The reasons for Barça's meeting with Xavi Hernandez in Qatar

The reasons for Barça's meeting with Xavi Hernandez in Qatar

Los motivos del viaje del Barça a Catar / | sport

Abidal and Òscar Grau met the ex-Barça midfielder on Friday in Doha

As first revealed by RAC 1, Barcelona sporting director Eric Abidal and CEO Oscar Grau met with Xavi Hernandez in Doha (Qatar) on Friday. 

The meeting comes at a time when coach Ernesto Valverde is in a delicate situation, but it was not as a consequence of Barça's loss to Atletico Madrid in the Spanish Supercopa on Thursday. 

In fact, the meeting had been planned for Monday, but the defeat to Atletico brought it forward. The club say it was a "courtesy call."

The trip to Doha also served for Abidal and Grau to catch up with Ousmane Dembele, who is there for rehab as he returns from a hamstring problem. 

Dembele was ruled out for 10 weeks on Nov. 27 and the Frenchman is now halfway through his recovery work. 

As well as Xavi and Dembele, the Barça delegation also visited Valero Rivera, the current coach of Qatar's handball team. 

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