Four games into the new La Liga season, Hansi Flick faces a similar injury dilemma that Xavi dealt with during his time at Barcelona last season.
However, there is one major difference: while Xavi’s injury troubles did not emerge until October, Flick has been forced to begin his La Liga campaign with a long list of injured players.
According to Mundo Deportivo, this has left the German coach managing an average of five injured players per match. In contrast, Xavi’s team had just two injuries on average during the early stages of his season, even though, by October, he was at times missing up to eight players from the squad.
Flick’s challenges were clear from the very first match of the season against Valencia. Key players like Ansu Fati, Ronald Araujo, Frenkie de Jong, and Gavi were unavailable due to injury, making it a tough start.
On top of this, Dani Olmo was not registered for that match, further complicating matters. As the season progressed, Andreas Christensen became available during the second game week.
If things go well, Ansu might even receive medical clearance soon, providing a much-needed boost to Flick’s options.
Last season, Xavi’s squad was not very large either. He had just 19 first-team players, along with three young talents from the academy – Alejandro Balde, Lamine Yamal, and later Fermin Lopez.
This brought his total squad count to 22 players. In the first four games of Xavi’s season, injuries were limited to just two or three key players, such as Araujo, Pedri, and Inigo Martinez.
Still, it was far from the scale of Flick’s current situation. Unfortunately for Xavi, the injury crisis worsened as the season moved into October, with up to eight players being sidelined at the same time.
This included stars like Jules Kounde, Balde, Frenkie de Jong, Pedri, Raphinha, Lamine Yamal, and Robert Lewandowski.
The first major blow came when Pedri picked up an injury in August, and by October, Balde had joined the growing list of sidelined players.
Within a span of just three weeks, Xavi’s side was plagued by injuries to several important figures in the squad, disrupting his tactical plans. As a result of these setbacks, Xavi had no choice but to turn to Fermin and other young players to fill in the gaps.
