Barcelona are set for their first home match at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys this Sunday, as they host Cadiz and look for their first win of the La Liga season.
As the Blaugrana look to retain their title, they will have to deal with a number of changes to their routine with the move to Montjuic. Manager Xavi Hernandez is implementing more of them as well. The Catalan coach generally gives a press conference the day before a match, and with clubs required to open their training sessions for the first 15 minutes once per week, that would also occur on the Saturday if a match was scheduled for the Sunday.
🚨 Xavi's pre-match press conference will be held on Friday instead of Saturday. Likewise, an open training session will be on the same day. On Saturday, the team will train in Montjuïc without cameras. This routine will now be USUAL for this season's home games. @fansjavimiguel pic.twitter.com/KDi5ViSHch
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) August 15, 2023
Diario AS inform that Xavi is switching up that routine though. Now the press conference and the open part of training will both take place two days ahead of games – that is to say this Friday for Cadiz. Then the day before matches, Xavi will take his players up to Montjuic for a training session behind closed doors, and away from the press.
It could well be that Xavi is keen for his players to become more familiar with Montjuic. Cadiz will only be the second fixture this squad has played there after the Joan Gamper trophy against Tottenham Hotspur. Equally, it may be that Xavi intends to do more focused sessions the day before, and having the press there influences his ability to do so negatively.
