Getty Xavi is reshaping his squad for next season.
Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez was caught on camera issuing some frantic instructions to his players during his team’s La Liga clash at Granada on Saturday, January 8.
The 41-year-old was spotted gesticulating animatedly at his players in the opening minutes of the game at Los Carmenes, as shown by The Athletic’s John Muller.
There was plenty of incident at the start of the match. Barcelona striker Luuk de Jong thought he had opened the scoring when he nodded a cross by Gavi past goalkeeper Luís Maximiano.
However, the goal was ruled out for a marginal offside in the build-up. Television replays showed that Gavi was just offside before he put the ball into the box for the Dutchman, as shown by Dermot Corrigan at The Athletic.
Here’s the offside in the build-up – was also a super sidefooted cross by Gavi for the header
De Jong then went close again with a scorpion kick but the ball flew just over the crossbar. The action then switched to the other end with goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen forced into a good save from Darwin Machis.
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Alves & Ter Stegen Hit Landmarks
Barcelona duo Dani Alves and Ter Stegen both started the match and hit landmarks against Granada. The fixture was the Brazilian’s first La Liga game since returning to Barca for a second spell.
Alves took to the pitch at the age of 38 and 247 days to become the oldest player to feature for the Catalans in Spain’s top flight, overtaking former goalkeeper Pinto who had previously held the record.
📌 𝟑𝟖 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬, 𝟐𝟒𝟕 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬.
🥇 @DaniAlvesD2 overtakes former teammate @13_Pinto to become @FCBarcelona‘s oldest player in #LaLigaHistory!
Meanwhile, Ter Stegen was making his 200th La Liga appearance for Barcelona. The German joined the club from Borussia Monchengladbach in 2014 and has won 14 major titles during his time at the Camp Nou.
Alves Picks Up Assist
Alves marked the occasion by picking up an assist for the opening goal of the game scored by Luuk de Jong. The Brazilian pinged in a cross from the right for the Dutchman to nod home to make it 1-0 on 57 minutes.
ESPN showed how Alves also picked up an assist on his last La Liga game for Barcelona, before he left the club in 2016, which was also against Granada.
Barca looked on course for the victory but saw midfielder Gavi sent off in the second half after picking up two yellow cards. The visitors also lost Eric Garcia to injury with the center-back being replaced by Clement Lenglet.
Granada managed to make the most of their man advantage by equalizing in the 90th minute to grab a point. A corner was not cleared by Barcelona, allowing Antonio Puertas to smash a ball from Ter Stegen to snatch a point.
The dropped points mean Barca miss the chance to move into third place in the table in Spain and stay down in sixth after 20 games played. The Catalans now turn their attentions away from La Liga to a Spanish Super Cup semi-final against Real Madrid on Wednesday, January 12 in Saudi Arabia.
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