Barcelona were a goal up and entirely comfortable at the Martínez Valero when the night went quiet. Gavi had taken a knock on the lower part of his right knee while pressing in the Elche box, and carried on — because he always carries on. Then, in the 44th minute, he went down, looked towards the bench and asked for the change. He did not sit among the substitutes afterwards; he walked straight down the tunnel with the medical staff. That is why the Gavi injury became the story of a 5-0 win.
Anyone who has followed this player knew immediately what the worry was. It was the right knee. It is always the right knee.
What happened in the 44th minute
Mundo Deportivo’s Sergi Solé reports that Gavi had been showing signs of pain in the lower part of the right knee for some time before the substitution, and held on until he could not make it to the interval. He called for medical attention from Dr Ricard Pruna, then turned to the bench. Barça Universal report that Hansi Flick had already sent Pedri to warm up; Mundo Deportivo describe him getting himself ready in a hurry, with barely any warm-up.
Mundo Deportivo also note the bewilderment on the faces of Flick and his assistant Marcus Sorg at losing him — probably, the paper suggests, because of Gavi’s own insistence on staying out there once he first felt the knock. Flick’s standing rule is that nobody plays if they are not at one hundred percent.
The one crumb of comfort on the night: he left the Martínez Valero on his own two feet, with a slight limp rather than assistance. He had started in a midfield alongside Marc Bernal and Fermin Lopez, one of the surprises of a selection we picked over in our Elche preview. Barcelona went in at half-time two up, Karim Adeyemi having added to Raphinha’s penalty shortly after the substitution.
The Gavi injury update from Flick, and the first word from inside the club
Flick was asked about it immediately afterwards, and his answer, carried by Barça Blaugranes, was cautious but not bleak.
“Yes, it’s in the knee. We have to wait. It’s a little better than he expected when he got injured. After the game was much better. We will make an MRI and see.”
Mundo Deportivo report that the scan was scheduled for Monday morning at the Ciutat Esportiva, to establish whether there is any damage to the right knee at all. And Barça Universal, relaying Jose Alvarez Haya, say the initial feeling around the club is that this is a scare rather than a serious knee injury — with the caveat, which matters, that the tests will determine the exact nature of the discomfort.
Why nobody at Barça is exhaling yet
Because of the history. Barça Universal note that Gavi has already endured serious problems with the same knee in recent seasons, and that is precisely why his reaction on Sunday landed the way it did. A player who has spent long months rehabilitating one joint does not need a diagnosis to know what a particular sensation feels like.
There is a squad context too. Frenkie de Jong remains out with the knee ligament injury he brought back from the World Cup, with no published return date, and Marc Casadó has been training away from the first team while the club look to move him on. Flick has options in midfield; he does not have so many that he can lose Gavi for a stretch and shrug.
An anxious wait, and a familiar one
A 5-0 away win to open the league campaign, two goals for a new captain, a first LaLiga goal for a new signing and a clean sheet: on any other night this is an unqualified party. Instead the story that travelled home was a midfielder walking down a tunnel in Elche holding the knee that has already taken so much from him. Flick says it looked better after the match than it did in the moment. The MRI decides the rest. Our take on Raphinha’s celebration from the same night is here.
