Explained: Why Barcelona pair Roque & Guiu were left on the bench vs Athletic Club | OneFootball

An insight into the decision of Barcelona head coach Xavi Hernández not to afford a single minute of playing time to either Vitor Roque or Marc Guiu during his side’s latest outing has this evening been forthcoming online.

The info comes courtesy of Toni Juanmartí of Diario Sport, who assures that suggestions of a lack of faith in the young pair ‘couldn’t be further from the truth’.

The subject of Xavi’s selection calls has of course taken its place front and centre in the headlines in Catalunya’s capital once more over the course of the last 24 hours.

This comes on the back of the Blaugrana’s La Liga meeting with Athletic Club.

En route to an eventual goalless stalemate, many of a Barcelona persuasion made clear their frustrations with the club’s departing head coach.

As much came owing to a frankly toothless attacking display on the part of their side.

Late in proceedings, calls for the introduction of starlets Vitor Roque and Marc Guiu from the bench, in turn, mounted.

In the end, however, such cries fell on deaf ears.

And, as alluded to above, on Monday, it has been revealed precisely why.

As per Sport, Xavi’s plans for the night were thrown into disarray from early on, as the Spaniard was forced into a pair of substitutions owing to injuries suffered by midfield pair Frenkie de Jong and Pedri.

Next introduced to the fray late on was João Félix, who simply sits ahead of both Roque and Guiu in the attacking pecking order at Barca.

From here, Andreas Christensen was ‘crying out’ to boss Xavi for a substitution, with Oriol Romeu sent on in his place as a result.

And, finally, when faced with a choice between an attack-minded or defensive fifth and final change, Barcelona’s headmaster opted for the latter.

In turn, Iñigo Martínez replaced youngster Pau Cubarsí, with Xavi having come to the conclusion that hooking Robert Lewandowski was not the right move, amid the fine spell of goalscoring form being enjoyed by the Pole.

Conor Laird | GSFN