Koundé (23, 12 caps), holder of the France team in recent months, sat for several minutes on the lawn of Mestalla in Valencia, holding the back of his left thigh, then gave way, grimacing to Gerard Pique.
"Koundé made a big effort to reduce recovery times (from his previous injury at the end of September, editor's note), because we needed him. We tried to change him when he felt muscle discomfort. It's not an injury, it's a big pain. We hope it's not an injury," Xavi told Spanish channel DAZN after the final whistle.
A reassuring sign for the Catalan coach, the Frenchman did not seem embarrassed to celebrate Robert Lewandowski's winning goal with joy: a Barça video shows him coming out of the bench at full speed, in heaven.
"I think it's nothing serious, just a (muscular) overload", reacted the defender on DAZN, before openly criticizing the dense calendars of this atypical season.
"They should think a little more about the players. There are a lot of matches. We are slipping down a somewhat crazy path, of wanting to play as many matches... But those at the top don't care. not, obviously".
This muscular alert has undoubtedly caused some alarm to sound within the management of the Blues, already largely diminished by injuries in recent days.
One of the executives of the world champions, Raphaël Varane, injured in a thigh, will not play again before the World Cup.
Lucas Hernandez (Bayern Munich) is in the recovery phase and Paul Pogba, who has started a race against time to compete in the World Cup, has "partially" resumed collective training with Juventus, but will probably not play a match before the tournament.
As for N'Golo Kanté, part of the last World Cup, he is already forfeited.
Koundé, transferred to Barcelona this summer from Sevilla FC for 50 M EUR, has already suffered a left thigh injury this season: on September 22, he had to give up his place with the Blues in the first half of the match against Austria (2-0), suffering from a "lesion to the biceps femoris of the left thigh".
He regained his starting place for the clasico, which the Catalans lost 3-1 at the Santiago-Bernabéu on October 16.
In total, he has ten matches this season.
Saturday, the meeting was unfortunately prolific in injuries: in the first period, the Uruguayan international striker of Valencia Edinson Cavani gave way from the 18th minute to Marcos André, visibly injured in the right ankle, then the Catalan defender of Barça Eric Garcia gave up the field in the 42nd, replaced by Marcos Alonso.
"Eric Garcia, it also looks like it's not an injury," Xavi wanted to reassure.
"The two players show unparalleled commitment, they want to play despite the proximity of the World Cup. Their commitment is maximum," said the Blaugrana technician.
© 2022 AFP