Important moments await us. “Tots units fem força,” Pedri wrote yesterday on his social networks, three days away from playing the momentous first leg of the Champions League round of 16. The 2023-2024 season is not being easy for either Barça or Pedri. His visits to the infirmary due to muscle injuries that have affected his right thigh, not only this year, but also in the previous two, have had an impact on the Tenerife native, who has opted for conservative treatment and the prevention of injuries. injuries.
In the summer they took action on the matter. The club's physical trainers and nutritionists made changes to his diet and put him on a gluten-free diet that forced him to give up his mother's croquettes and snack at the Tasca Fernando bar, the typical Canarian food inn located in Tegueste that their parents show. She has changed it for more carbohydrates, more fish – especially salmon – and more work in the gym at the sports city. At the same time, Pedri paid attention to Carles Puyol. The former captain recommended him to do Pilates to gain elasticity. Also, since the beginning of the year, he regularly visits a center in Barcelona with hyperbaric chambers that allow him to oxygenate his muscle tissues and takes new vitamin supplements. He assures everyone who asks him that it is not true that he is afraid of relapse or of shooting with his right foot and denies that he has become accustomed to going out at night in Barcelona.
This course has spent a lot of time in nursing in two stages. The first time he missed 12 games after injuring his right thigh. He was gone 71 days. On December 18, the discomfort returned. He missed three more games. Barcelona managed to get him back for the Super Cup in Saudi Arabia. He played a few minutes in the semifinal against Osasuna and started against Real Madrid. Since then, he has participated in eight more games, six starting from the eleven and has scored one goal. At times, he has looked fatigued. Also on Saturday in Vigo, when Xavi replaced him in the 74th minute. “He's in it. He is recovering the spark,” explains the Tenerife native's entourage.
The player, who has all the confidence of Xavi, needs minutes and time to recover his best version, especially considering that this is not the first time he has suffered excessively with injuries. Last year he injured the same thigh and was absent in 15 games. The 2021-2022 season was worse. He missed 39 matches between Barcelona and the national team.
These numbers have little to do with those of the year of his Blaugrana debut in the 2020-2021 season, when he played 73 games, including the European Championship and the Olympic Games. “That may have affected me, but I wanted to take on the world,” Pedri explained in a conversation with Ibai Llanos.
Barcelona with Pedri faces the Naples event after adding three golden points in the League against Celta in Balaídos. It cost the team. He finally knocked down Celta with a goal from Lewandowski from a penalty in added time on his second attempt after the referee Pulido Santana ordered the shot to be repeated because Guaita had gone ahead. Pedri criticized himself: “I'm happy for the victory, but we fell asleep in the second half. He has passed in more games,” he highlighted.
The solution? “We need to move the ball much faster from side to side. When we do it, we find the spaces and score goals,” declared the midfielder, who is clear about what his mission should be: to help the forwards with the last pass and, if he can, find the goal again. He has two this season and Xavi has repeatedly challenged him to finish with ten in his locker. “If we are a block we can opt for everything,” he insisted. He will still have to wait a little to play with Ferran Torres. Although the forward is making an effort to reach the Naples event, he has not yet started training with the group.
