FC Barcelona have a crucial game scheduled for tonight as they face Inter Milan in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-final tie. Keeping in view the importance of this game, Hansi Flick had rested most of his starters for the last game against Real Valladolid.
However, one player who remained unchanged ahead of even such an important game was the midfielder Pedri, who has emerged as the most important player in this Blaugrana squad.
Pedri playing almost everything
As SPORT has noted, his statistics so far this season go on to show just how important he has been to Hansi Flick’s team.
The €120 million-rated Barcelona star has played 54 of the total 55 games played by the Blaugrana team this season and thus is the player with the highest number of appearances. Similarly, he is second in the team in terms of minutes played (4235), behind only Jules Kounde (4423). However, as the Frenchman is currently injured, the Canarian is expected to get ahead of him even in this regard in a few days.
The only match that the midfielder has missed this season was the one between Barcelona and Valencia, in which he was unable to participate because of a stomach virus. He has already doubled his participation numbers this season, which has been possible mainly because of a lack of injuries.
Significantly ahead of his colleagues
With 4235 minutes played, Pedri has participated in 86% of the total minutes played by the Catalan team this season. He is the only midfielder to have played more than 50% of minutes, as his followers, Marc Casado (49%), Frenkie de Jong (43%), Fermin Lopez (36%), Dani Olmo (33%), Gavi (30%), Pablo Torre (9%), and Marc Bernal (5%) are all significantly behind him in this regard.
Furthermore, his contributions on the pitch also makes him an essential piece for Hansi Flick, and hopefully, tonight he will once again prove his mettle against a side as good as Inter Milan.
