FC Barcelona looks set to recover one of its key players for the Champions League, in what could effectively be a ‘new signing’ for Xavi Hernandez’s first team squad.
After two failed attempts at getting Barca to the UCL knockout phase, it was third time lucky for the legendary midfielder who won the trophy four times as a player.
Xavi will step down from his head coach role on June 30 after an unflattering 2023/2024 campaign with the Catalans as La Liga holders.
Yet a deep run on the continent after so much disappointment there in recent years might guarantee that he departs on good terms.
Barca finished level on points with Porto but managed to come out on top of Group H thanks to a pair of wins home and away over the Portuguese giants.
They were subsequently drawn against reigning Serie A champions Napoli in the last 16, with the first of two legs set to be played at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium on February 12 ahead of a return fixture in Montjuic on March 12.
Xavi has already been boosted by goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen returning to training last weekend, and looking set to start against Granada in the league on Sunday after some time on the sidelines recovering from a lower back surgery.
According to AS, further reinforcements could be on the way with Raphinha also joining Ter Stegen in that Sunday session at the Joan Gamper CT and targeting the showdown in Naples as his comeback date.
When this sort of thing happens in Spain, it is usually reported that a team effectively has a ‘new signing’ and this logic could also be applied to Raphinha.
The Brazilian has missed eight matches thus far since pulling up with a muscle injury in mid-January, and Lamine Yamal has taken advantage of the circumstances to nail down a starting berth in the first XI.
Xavi might be reluctant to throw the 16-year-old in the deep end for such a high-level fixture in a such a hostile stadium, which may lead to him giving Raphinha the nod instead if the ex-Leeds United man receives a clean bill of health.
