After scoring a small 0-1 over Espanyol in Xavi’s debut on the lines, Barcelona will host Benfica tomorrow (Tuesday, 22:00) in a game that could guarantee them a promotion to the last eight of the Champions League. The coach will once again be forced to attack immediately, as apart from the injured Osman Dembele and Anso Patti, Abda Azalzoli and Ilias Ahumash will also not be available because the former has not been registered and the latter has been sent off in the Youth Champions League. Due to that, the one who might open on the left wing is the disappointing Filippa Coutinho, with another change to be made in the right-back position with the placement of Sergi Roberto in place of Oscar Mingsa, given the fact that Serginio Dest is also unfit.
Another player who will not play against Benfica, but received very good news today on a personal level, is Pedri: The midfielder, who will celebrate his 19th birthday this Thursday, was crowned the winner of the Golden Boy Award, awarded to the outstanding young player of the year by the Italian newspaper Totosport . The last winner of the award was Arling Holland, when the Norwegians were preceded by Joao Felix, Mathis de Licht and Killian Ambape.
Federy won the title by the largest gap ever recorded: the Spaniard received 318 points, 199 more than his deputy in the race, Jude Bellingham. Only one season in the senior league was enough for the wonderful connection that joined Barcelona from Las Palmas in order to screw up in the squad of the King’s Cup holder, and also in the Spanish team with which he appeared in Euros and won the Olympic silver medal in Tokyo.
Meanwhile, the winner of the Golden Boy Award, ahead of Ambape, Portuguese Renato Sanchez, told a French newspaper this morning that he was on the verge of joining Barcelona last summer: “If I had not been injured, I would have signed for Barça in the summer. They have already reached an agreement. With Lille, “revealed the French champions’ contact.
Also in the Barcelona sector, in the Catalan “sport” it was written this morning that despite the talk that all the squad players started from scratch after Xavi’s appointment, the one who was not even counted by the new coach is Samuel Omititi. According to the report, the club is examining the options for releasing the brakeman’s contract, which was signed until 2023 and even in the last transfer window no team was found that would agree to take him on. The amount of minutes Omititi has played cumulatively in the last four seasons is almost the same as the one he played in the 2017/18 season alone.