Xavi puts Gavi and Pedri ahead of himself and Iniesta
The FC Barcelona coach didn’t bite his tongue and complimented the team’s young stars by praising their quality and potential.
Pedri and Gavi are currently on holidays after playing in the World Cup in Qatar, but they will soon come back to Barcelona to join their teammates at the Catalan club to resume the 2022-2023 season.
Coach Xavi Hernández is already thinking about their return to action in LaLiga on the 31st of December against city neighbors Espanyol.
The 2010 World Cup champion with Spain didn’t doubt about complimenting midfield stars Pedri and Gavi talking to Mundo Deportivo.
“Me at twenty years old and Andrés at twenty years old, we were not at the level that Pedri or Gavi are (...) We were not at this level”, he said.
Barça boss also expressed his happiness for being able to have such talented young players like Ansu Fati or Alejandro Balde.
“Balde, Gavi has played practically everything. Ansu is a talent (...) Balde’s potential is marvelous, he will be Barça’s full-back for the next fifteen years”, he stated.
Barça’s main challenges: LaLiga and Europa League
Xavi will now face the challenge of trying to keep the winning pace the team had before the World Cup, as they overtook Real Madrid in the top spot.
Besides Pedri, Gavi, Balde, or Fati, Xavi will hope to recover the best version of Ronald Araújo and Andreas Christensen in defense and get a better performance from players like Ousmane Dembélé or Raphinha up front.
After their elimination in the Champions League after making a big investment last summer, Barcelona will have to deal with pressure in all of their Europa League fixtures, as they are now favorites to win the competition. In the round of 16, though, they will already face fierce opposition in Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United.