The Spain international has been injured for more than two months and his presence in the Clásico seems utopian; Xavi appeals to the ‘sensations’ of the canary.
Pedri is worrying Barcelona fans three days before the Clásico against Real Madrid in LaLiga 2023-2024. He was expected to return after the international break in October, but he was not against Athletic Club de Bilbao or Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League. Two games in which he should be able to add minutes to increase the pace ahead of the whites’ visit to Montjuic, but in which Pedri had to watch from outside.
What’s going on with Pedri, how long has it been since he played, when was his last game for Barcelona and how did he get to the Clásico with Real Madrid?
Pedri has been in dry dock for a long time. The talented Spanish midfielder had to leave training injured on Thursday, August 24, three days before the match against Villarreal at the La Cerámica Stadium. As Barcelona announced through a medical report posted on their social networks, Pedri suffered an injury “to the rectus femoris of his right thigh.”
It is worth remembering here that Pedri also injured the rectus femoris of his right thigh last year, and on that occasion he had been out of action for five weeks.
Pedri is in the same recovery phase as Raphinha, but it remains to be seen whether the Canary Islander is willing to take the risk. The former Las Palmas player knows what it’s like to fall back just before a match of this importance and he doesn’t want to experience the same thing again.
He is the one who has been injured the longest (more than two months), so the lack of rhythm could affect him. His presence in the Classic is not excluded, but not guaranteed either. However, some media outlets, such as “RAC1”, claim that Pedri is 100% from the Classic. According to Xavi, it will depend on the player’s ‘feelings’. “A relapse would be wrong on a mental level,” he said on Tuesday, October 24.
Pedri has already missed Barca’s first three matches in the Champions League and has played just two of the team’s 10 in LaLiga. This season he was on the field for just 169 minutes: 79′ against Getafe in the league opener and 90′ against Cádiz on the second matchday. He played his last match against the Cádiz side, scoring a goal in a 2-0 win for the Catalans.
Last season, Pedri missed twelve league games due to an injury. In all competitions in 2022-2023, the midfielder made a total of 35 appearances, scoring seven goals and providing one assist.
Source: Goal