Xavi explains Pedri & Lamine dropping to Barcelona bench for Getafe clash | OneFootball

Barcelona head coach Xavi Hernández has provided an insight into the reasoning behind his decision to leave key pair Pedri and Lamine Yamal out of his latest starting XI.

Barca, of course, are set to return to action in short order.

Fresh off a Champions League stalemate with Italian champions Napoli in Midweek, the Blaugrana will turn attentions back towards matters on the domestic front, in a La Liga meeting with Getafe.

The evening’s hosts will head into proceedings no doubt desperate for victory, in the knowledge that as much would see them leapfrog Girona, at least temporarily, into 2nd in Spain’s top-flight.

In turn, it came as something of a surprise when, upon Barcelona’s starting line-up to face Getafe being announced, a pair of headline stars were nowhere to be seen.

The players in question? Pedri, and Lamine Yamal.

Speaking to the media ahead of proceedings getting underway in Montjuïc, the subject of the two youngsters being dropped to the bench was therefore inevitably put to Xavi.

And Barca’s headmaster went on to highlight them as ‘necessary changes’, amid what has proven a busy couple of weeks in Catalunya’s capital:

“I think they are necessary changes. There are players who are suffering from accumulating minutes and players who are returning from an injury. I hope they perform well today.”

Conor Laird | GSFN