Revealed: The bizarre reason for Raphinha being dropped by Xavi against Cadiz

Sandwiched between the two legs of their Europa League knockout round tie with Manchester United, Barcelona’s La Liga victory against Cadiz last Sunday was used by Xavi Hernandez to rotate his squad.

The likes of Eric Garcia, Sergi Roberto and Ferran Torres all started, and all three impressed against the Andalusian side, especially the latter.

Torres started on the right wing, which has been Raphinha’s position in the team since Ousmane Dembele suffered a thigh injury against Girona in January. It was thought that the Brazilian was just being rested last weekend ahead of the trip to Manchester, but MD have revealed that this was not the case.

Instead, Raphinha did not start because he had a slight knee injury, which he picked up when kicking a fridge after being substituted in the first leg against Man Utd at the Camp Nou.

Raphinha was visibly furious after being taken off by Xavi, and the extent of that has now been revealed. He was able to start for Barcelona in the second leg on Thursday, although he failed to perform to standard as the Blaugrana crashed out of Europe.