FC Barcelona midfielder Gavi revealed why he asked head coach Hansi Flick to bring him off in … [+]
FC Barcelona star Gavi revealed why he asked head coach Hansi Flick to bring him off in Sunday’s 4-1 win over Sevilla.
The boisterous La Masia graduate got the nod as an attacking midfielder in front of Pedri and Frenkie de Jong after recovering from a nasty head collision last time out in the league against Alaves.
Gavi left the 1-0 home win with barely 10 minutes down on the clock, and completely missed Thursday’s 5-0 thrashing of Valencia in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals.
He returned to the fold at the home of his boyhood club Real Betis’ bitter rival, with Barca able to move within two points of title race leader Real Madrid through a win.
While the Catalans got the job done, there were fears that things might take a turn for the worse when goalscorer Fermin Lopez was sent off early in the second half with the visitors 3-1 up.
Before that, however, Gavi – already on a yellow card – had asked to be brought off at the interval as he revealed post match.
“I told him to change me because I didn’t want there to be any nonsense,” Gavi stated, with Flick heeding the request by introducing Fermin in his place just as he had done when Gavi wanted Pablo Torre brought on instead of himself during a 7-1 demolition of Valencia, in what was a touching gesture.
What is ironic is that it was actually Fermin who was dismissed in being shown a straight red, but the dismissal didn’t have any bearing on the outcome as Eric put the tie beyond doubt with Barca’s fourth goal which complimented other strikes from Lewandowski, Fermin and Raphinha.
With Barca previously written off in the running for the La Liga crown, Gavi reminded us how he had once said there is a lot of road ahead until May.
“I already said that the league is very long and people believed that we were not going to be there when we were ten points behind not long ago. Now we are two points behind, this is long and we have to win all the games left to win it,” he insisted.
In his own post-match remarks, Flick revealed that he has given his players three days off as a reward – though he warned them not to do “stupid things”.
Barca is next in action on February 17 against Rayo Vallecano, and either Gavi or Dani Olmo will probably start as the most advanced midfielder amid Fermin being suspended.
