Barcelona midfield ace set for an emotional encounter against Las Palmas | OneFootball

Among all the young talents mesmerising Europe with their performances at Barcelona, Pedri is only the one who doesn’t belong to the famed La Masia Academy.

The young midfielder joined Barça back in 2019, ending the long association with his boyhood club Las Palmas.

Despite his age, Pedri had made 37 competitive appearances for the Canaries, before leaving the club for a fee of just €5 million.

Pedri set to face Las Palmas for the first time

Interestingly, Pedri hasn’t had the chance to play against Las Palmas ever since he joined Barcelona in 2019.

But that streak ends today, as Barcelona take on Las Palmas later this afternoon.

Although the Canaries had achieved promotion to the top flight last season, Pedri, through sheer bad luck, was unable to feature in any of the games due to injury.

Pedri will be looking forward to playing against his former team (Photo by Pedro Salado/Getty Images)

This time around, the midfielder has overcome his injury problems and has become a key component in Hansi Flick’s tactical setup.

Pedri is widely expected to start for Barcelona this afternoon as they take on Las Palmas, in what could be a must-win encounter for the Catalans.

As for Pedri, it promises to be an emotional encounter given that he had never faced his boyhood club since joining Barça.

Diffusing Pedri’s influence, in fact, could be a key objective for Diego Martinez’s Las Palmas side, who have started the season with eight defeats in 14 matches.

The Canary Islanders could easily fall into the relegation zone with another defeat against Barcelona today. Hence, avoiding a loss could be the absolute priority for the visitors.