Barcelona star faces sharp criticism over his physical problems

Manolo Lama sounds the alarm over Pedri

Barcelona want to move on from a rough spell as quickly as they can, especially after their Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain and the loss to Real Madrid at the Spotify Camp Nou.

The players have already switched their attention to the next game, away to Deportivo Alavés and coach Quique Sánchez Flores.

According to the newspaper Sport, Pedri drew some of the fiercest criticism after those two defeats, with Cadena COPE journalist Manolo Lama leading the charge.

Lama's main gripe is that Pedri hasn't hit his best physical condition. "To be a top-class player, you have to be at the peak of your physical level," he said.

That problem feeds straight into how he plays. "I have seen that he has a physical problem," Lama pointed out. "When he suffers from a physical problem, his passing is not as accurate as it was before."

He went further, describing a player running on empty. Pedri "looks tired after the first ten minutes of the match", Lama added, which explains his lack of energy in the closing stages.

The Tiempo de Juego presenter drew a comparison with one of La Liga's most talented players, Pablo Barrios. "When feelings of fatigue build up in a player, he loses his energy, and your mind no longer works at the same speed as your legs move, something that shows clearly on you," he said.

At that point Juanma Castaño, who presents El Partidazo on Cadena COPE, recalled that Pedri had already lost his starting place during the World Cup.

Castaño sees the situation at Barcelona differently, though. He reckons the same thing couldn't happen there, because the player usually delivers.

Journalist Miguel Rico had the final word, pinpointing exactly what did for Pedri against Real Madrid. "Pedri's problem has a name and a surname, and it is Bernardo Silva, that player who has great experience and is strong when the situation demands it, as well as being a top-class footballer," he said.