Xavi provides injury update on Barcelona superstar after he picked up knock in 2-1 win over Las Palmas

Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez has provided an update on Joao Cancelo's injury during their La Liga win over Las Palmas on Thursday, January 4.

The Blaugrana beat Las Palmas 2-1 at the Gran Canaria Stadium on Thursday to earn three crucial points. The hosts took the lead in the 12th minute via former Barca player Munir El Haddadi. Ferran Torres restored parity in the 55th minute.

Ilkay Gundogan was then fouled in the box by Daley Sinkgraven in stoppage time and the Las Palmas defender was also sent off. Gundogan, meanwhile, converted the resulting penalty to secure the win for Barcelona.

Barca, however, had a big injury worry early in the game as Cancelo went down after a challenge from Maximo Perrone. The Portuguese was replaced in the 11th minute for Andreas Christensen.

After the game, Xavi said that while they are still waiting for scans, Cancelo's injury didn't look too serious. He said (via Fabrizio Romano):

"João Cancelo’s knee injury doesn’t look serious.

"We hope it’s just a knock, we will know more tomorrow about it."

Cancelo has been excellent for Barcelona since arriving from Manchester City on a season-long loan last summer. He has played as a right-back, left-back, and even a winger across 22 appearances in all competitions, recording three goals and two assists.

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Xavi Hernandez assesses Barcelona's win over Las Palmas

Barcelona came into the clash against Las Palmas on Thursday on the back of just one win in five games across competitions. They were dealt an early blow with Joao Cancelo's injury and Munir El Haddadi's goal for the hosts.

Both sides created multiple chances to add to the scoring but were wasteful. Barca finally found the equaliser in the 55th minute via Ferran Torres before Ilkay Gundogan scored the winner in stoppage time.

In his post-match press conference, Xavi shared his thoughts on the game, saying (via Football Espana):

“In the first half, what we missed was the through ball. They had a very high line and we made a mistake in that. From then on, we understood it better in the second half. We did a specific exercise this week to do this.

“We expected to have so much dominance. We did very well in pressuring them after going behind. We played a game to win it and we’re deserved winners.”

Barcelona had 56% possession against Las Palmas and had 15 attempts on goal with five being on target. The hosts, meanwhile, had three on target out of their total 12 attempts.

Barca remained third in La Liga, seven points behind leaders Real Madrid while Las Palmas are 10th.