Barcelona midfield mainstay could be rested against Deportivo Alaves this weekend

Barcelona have been hampered by injuries in recent weeks, particularly in the midfield department, with Pedri and Frenkie de Jong being sidelined for a considerable period.

It has meant that manager Xavi Hernandez has not had any opportunity to give summer signing Ilkay Gundogan any sort of rest.

Since joining the club in the summer, the German international has established himself as a mainstay in the starting XI, putting in impressive performances one after the other.

Gundogan to be rested vs Alaves?

However, recent games against Real Sociedad and Shakhtar Donetsk showed that fatigue might be catching up with Ilkay Gundogan.

As such, SPORT is now reporting that Xavi could opt to rest the veteran Barcelona midfielder in their upcoming La Liga clash against Deportivo Alaves.

The 33-year-old midfielder is the Barcelona outfield player with the most minutes this season (1361), having started in 15 of the 16 matches the team has played in all competitions.

In fact, Gundogan has played the entire 90 minutes in each of Barça’s 11 matches across all competitions.

Naturally, the minutes are starting to pile up and a break is warranted, especially as he will soon be away representing Germany against Turkey and Austria in the international break.

Pedri to come in

Barcelona recovered star midfielder Pedri from injury this past weekend against Sociedad, and the prodigy also had minutes against Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday.

With minutes under his belt, the Spanish international seems ready to be reintroduced into the starting XI and the Alaves game could be the ideal one to do so.

Pedri could thus allow Xavi to rest Gundogan on Sunday afternoon.