Barcelona star was upset with being taken off at half-time during Almeria clash – report

Barcelona ended up taking home the spoils of victory against Almeria with the team finally ending their winless streak after constantly dropping points.

However, the victory did not come about easily. In fact, Xavi Hernandez took some credit for Barcelona’s upturn after proceedings in his post-match conference.

Apart from claiming he gave his harshest speech in the dressing room, the coach also made some early substitutions into the game, bringing off Joao Felix and Andreas Christensen, who were both not up to the mark in the first half.

Now, Javi Miguel has come out to reveal the reactions of the pair to Xavi’s decision.

Two contrasting reactions

As per the information, Joao Felix was upset by the change at half-time and did not calmly accept the decision in his stride.

Meanwhile, Christensen accepted the change with surrender and professionalism, traits that have defined him since he arrived at the club in 2022.

Both players were visibly underperforming against Almeria on Wednesday night.

Felix’s impact was hardly noticeable. The Portuguese winger failed to take men on in dribbles or string any meaningful passes.

Meanwhile, Christensen was caught flat-footed in defensive transition on a few occasions, struggling to lock down Sergio Arribas.

As such, Xavi was compelled to take them off early, in spite of normally making his substitutions around the hour mark.

Even so, the reaction of Christensen is likely to draw appreciation from the coaching staff, while Felix may have dented his reputation slightly, as he aspires to make his loan spell permanent next season.

After playing against Club America in Dallas shortly, the Catalan giants will head into the Christman break, which the club will be hoping allows the squad players to recharge their batteries and start afresh.