Over the last few days, Barcelona fans have been on high spirits as their men’s and women’s teams were victorious over arch-rivals Real Madrid on three different occasions in a matter of weeks.
While the women’s team won El Clasico 5-0 in the league and then 3-1 in the UEFA Women’s Champions League, the men’s team walked out of the Bernabeu 4-0 winners.
After a lot of struggles under former coach Ronald Koeman, Barca’s men’s team have turned it around this season under Xavi and are now looking set to finish at least second in the La Liga table.
There were dominant performances for the Blaugrana across the pitch on Sunday against Madrid but under Xavi, one of the most consistent has been the young Pedri who has often drawn comparisons with Xavi the player this season.
The 2021 Kopa trophy winner endured a tough start to the season with injuries and fatigue carrying over from the last campaign. But with Xavi’s arrival and Messi’s departure, the midfielder has taken over the responsibility of pulling the creative strings in the middle of the park for the club.
Following the win against Madrid, the youngster was interviewed by Spanish outlet COPE where he revealed that he could have very well lined up alongside Los Blancos for the recent Clasico, having had a trial with the club prior to his Barca youth days.
“I couldn’t train with Real Madrid because of the snow. They told me I wasn’t good enough, but thankfully I used that rejection as motivation and now I’m where I always wanted to be,” stated the Spaniard as he reflected on his early experience with Madrid.
It is not an uncommon phenomenon for Barca or Madrid players to have had contacts in the past with the rival club and Pedri has become the latest example in this trend.
Madrid scouts who rejected the player would very well be thinking twice now following the midfielder’s performance against them.
For Pedri, the Clasico win was also followed by the confirmation of him receiving the No.10 jersey for the Spanish national team. With his rise for club and country slowly becoming apparent, the midfielder would be looking to motivate himself to live up to the comparisons with the legends of Barcelona, the club which did not reject him.
