Xavi to lead Barcelona representatives at Marcos Alonso’s funeral

Xavi Hernández has modified this week’s work plan after learning of the death of Marcos Alonso, a former Barça player and father of wing-back Marcos Alonso Junior from the current squad. The team were originally due to train at the Ciutat Esportiva on Friday morning, but the session has been switched to the afternoon. The reason or the change is that a broad representation of the Blaugrana squad, led by coach Xavi Hernández and the four captains, will travel to Madrid early in the morning to accompany Marcos Alonso at his father’s funeral.

For obvious reasons, Marcos Alonso was excused from Thursday’s afternoon session, and he is not expected to take part in tomorrow’s session. The player has permission from the club to be able to be absent for as many days he feels necessary. As things stand, the player’s presence in the squad for Sunday’s game against Villarreal is not guaranteed. It will be Marcos Alonso himself who will make the decision about whether or not he feels strong enough to play the game.

In Thursday’s session, Estanis Pedrola from Barcelona Atlètic and Ángel Alarcón from the Under-19s trained alongside the senior players. It was the squad’s second training session of the week - Xavi gave the players two days to rest as a reward for beating Sevilla last Sunday.