Xavi’s plan to stop Vinicius Jr when Barcelona face Real Madrid in Super Cup final

According to a report from Javi Miguel of AS, Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez is planning a couple of tactical tweaks for their upcoming game against Real Madrid in the finals of the Spanish Super Cup.

Barcelona booked their place in the finals of the Supercopa de Espana after defeating Real Betis via penalty shootouts this past Thursday, setting up a date with arch-rivals Madrid who also needed shootouts to prevail over Valencia in the semi-finals.

With the two traditional rivals set to come face-to-face in the final, Xavi is already working on his plans for the La Liga champions for Sunday’s clash.

As per the report, the 42-year-old tactician is now considering deploying Ronald Araujo as a right-back against Real Madrid in order to tackle the threat posed by Vinicius Jr.

The Uruguayan international has only recently returned from a lengthy injury layoff but has hardly missed a beat since his comeback, slotting in effortlessly and putting in solid displays at the back, particularly in the game against Atletico Madrid last weekend.

While he has been predominantly used in his natural centre-back slot, Xavi has often tended to deploy him out at right-back, as he had done in the Catalans’ 4-0 victory over Real Madrid in La Liga in the last season.

The move had proved to be an excellent tactical decision by the manager as he had completely neutralised the threat carried by Vinicius and the Barcelona legend is planning to use the same strategy on Sunday.

That would lead to Jules Kounde and Andreas Christensen as the centre-backs, even though the former has done well in the right-back position in the current season.

Apart from that, it is also said that Xavi will use a four-man midfield unit as he had done against Atletico Madrid, which would see Sergio Busquets return to the lineup while either Pedri or Gavi could be deployed as a false-winger.