Boss Xavi Hernandez's risky decision for Barcelona's debut in the Super Cup of Spain

Barcelona are having a demanding start to the year. They beat Las Palmas 2-1 in the resumption of La Liga last week and last Sunday they had to work harder than expected to beat Barbastro 3-2 in the Copa del Rey. But they cannot relax now, as this week they will have the first decisive matches of the season.

Between Thursday and Sunday Los Blaugranas will participate in the Spanish Super Cup, the tournament that brings together the four best teams of the previous season in La Liga and Copa del Rey. This will be a great opportunity for them, as they could start 2024 by winning a title. But for that they must first beat Osasuna in the semifinals and advance to the final of the tournament against the winner between Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid.

Coach Xavi Hernandez, who has received harsh criticism lately, wants to do what he can to succeed. That is why this Tuesday the list of players called up by the manager to travel to Saudi Arabia was released and there are some surprises there.

Among them are three players who had recently suffered physical problems that prevented them from playing in recent matches: Pedri, Joao Cancelo and Iñigo Martinez. The midfielder has not played since December 19, when he suffered a muscle injury. The Portuguese right-back has a sprained ankle, while the Spanish defender also had muscular problems. Neither of them is medically cleared, but Xavi has decided that they will travel to Saudi Arabia anyway and will decide whether they will play or not.

This is the complete list

The 25 players called up by Xavi are: goalkeepers Iñaki Peña, Diego Kochen and Ander Astralaga; defenders Joao Cancelo, Alex Balde, Ronald Araujo, Iñigo Martinez, Andreas Christensen, Jules Kounde, Pau Cubarsi and Hector Fort; midfielders Pedri, Oriol Romeu, Sergi Roberto, Frenkie De Jong, Ilkay Gundogan, Marc Casado and Fermin Lopez; and forwards Ferran Torres, Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Joao Felix, Vitor Roque, Lamine Yamal and Marc Guiu.