FC Barcelona Physio: 'Club World Cup Absence Gives Barca Advantage'
Respected FC Barcelona physio Julio Tous agreed with Flashscore that Hansi Flick's men not participating at the upcoming Club World Cup will give them an advantage in 2025/2026.
Barca missed out on qualification to the newly-reimagined FIFA tournament, which was once a two-game gig in winter for European clubs that got to the final but has now been changed to a 32-team affair similar to the World Cup at the height of summer.
While the cash-strapped Catalans could probably do with winning some of the huge prize money on offer in the United States-held competition, a few figures connected to the Blaugrana have instead shown a preference for resting up.
Tous joined that group, and voiced his opinion on the matter when asked by Flashscore to discuss the amount of strength work he does to prevent injuries, which has worked wonders for the likes of a previously-plagued Pedri that is now at the top of his gamewhile niggle free.
'Yes, yes, but [I also do a lot of strength work] to increase performance. Of course I do. In today's football, the number of competitions that take place each year is a real savagery,' Tous said.
'This year, in addition, we have another one, which we do not compete in, fortunately, in the sense of protecting the health of the players. Everyone would like to win the Club World Cup, and of course, it would be ideal, but from the point of view of prevention, it is a problem,' he added.
Tous highlighted the case of Inter Milan's Lautaro Martinez and his increased workload last season, which includes going all the way to the Champions League final after beating Barca in the semis, and now competing in the Club World Cup.
The Argentine has played 'a number of matches a year with less than five days between them, which was totally unbearable. In other words, it [is] not sustainable over time,' Tous stated.
'What has happened? There was no break on injuries and then the players also tended to lose performance or ability to perform on the pitch over the course of the season. It's logical to understand why, because they were overworked. What countermeasure can you do? Rotation,' he suggested.
'But of course, if you are in a team like Barca, you want to win. So rotation is limited because you want to play with the best players. If you had two squads, you could do it moderately and have some young players play in the cup or something like that. But this measure is complicated,' Tous continued.
Above all, Tous agreed that Barca will have an advantage over Club World Cup participants Atletico and Real Madrid when it comes to trying to retain the La Liga title in 2025/2026.
'Yes, we can't deny that there has to be an influence because the number of matches accumulated this season for these two teams is going to be much higher,' he said.
'To that we have to add the games that the national team have. The two games they might have to play, at least. And it's going to be, I don't know whether to call it a drama, but it's going to be very complex to be able to regenerate all that accumulated competitive load in as little time as they have. Because La Liga, if I'm not mistaken, starts in mid-August.'
Alongside Tous, head coach Hansi Flick has also touched on FC Barcelona being better off by not going to the Club World Cup, and so too has former president Joan Gaspart in recent weeks. We'll also have to see if that pays off in the Champions League, and not just La Liga next term.
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