Barcelona boss Xavi Hernández gives João Félix Shakhtar injury update ahead of El Clásico

Alarm bells sounded on Spain’s east coast after FC Barcelona forward João Félix went down injured in the second half of the Catalan side’s UEFA Champions League victory over Shakhtar Donetsk. After the game, Barça boss Xavi gave an update on the fitness of his Portuguese star.

The ex-Benfica player went to ground in the second half with around 15 minutes to go which caused the Barcelona bench to panic. Xavi quickly got his substitutes warming up and it was man-of-the-moment Marc Guiu, the 17-year-old who scored the winning goal at the weekend against Athletic Club, who replaced the forward.

After the game, Xavi spoke to the press about the fitness of João Félix...

‘No need to worry’ about João Félix

‘How is João Félix?’, inevitably came question number one after the game. Real Madrid had suffered the exact same fate in their game the previous day against Braga in the Champions League, with Jude Bellingham going off injured and Carlo Ancelotti explaining after the game how his player was feeling. Now it was Xavi’s turn.

“It looks like he took a hit”, said Xavi. “That’s what he told me. There is no need to worry. We hope it’s not serious, he can be back in time.”

‘We made things difficult for ourselves at the end’

Xavi also took his time to analyse the game and the performance of his team, saying that “we made things difficult for ourselves at the end”. Barcelona were in cruise control, going into the break at half-time with a two-goal advantage. However, their intensity dropped after the 60-minute mark and Shakhtar managed to pull a goal back with an attack out of nowhere, causing the tension levels to rise to a maximum. Xavi highlighted the pressure from the away side, saying that they “played for every ball, it was a fantastic day to have our tall players back.”

“We did well until the goal”, he continued, “and then we suffered from not scoring a third, we should have won comfortably. In general it was a good game by us.”

‘Madrid are strong, they are looking good and everything is difficult to predict’

A player who did surpass expectations and shine on the field was Fermín López, who created the first goal for Ferran and scored the second, a thunderous strike from the edge of the box that crashed in off the post. “I’m very happy for him”, Xavi admitted, “he’s working well, he looks good and he is helping us a lot. Personally I like him. We will see about Saturday [against Real Madrid], for now we have to enjoy things. He has to be important, he is scoring.”

Finally, Xavi was probed regarding the upcoming game against LaLiga leaders, Real Madrid, who have just a single point advantage over their rivals after 10 games. Playing against their eternal rivals is “always difficult”, according to Xavi, who said that “Madrid are strong, they are looking good and everything is difficult to predict. It’s 50/50.”

Barcelona host Real Madrid at Montjuïc on Saturday, October 28, with kick off at 10.15 a.m. ET / 7.15 a.m. PT.