Barcelona defender benched for three games in a row for the first time in senior career

We are a little less than an hour away before Barcelona take on Girona, in what could be yet another must-win encounter for the Blaugrana.

Coming on the back of a narrow victory over Atletico Madrid, Barcelona are desperately looking for three points as they look to keep up with Girona and Real Madrid in the title race.

Heading into this game, Xavi Hernandez has already announced the starting eleven which includes some key names including Andreas Christensen. The Dane is starting after leaving for Denmark for the birth of his son.

Alejandro Balde’s excluded from the starting XI

However, the biggest takeaway from Barça’s starting XI against Girona was the exclusion of Alejandro Balde.

The Spaniard has once again benched, as Xavi looks to continue with Joao Cancelo in the left-back position.

From a sporting perspective, this is hardly surprising as Cancelo has been in tremendous form in recent weeks.

However, after being excluded from the last two matches, many expected Xavi to hand Balde a place in the starting eleven against Girona tonight.

An unwanted milestone

Balde’s exclusion from the starting eleven against Girona marked an unwanted milestone for the young fullback.

Since joining the first team, this is the first time Balde has been left out of the starting eleven for three consecutive matches.

This speaks greatly of the growth the young fullback has enjoyed over the past 18 months or so. But at the same time, it is a worrying sign for the player, as he continues to struggle to establish himself as a first-team regular.

On a positive note, though, it won’t be surprising to see Balde feature as a substitute against Girona. Even if he doesn’t fare tonight, he is likely to start in the last UCL group stage game against Royal Antwerp on Wednesday.