Barcelona head coach Xavi Hernandez has, on Sunday evening, reserved special praise for a trio of members of his squad.

Avila strikes late

The Blaugrana were of course back in action earlier today.

After seeing the club’s Champions League ambitions for the season brought to a definitive end at the hands of Bayern Munich in midweek, Xavi and co. turned their attentions back towards matters on the domestic front, in a La Liga meeting with Osasuna.

Unfortunately, however, when all was said and done, the Catalans were forced to face up to a 3rd-straight outing without victory.

Despite twice taking the lead courtesy of strikes from Nico and Abde, a lack of defensive solidity ultimately came back to bite Barca once more.

And this time it’s Abde who scores for Barcelona! 😱

The 19-year-old smashes it into the top corner before running to celebrate with Xavi on the sidelines 🙌 pic.twitter.com/8Q5esLFzTb

— Premier Sports (@PremierSportsTV) December 12, 2021

On the back of a sustained spell of pressure, Osasuna finally bagged what proved to be a decisive equaliser with 87 minutes on the clock, through Chimy Avila:

Chimy Ávila comes up with the equaliser to send El Sadar into a frenzy! 😱😱

A brilliant strike from the edge of the box helped along by a deflection, and Barcelona are facing the prospect of dropped points once again 💥 pic.twitter.com/onnuASIK3V

— Premier Sports (@PremierSportsTV) December 12, 2021

‘Extraordinary’

In turn, on the back of another disappointing result for the club, the atmosphere back in the Catalan capital on Sunday evening, understandably, is one of widespread concern.

But, as outlined above, post-match, one individual who was keen to focus on the positives from Barca’s latest outing was manager Xavi Hernandez.

More specifically, speaking to the media, the Blaugrana headmaster was eager to highlight the respective performances of a trio of up-and-coming members of his squad – in the form of Abde, Gavi and Nico – as nothing short of ‘extraordinary’:

To the point from Xavi: Abde, Gavi & Nico were extraordinary. We’re lucky with the contribution the youngsters are making. It was a great effort from whole team but it’s the youngsters making the difference — and that’s difficult to digest

— Samuel Marsden (@samuelmarsden) December 12, 2021

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