A squad with injuries and without a bench, which Xavi finds on his return to the club

In 45 minutes, Barcelona went from illusion to concern. The three goals that made them smile were diluted with another three that were a serious blow to the Catalan motivation. After going to the break with a 3-0 lead, Barza was tied 3-3 by Celta in the League. This Monday Xavi Hernández assumes and has a lot to work on.

Xavi arrived in Barcelona this Friday while the culé team was in Vigo facing Celta in a match where they were forced to win, already with the peace of mind of having a designated coach. However, they squandered a clear advantage against the Galicians who gave their all in the second half.

What affected Barcelona?

This start of the season has not had anything good for the culé team. The bad results may have an explanation in an eleven without great figures and to this, diminished by injuries and casualties that do not allow an eleven to be consolidated.

It was already Ronald Koeman’s ‘excuse’ while he was a coach. He said that by the time Ansu Fati, Pedri, Dembelé, Agüero recover, this Barza would be different. However, he was barely able to enjoy some of them. After his departure, Xavi Hernández will also have to fight with those absences.

Against Celta, Ansu Fati, who had reappeared in great form with 4 goals in 8 games, was injured at the end of the first half: “injury to the hamstrings of the left thigh. Pending further tests to find out the exact extent of the injury ”, reported the club.

Thus, Ansu Fati could be an important loss for the Spanish team, which is playing the World Cup qualification against Greece and Sweden on this FIFA date – and perhaps for the beginning of the Xavi era at Barcelona.

The central Eric García – soleus of the right leg – and Nico González were also injured. Three casualties in addition to those already suffered by Barza. In the victory over Dinamo Kiev ‘lost’ Dembelé – who had just reappeared. Neither are Piqué, Sergi Roberto, Dest, Pedri available, while Martín Braithwaite still has two months out due to a knee injury and Sergio Agüero for three months due to a heart problem.

In the twelve games played by Barza in the League, he has used 25 players, 23 of whom have started at least one game. Only Ezzalzouli (Sub 19 who has been playing for 20 minutes) and Riqui Puig have not been in the game.

And the variants?

Many names, but few variants that were felt this Saturday against Celta. Before the departure of Ansu Fati, Baldé entered, while Riqui Puig replaced Nico González. Incredible that Coutinho has not had a chance, although his – apparently – little willingness to warm up when Ansu’s injury occurred is being criticized.

On the bench, against Celta, appeared goalkeeper Iñaki Peña (22 years old- since Neto is out due to health problems), Carevic (22, the third goalkeeper), Alex Balde (18), Ronald Araujo (22), who replaced Eric García, Riqui Puig (22), Ezzalzouli (19), Umtiti, who has not played a minute, Demir (18), Coutinho and Luuk de Jong. These last two did not enter despite the experience they carry.

Only Memphis Depay and Sergio Busquets have played the 12 league games, all of them starting. He is followed by goalkeeper Ter Stegen with 10 starts – at the beginning of the season Neto saved while the German recovered from an injury – and Dest, who plays either as a winger or as a winger.

And so Barcelona will continue to suffer even with Xavi Hernández on the bench. He must wait to have all his men recovered to be able to think of a very competitive team. The club’s economy does not allow it to sign great figures, although they hope to be able to buy three players next January, as long as they manage to dissociate themselves from some players from the current squad, such as Umtiti, Neto and even Luuk de Jong, who arrived on loan from Sevilla.