The advancement of technology has well and truly changed sport. With novel devices and developments coming by the hour in the world of fitness, the manner in which teams monitor players’ fitness has revolutionised.
According to reports from SPORT, Barcelona are part of the bandwagon adopting these novel technologies. In fact, the manager is using the data obtained from such advancements directly in planning his moves.
The case of Joao Cancelo
According to the Spanish outlet, Xavi had planned to rest Joao Cancelo for the team’s clash against Sevilla earlier this week.
However, the technical staff interpreted the right-back’s fitness status using a device and confirmed that he was fit to play the game.
The device used interprets several parameters, one of which is the level of fatigue in the player’s body. When it is high, a red light appears and the manager is advised to rest the player.
In Cancelo’s case, however, the light was green, implying that he could play the 90 minutes without injury concerns.
The report adds that Cancelo will definitely play against Porto midweek in the UEFA Champions League in what is arguably the Blaugranas’ most tricky fixture of the group stages. He could be rested in the following game against Granada.
How effective is the novel monitoring?
In theory, it is great news that Barcelona are using cutting-edge technology to monitor fitness and fatigue and use the data to regulate playing time.
Yet, there are concerns over how reliable the aforementioned system is. After all, Barcelona have lost several key players to injury in under two months since the season started.
For starters, Pedri Gonzalez and Ronald Araujo were ruled out of action through muscular injuries. The latest victims of the same are Frenkie de Jong and Raphinha, both of whom are now doubts for El Clasico.