Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski is expected to be rested against Viktoria Plzen as he is suffering from back pain.
Barcelona has released the roster of players who will go to the Czech Republic for their last Group C match against Viktoria Plzen.
The list noticeably left out star striker Robert Lewandowski. This season, the 34-year-old goal scorer has 18 goals across all competitions, including the game-winning goal against Valencia last weekend in stoppage time.
Given that Barcelona has already been demoted to the Europa League and the match against Viktoria Plzen is of no consequence to Barcelona, it was always possible that Xavi might decide to rest some of his key players, including Lewandowski.
However, according to journalist Albert Roge, the manager has given the Poland captain a well-deserved rest because he appears to be experiencing back pain.
Since signing with Barcelona during the summer transfer window, Lewandowski has played pretty much nonstop and has served as the Blaugrana’s starting quarterback most of the time.
It makes sense for Xavi to rest Lewandowski given the necessity for the Catalans to play aggressively in La Liga in order to keep Barcelona under pressure.
In order for him to perform at his peak for the forthcoming league matches against Almeria and Osasuna before the World Cup break, it will give him time to recover from the back pain.
Lewandowski has been a wonderful addition to Barcelona and is the main reason the Catalans are trying to win the La Liga championship. In the Spanish top division, where he is in the lead for the Pichichi Trophy, he has scored 13 of his season’s total of 18 goals.
If Barça wants to overtake Real Madrid as the leader before teams break for the World Cup in two weeks, they will need a completely healthy and firing Lewandowski. Real Madrid leads the league by just one point.
