Xavi was right about Abde as minutes hard to come by at Real Betis

Football is a funny business and with injuries currently plaguing Barcelona, including those to strikers Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha, Ez Abde could well be getting the minutes he had been craving.

Abde made the decision this summer to sign for Real Betis in search of the involvement he felt he would not get with Barça, despite the fact that Ousmane Dembélé's departure could have opened the door to a starting berth a little wider.

But he still didn't see it clearly and the call from his 'discoverer' and the man who brought him to Barça, Ramon Planes, for him to go to Betis was definitive. The Verdiblancos paid €7.5 million and Barça kept an option to buy him back. 

Before Betis' visit to Montjuïc on 16 September, Abde had not yet made his debut with the Sevillian side. In fact, his first minutes were against the Blaugrana.

Xavi Hernández, of course, was questioned about Abde, and the Barça coach, who seemed hurt because he hoped the Moroccan would stay, made this statement: "He (Ez Abde) always wanted to play as a starter. I don't know if he's going to get it at Betis...".

Minutes at Betis

Xavi's 'premonition,' after a few games, is coming true. In the 5-0 drubbing at Montjuïc he was a substitute and played the entire second half; the same happened in the following league game, the visit of Cádiz to the Benito Villamarín (1-1); his only start in La Liga came in Granada (1-1), although he was substituted after 58 minutes by Rodri. 

But his minutes have gone down in the last two games. Only 18 minutes in the 3-0 thrashing of Valencia, although enough to score his first, and so far, only goal for the club. But it was not enough for him to be a starter in the last matchday, in Vitoria against Alaves (1-1). He started again on the bench and played 25 minutes as a replacement for Rodri.

Europa League

In between, he did start two Europa League games. In Glasgow against Rangers, 72 minutes, and in the visit of Sparta Prague to Heliópolis, he was substituted at half-time with 1-1 on the scoreboard. Los Verdiblancos managed to win 2-1 thanks to a good goal from Isco.

The point is that before signing for Betis, and as Xavi Hernández reminded us, Abde had played 67 minutes in two games. And with Betis, he has enjoyed one start in La Liga in five games, to which we must add the two European games. 307 minutes in seven matches, which gives an average of 43 minutes per game, only 10 minutes more on average than in the same season with Barça. It does not seem, at least for now, that Abde has got what he wanted.