Barcelona’s first game of the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League was a memorable one as they thrashed Czech Republic champions Viktoria Plzen 5-1 at Spotify Camp Nou.
Robert Lewandowski plundered a hat-trick on his Champions League debut for the Blaugrana and was, in turn, rewarded by being voted the UCL Player of the Week for his exploits.
There were stellar performances from the likes of Ousmane Dembele and Pedri as well, while Ferran Torres, who has had to settle for a reduced role this season, also made a big impression after coming on as a substitute.
The ex-Manchester City forward scored a stunning volley to make it 5-1, with his goal being voted as the second-best UCL Goal of the Week.
Apart from his goal, though, Torres was also among discussions in plenty due to an incident that happened in the dying stages of the match. The 22-year-old Spanish international was handed a piece of paper with instructions by manager Xavi Hernandez, via teenage debutant Pablo Torre, in the final phase of the game.
It generated a lot of intrigue among the fans as they speculated what message Xavi might have sent his attacker. The manager did not give much away when asked about it after the game, while Torre, who acted as the messenger, admitted he had no idea what was written.
Now, Mundo Deportivo has revealed the contents of the chit that was handed to Ferran by the Barcelona boss. The newspaper claims to have received the original paper from a reader and a Barça member named Aleix Garcia, who retrieved the chit from the stadium after the game.
The incident occurred in the 81st minute when Torre came on for Franck Kessie and handed Ferran the paper. With Barcelona looking to shut up shop at the time, the 22-year-old was passed on instructions for the defensive phase of things.
The paper had three specific points for Torres, of which the first one pertained to his duties while defending corner kicks. Xavi instructed the Spaniard to mark the #2 player from Viktoria Plzen, centre-back Lukas Hejda.
The second point had instructions about fouls on their lateral defenders in the first line while, in the third point, Torres was asked to occupy the fourth position in the wall if the opponents received a free-kick.
It goes on to show the attention to detail that Xavi pays even to the most minute of things. It should, therefore, come as no surprise that Barcelona have improved significantly since he took over and seem to be headed in the right direction under the club legend’s tutelage.
