weeks, with Frenkie de Jong and Ilkay Gundogan flanking him in the middle. Pedri will be the fourth midfielder, playing nominally from the left.
🚨 Rival watch: Osimhen will be able to play for 50-60 minutes against Barcelona. @sport pic.twitter.com/W6YsAz4F3R
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) February 18, 2024
Lamine Yamal is due to start his seventh game in a row with Robert Lewandowski through the middle. At the back, 17-year-old Pau Cubarsi will drop to the bench, and Ronald Araujo will be partnered by Inigo Martinez. That leaves Joao Cancelo at left-back again and Jules Kounde will try to turn his form around from right-back again.
On the bench, Raphinha, Fermin Lopez and Roque are likely to be Xavi’s first choices to change things up. Generally the first legs of European ties can be cagey, and no doubt Barcelona will not want to give up too much early on against Napoli. However the balance between prudence and ambition will be a tricky one for a side that has conceded 22 times in 12 games in 2024, and have just two clean sheets in that run.
