Alleged Real Reason Why FC Barcelona Changed Squad List Causes Outrage

The alleged real reason why FC Barcelona changed their squad list for Wednesday’s Champions League match against Royal Antwerp, as reported by RAC1, has caused outrage among the “entorno” environment that surrounds the club.

The first squad list for Barca’s last Group H fixture initially missed heavyweights Ronald Araujo, Ilkay Gundogan, Robert Lewandowski and Frenkie de Jong.

In an updated version, however, the first three of those names were now included minus the Dutchman, who has “feverish conditions” and will rest ahead of Saturday’s La Liga match against Valencia.

It appears that head coach Xavi Hernandez’s original plan was to rest the other three men as well.

Barca has already qualified for the last 16 on the continent, and while trailing Girona by seven points thanks to Sunday’s 4-2 loss to them at the Montjuic Stadium, the defense of their Spanish top flight crown has to take preference at the moment.

According to RAC1, however, it was president Joan Laporta that personally requested the change from Xavi.

This development, which is essentially a possible occurrence of interference from the president, has caused outrage among those that keep a close eye on the club.

For example, AS correspondent Javi Miguel wrote: “If this interference is confirmed, we would be facing a very dangerous precedent, since until now we had never seen a president acting as a coach and giving the instructions to the manager to remake a squad list.”

“About the re-call [up] this morning: Bad because of Laporta’s interference. Worse because of Xavi’s nonsense. [A] bad signal and message to the group that leaves [the coach] in an unfavorable situation,” tweeted Joan Fontes from his popular Twitter account.

When sharing RAC1‘s report, SPORT added that it had been able to confirm the reason for the change of plans.

They supposedly came about because the team decided to spend the night in Antwerp, and for logistical reasons Xavi and his staff decided to call the three players up “so that they would not lose the rhythm of training”.

At his pre-match press conference, Xavi claimed that “we decided as a club”. “The president, Deco, the players, coaches… The itinerary changed, one more night in Antwerp, and that’s why we changed the list,” he added.

On Wednesday morning, SPORT reported that locker room sources insist the squad change “was made by consensus”, and that the relationship between Laporta and Xavi is “excellent”.

Still there are concerns from outside that Xavi’s reputation has been damaged and his integrity compromised, with one popular theory being that Laporta’s alleged interference was inspired by Barca’s debt-ravaged financial predicament.

In short, Barca can receive a much-needed $3 million in bonus money for beating Antwerp as per UEFA figures.

The three stars in question aren’t expected to start in Antwerp with Xavi making at least seven changes. But they could make an impact off the bench, if a second string outfit isn’t able to replicate a comfortable 5-0 win for Barca over this opposition when they opened their 2023/2024 campaign in the same competition against them.