Ahead of Thursday’s Europa League match against Manchester United, Barcelona head coach Xavi has revealed his worry about thefitness of Robert Lewandowski and Frenkie de Jong.
After a 2-2 draw at Camp Nou, the Catalan giants will travel to Manchester this week for the second leg of their knockout round playoff with the 20-time English champions.
Meanwhile, due to hamstring issues, Barcelona will undoubtedly be without Ousmane Dembele and Pedri. Gavi will also be missing due to suspension.
The La Liga leaders had Sergio Busquets back on the bench against Cadiz on Sunday, though, with the club captain recovering from an ankle sprain.
Busquets is now in contention to start against Man United, but Xavi has said that he is concerned by the fitness of Lewandowski and De Jong, who have played “a lot of minutes” in recent months.
Lewandowski is relishing his time in La Liga 🍷 pic.twitter.com/cFx6RI7Fcs
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“Frenkie de Jong and Robert Lewandowski played more minutes. I think they have been playing a lot of minutes, that’s why I made the changes,” Xavi told reporters following Sunday’s 2-0 win over Cadiz. “The other day Pedri was injured and we can’t afford more injuries.
“Let’s prepare for Thursday’s game from tomorrow and see how tired they are.”
Lewandowski and De Jong both started against Cadiz in La Liga, but the former was substituted in the 74th minute, while the latter was replaced by Franck Kessie five minutes earlier.
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