Barcelona prepared to replace first-team star despite Xavi’s obsession about him: Reports 

According to El Nacional, Barcelona are already exploring chances to offload their summer arrival Marcos Alonso.

Alonso arrived for free as he was part of a deal that saw Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang return to London with Chelsea. Neither player has managed to make an impact on their new teams.

Aubameyang, who was signed by his former Borussia Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel, has struggled at Chelsea. Tuchel has also been sacked by the Blues.

Alonso, meanwhile, was a questionable acquisition from the word go. The Catalan club already had the likes of Jordi Alba and Alejandro Balde at their disposal.

Alonso, however, often served as a central defender as Barcelona had several injury issues to deal with. Gerard Pique also announced retirement mid-season.

Alonso has made 14 appearances for the Catalan club this season. The Fiorentina defender is yet to impress the club's hierarchy.

Xavi Hernandez is a keen admirer of the player. The aforementioned El Nacional report mentioned that he pressured Joan Laporta and Mateu Alemany to pursue his signature.

The Blaugranas, meanwhile, are exploring the market to offload Alonso. They are looking to sign Inigo Martinez from Athletic Bilbao on a free transfer at the end of the season.

Barcelona manager Xavi reacted to thriller against Intercity

FC Barcelona v RCD Espanyol - LaLiga Santander

Barcelona were given a surprisingly tough test by Intercity in their recent Copa Del Rey clash. Xavi's side managed to seal a 4-3 win in extra time with Ansu Fati scoring the winner.

Speaking to the media after the game, Xavi said (via AS USA):

"We gave them too many chances in a game that we had under total control. Too many chances. We played well but not in either penalty box. We didn’t stop crosses, we didn’t defend our pentlay area well. We can’t come away from the came feeling happy. Our general play was quite good but we need to be more convincing."

When asked whether he was disappointed with hiss team's performance, Xavi replied:

"Sometimes you don’t defend as well as you want to but we had to kill the game off and we weren’t clinical enough. Today, we weren’t good enough in either penalty box. But we had to dominate the game and in that sense we played well, we played at a good tempo. We did some good things but we also made life too difficult for ourselves at times."