Gavi's injury was avoidable but Barcelona chose pride over lessons

Gavi has torn his Anterior cruciate ligaments in Spain's final group game of the European Championship qualifiers against Georgia.

It was a game only for the culture as Spain had already secured a place in the finals, and even securing top spot was not so risky because they have the advantage over Scotland, who eventually failed to beat Norway.

Gavi, who had started six of the seven games before last night was again in the starting XI, making him the only player to feature in all of the country's eight game of the qualification campaign.

At 19, he has been exposed to too much and unnecessary appearances whilst occupying a position where Spain has lot of alternatives, many of them even better players yet have not enjoyed minutes with the National Team.

Martin Zubimendi, Oihan Sancet, Aleix Garcia and Mikel Merino were all named on the bench against Georgia, while Rodrigo Riquelme, who made his debut as a substitute against Cyprus could have also been handed a first start.

However, Luis de la Fuente continued to play Gavi and everyone continued to enjoy it not anticipating moments like this or even learning from the past, when Pedri was almost burnt out due to playing too many minutes.

Gavi is a machine but used without caution

Gavi, 19, made his international debut in September 2021 and already has more caps than senior figures who had been there before him because they get overlooked while he continued to get selected every now and then.

Even at club level, where the competition for a place is tense, he appears to have a soft spot in the heart of Xavi Hernandez and gets more minutes over the course of a season than his competitors for a place.

Not taking anything away from him though, his fitness is second to none since making his debut for both club and country.

Despite his style of play, which is always physical given his tendency of engaging in duels and tackles, Gavi has had an injury free career before this unfortunate ACL injury.

Since his senior debut, Gavi had only missed three games due to injury. He has not missed any game due to injury since the start of the 2021-22 season, though he did suffered a broken jaw at some point but he never missed a game till recovery.

Only due to covid-19 did he missed nine days and two games in early 2022 but since then he has been as fit as a fiddle. He has played more minutes than any other Barcelona player since his first team debut, 7,718.

While he continued to burn out for both club and country, Barcelona never cautioned the Spanish football Federation on the excessive use of the player on the international stage, mostly for games he could have been rested.

Instead, the club enjoyed the pride gained, as one of their very own has become a mainstay in the national team at a very young age; disregarding the adverse effect that may come with it.

Consequences of Gavi's injury 

Now closing in on 140 appearances since his senior debut in July 2021, Gavi will have to wait a long period to reach the milestone as this ACL injury will see him miss up to eight months.

He will miss the European Championship as well as the Olympics next summer but it is Barcelona rather than Spain that will suffer more from the injury.

Barcelona is already hit with injuries as Gavi offered solace given his versatility. He will be missed and not even the compensation that will be received by the club from FIFA can make up for the loss.

The only hope for both Spain and Barcelona will be that surgery and recovery go well, so Gavi can maintain his performance level when he eventually returns from the sideline. 

Hassan Afolabi