Xavi surprised by Barcelona star’s swift recovery from injury for El Clasico

After keeping things shrouded for a long while, Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez finally announced the squad list for today’s game against Real Madrid earlier today.

Usually, the squad list is released a day before the game, but Xavi decided to hold it back in order to assess Barça’s injured players and see who can make it to the roster for the first El Clasico of the season.

As had been reported since yesterday, both Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski made the cut for the list, having received medical clearance from the staff.

Pedri, Frenkie de Jong, and Sergi Roberto missed out but Jules Kounde, surprisingly, made it to the squad for the Real Madrid clash.

Xavi surprised by Kounde’s return

Now, according to Adria Albets, manager Xavi Hernandez has been left the most surprised by the return of Jules Kounde in time for Barcelona’s clash against Real Madrid.

Kounde suffered a knee sprain during the match against FC Porto and initial reports had suggested that the Frenchman will be out for at least five weeks, which meant that there was no way he would return for the Clasico.

Kounde, though, surprised everyone by returning to training on Friday, but even then it was claimed that he would not make it to the final squad list for the Real Madrid game.

But, the Frenchman has received his medical clearance and is on the list, with Xavi surprised by the defender’s recovery, as he returned in 20 days from an injury that takes over a month to fully heal.

It also shows the hard work and commitment on Kounde’s part to push himself to speed up his recovery and make himself available for a match as important as the Clasico.