FC Barcelona head coach Xavi Hernandez provided injury update about on-loan defender Joao Cancelo after the right-back was taken off in the 11th minute during the match against Las Palmas on Thursday.
Cancelo emerged as one of Barca’s most important players this season and became a starter over the experienced Sergi Roberto in no time due to his versatility and skills in attack.
Xavi confirmed that the right-back’s injury is not serious but he will have to undergo tests to determine the exact extent of the knock.
“Cancelo’s knee injury doesn’t look serious. We hope it’s just a knock, we will know more tomorrow about it,” Xavi said.
In an away trip to Las Palmas, Barca had their fair share of struggles as the Blaugrana conceded an early goal in the 12th minute and were finding it difficult to break the hosts’ defense.
However, after Ferran Torres netted the equaliser in the 55th minute, things started to get better for the visitors who managed to win the match after a 93rd minute penalty by Ilkay Gundogan.
Xavi wasn’t fully satisfied with his team’s performance and pointed out flaws as they had to fight really hard for three crucial points.
“The key of the match was to attack the space in behind their defence. We trained for that the whole week, but we didn’t do well. A lot of offsides, horizontal passes, and low precision. We had to be diagonal,” the former midfielder added.
While Xavi didn’t hesitate to admit that the goal Barca conceded was his team’s fault, he pointed out that the penalty in the injury time was deserving.
“The goal that we conceded was our mistake,” Xavi said. “There is always tension. There are many things when playing a football match – nerves, pressure – but if you talk to me about the penalty, for me it is a clear penalty,” he said.
He then went on to criticise the media for making wrong assumptions about Barcelona and himself saying that the media only does it to me.
“You always make negative assumptions about me. You don’t do that to other managers. We won and that didn’t happen, so it’s absurd to talk about it, no?” the coach added.
