Xavi Facing Fight for Barcelona 1st-Team Place on Return from Injury

Xavi Hernandez is Barcelona through and through. He bleeds red, like everybody, and blue as well. But a small part of him would have been made uneasy by the cutting-edge brilliance of Barcelona’s performance against Atletico Madrid last weekend.

Just like a man growing older and watching the world change before his eyes, Xavi saw a new-look Barcelona team with different ideas and processes from the side he helped ensure will go down as one of the greatest in history.

Xavi doesn’t like to feel as if he is an outsider. He said as much in the summer, when he was considering leaving the club for Qatar or the United States.

He told Sport’s Javier Miguel in an exclusive interview that he was upset about being a substitute on the last day of the 2013-14 season and was planning to leave:

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A call from Bartomeu was what changed everything. He called my representative and he said that he had been thinking about it and wanted me here. Before going to the World Cup I thought my era was over at Barcelona. I finished the season a little disappointed with being a substitute against Atletico Madrid and then came a new coach, a new team, and I thought I was finished here. I did not feel useful and thought that I should not be here.

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It is clear Xavi is a sensitive individual. Being left out of that game against Atletico Madrid, a match that decided the league, would have stung. And coincidentally, it was a game against the same team at the Camp Nou that makes one wonder if he will be settled in this side again.

This time, he wasn't dropped; he was injured with a calf strain in his left leg. But with Luis Enrique constantly criticised for his frequent rotation—Thursday night’s clash with Elche saw him pick his 28th different side in his 28th game in charge—perhaps the Asturian coach will stick with the team that conquered the Spanish champions.

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

They were a fast, fluid side, and they didn't ponder what to do when they had the ball. Instead of playing chess, which is what Barcelona often look like with Xavi in the side, they were playing whack-a-mole. Whenever a space appeared, Barcelona fired the ball into it, at speed, with Neymar, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez all thriving in this high-octane strategy.

In the weeks ahead, Barcelona will need Xavi. There’s no chance Enrique would discard a footballer as intelligent and revered as the legendary midfield pass-master. But when it comes to the crunch clashes, perhaps the Terrassa-born star will watch the action from the bench.

The easy thing would be to keep Xavi in the team. Enrique won’t be lambasted for retaining the midfielder in the side for big games. But the right thing may be to make Ivan Rakitic the first choice, at least for now.

Alex Caparros/Getty Images

There are two games with Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey and two against Manchester City in the Champions League on the horizon. 

Combined with Real Madrid’s bad form in La Liga, Enrique will believe he has a chance of silverware in all competitions. Not simultaneously, perhaps—it’s hard to believe that this Barcelona side can challenge for silverware on three fronts.

The best way to win any of those trophies is to make his three best players, the three forwards, the main men. And a way to enable that is to eschew the carefully crafted buildup play of Xavi for something a bit more rock 'n' roll.

Barcelona's world is changing, and Xavi will have to fight to play a big part in it.