Barcelona fringe players to get a chance in the coming games as Xavi plans to rotate

Once the international break gets over, Barcelona will have a tight schedule at their hands as the UEFA Champions League group stage is set to kick off this month.

Having played just one game a week thus far, the Blaugrana will now have to deal with two matches per week moving forward.

And, considering that a number of Barça players will be returning after representing their national teams, there will be some fatigue setting in as well.

Rotation time for Xavi

As such, Sergi Capdevila of SPORT is reporting that Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez will now rotate his troops for the upcoming matches against Real Betis and Royal Antwerp.

Barça will be playing the two games in the space of 72 hours as they take on Betis in La Liga on Saturday before hosting Royal Antwerp in their first Champions League game next Tuesday.

So far this season, Xavi has not tweaked the lineup much, only making exceptions due to the injuries to Ronald Araujo, Pedri, and Alejandro Balde, and Raphinha’s suspension.

But considering the international matches as well as two important games coming up back-to-back, rotations will be on the cards.

Fringe players to get an opportunity

This should pave the way for some of the fringe players who have not played much this season to get an opportunity.

Ferran Torres has scored two goals from the bench this term and could be in line for his first start of the season, with Robert Lewandowski having played 180 minutes for Poland over the past few days.

Marcos Alonso is another player who could get a look-in at left-back while Fermin Lopez, who has made just one appearance so far, could also stand to benefit.

New signing Inigo Martinez made his debut against Osasuna and could be poised for more minutes in the coming matches. First captain Sergi Roberto could also be a beneficiary.