Sentenced to the bench
Pablo Torre has gone four consecutive games without playing
The Cantabrian midfielder is spending a lot of time on the bench, having only played 12% of the minutes of play this season
Pablo Torre's situation is striking. He is a very talented footballer, with a certain ability to adapt to various positions in attack, but he is hardly getting any playing time. Despite the fact that Barça's squad is very short of players, the Cantabrian has not come off the bench in any of the last four matches, including LaLiga and the Champions League. He has not stepped onto the pitch since the first half he played, as a starter, against Las Palmas.
The Soto de la Marina native returned to the Blaugrana this season after spending the previous season on loan at Girona. Under Míchel, he played 29 matches between the league and the Copa del Rey, averaging 28 minutes per game. He was one of the standout players in Flick's Barça preseason and, possibly, that saved him from an exit that was so speculated about during the summer transfer market. However, his participation in the culés' commitments has been minimal.
Pablo Torre has only played 12% of the minutes
This season, his second as a player for the Blaugrana team, FC Barcelona has played a total of 24 official matches. Torre has been in all the squads, but has only entered the pitch in 9 of them, 4 as a starter and 5 as a substitute. In total, 2,160 minutes have been played, but the midfielder trained at Racing de Santander has only been on the field in 267, which is 12.71%.
In front of the public, neither Hansi Flick nor the player himself have spoken about this situation. However, it is curious that a footballer with good technique cannot have participation in the game. Especially, taking into account that the Catalan team has had to come back in several matches. In this context, a midfielder, who has a clear offensive vocation and showed on the tour of the United States that he can be important, should have the possibility of dressing up. Even more so if we take into account the lack of players in the squad.
We can only wait and see if the situation of the Cantabrian suddenly changes. What is clear is that every athlete needs to compete to maintain the level required by his category. Perhaps these substitutions will lead to an exit, either in this winter market or in the next transfer period, in the summer.