With the season on the brink, Xavi needed a quick path to get through the storm of a challenging list of fixtures.
Gavi went down with a season-ending injury, and both the Champions League and La Liga campaigns were called into question after a big dip in form.
Luckily, Xavi had Frenkie de Jong and Pedri coming back from injury. These two are stalwarts of the midfield, and would always be first choice under normal circumstances.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25132096/1819258740.jpg)
Ilkay Gundogan has already been more than Barcelona could have hoped for.