{"id":295338,"date":"2023-11-15T18:25:22","date_gmt":"2023-11-15T18:25:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=295338"},"modified":"2023-11-15T18:25:22","modified_gmt":"2023-11-15T18:25:22","slug":"former-chelsea-star-labelled-the-lost-centre-back-at-barcelona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/former-chelsea-star-labelled-the-lost-centre-back-at-barcelona\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Chelsea star labelled &apos;the lost centre back&apos; at Barcelona"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Former Chelsea star labelled &#8216;the lost centre back&#8217; amid struggles at Barcelona after falling out of favour with Xavi at the Nou Camp<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Barcelona have enjoyed\u00a0a solid but unspectacular start to the 2023-24 campaign<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>One of their defenders &#8211; who previously played for Chelsea &#8211; has been criticised<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>It\u2019s a three-team title race&#8230; Toney could lead Arsenal to glory: It&#8217;s All Kicking Off\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A former Chelsea star has been heavily slammed for his performances at Barcelona.<\/p>\n<p>The defender joined the Catalan giants in the summer of 2022 after leaving Stamford Bridge upon the expiry of his contract.<\/p>\n<p>He was a popular player with the Blues but his exit came amid the chaos that engulfed the club when previous owner Roman Abramovich was forced to sell up after being sanctioned by the UK government.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As a result, he moved onto Barcelona and played a key role as they won LaLiga for the first time in four seasons, with the club keeping a record 26 clean sheets in the league.<\/p>\n<p>The former Premier League player in question is Andreas Christensen, with Spanish outlet AS\u00a0labelling him as &#8216;the lost centre back&#8217;, amid his recent struggles at the club.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/15\/16\/77839357-12753473-image-a-1_1700067082758.jpg\" height=\"421\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>A former Chelsea star has been labelled &#8216;the lost centre back&#8217; amid his struggles at Barcelona<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/15\/16\/77839391-12753473-image-a-2_1700067084874.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Defender Andreas Christensen is the player in question after apparently falling out of favour<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>It wasn&#8217;t always like this, with Christensen racking up 32 appearances in all competitions last season as the Danish defender quickly silenced those who questioned him upon his arrival.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He established himself as Xavi&#8217;s go to central defender alongside Ronald Araujo, with Jules Kounde forced to play at right back.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>However, despite a strong start to this campaign, where he started the opening seven games, he has fallen out of favour.<\/p>\n<p>It hasn&#8217;t helped Christensen that his last two appearances have come in Barcelona&#8217;s disappointing defeats to Real Madrid and Shakhtar Donetsk.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In his absence, Inigo Martinez &#8211; who joined the club from Athletic Bilbao in the summer &#8211; has taken his chance and asserted himself in the side with some strong performances which have earned him a call-up to Spain&#8217;s squad for this month&#8217;s internationals.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/15\/16\/77839319-12753473-image-a-4_1700067093755.jpg\" height=\"464\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Christensen&#8217;s last two games have come in poor defeats to Real Madrid and Shakhtar Donetsk<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/15\/16\/77839321-12753473-image-a-3_1700067087953.jpg\" height=\"422\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>He has been substituted off in six of his 12 starts this season and is fourth choice centre back<\/p>\n<p>In fact, Christensen has also slipped down the centre back pecking order behind Araujo, Kounde and Martinez, with the Dane having also been substituted off in six of his 12 starts this season.<\/p>\n<p>Reports have suggested that Christensen is struggling with an Achilles injury &#8211; which explains his supposed decline &#8211; but he has still featured regularly for Denmark throughout the past two international breaks and was named in their squad for this week&#8217;s fixtures.<\/p>\n<p>But, AS also reports that despite his lack of action, Xavi retains full faith in Christensen and the Dane is expected to feature heavily over the next few months as Barcelona face a congested fixture schedule across competitions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2017\/08\/02\/636x90_facebook_ad_sport.png\" width=\"636\" height=\"90\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12753473\/Chelsea-Barcelona.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Former Chelsea star labelled &#8216;the lost centre back&#8217; amid struggles at Barcelona after falling out of favour with Xavi at the Nou Camp Barcelona have <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/former-chelsea-star-labelled-the-lost-centre-back-at-barcelona\/\" title=\"Former Chelsea star labelled &amp;apos;the lost centre back&amp;apos; at Barcelona\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295337,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Former Chelsea star labelled &amp;apos;the lost centre back&amp;apos; at Barcelona - Sportstoft<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/former-chelsea-star-labelled-the-lost-centre-back-at-barcelona\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former Chelsea star labelled &amp;apos;the lost centre back&amp;apos; at Barcelona - Sportstoft\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Chelsea star labelled &#8216;the lost centre back&#8217; amid struggles at Barcelona after falling out of favour with Xavi at the Nou Camp Barcelona have [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/former-chelsea-star-labelled-the-lost-centre-back-at-barcelona\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sportstoft\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-15T18:25:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeanette\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Former-Chelsea-star-labelled-aposthe-lost-centre-backapos-at-Barcelona.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeanette\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/former-chelsea-star-labelled-the-lost-centre-back-at-barcelona\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/former-chelsea-star-labelled-the-lost-centre-back-at-barcelona\/\",\"name\":\"Former Chelsea star labelled &apos;the lost centre back&apos; at Barcelona - Sportstoft\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-15T18:25:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-15T18:25:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/former-chelsea-star-labelled-the-lost-centre-back-at-barcelona\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/former-chelsea-star-labelled-the-lost-centre-back-at-barcelona\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/former-chelsea-star-labelled-the-lost-centre-back-at-barcelona\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Soccer\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/category\/soccer\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Former Chelsea star labelled &apos;the lost centre back&apos; at Barcelona\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/\",\"name\":\"Sportstoft\",\"description\":\"sportstoft.com\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\",\"name\":\"Jeanette\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jeanette\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Former Chelsea star labelled &apos;the lost centre back&apos; at Barcelona - Sportstoft","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/former-chelsea-star-labelled-the-lost-centre-back-at-barcelona\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Former Chelsea star labelled &apos;the lost centre back&apos; at Barcelona - Sportstoft","og_description":"Former Chelsea star labelled &#8216;the lost centre back&#8217; amid struggles at Barcelona after falling out of favour with Xavi at the Nou Camp Barcelona have [...]","og_url":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/former-chelsea-star-labelled-the-lost-centre-back-at-barcelona\/","og_site_name":"Sportstoft","article_published_time":"2023-11-15T18:25:22+00:00","author":"Jeanette","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Former-Chelsea-star-labelled-aposthe-lost-centre-backapos-at-Barcelona.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jeanette","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/former-chelsea-star-labelled-the-lost-centre-back-at-barcelona\/","url":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/former-chelsea-star-labelled-the-lost-centre-back-at-barcelona\/","name":"Former Chelsea star labelled &apos;the lost centre back&apos; at Barcelona - Sportstoft","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-11-15T18:25:22+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-15T18:25:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/former-chelsea-star-labelled-the-lost-centre-back-at-barcelona\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/former-chelsea-star-labelled-the-lost-centre-back-at-barcelona\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/former-chelsea-star-labelled-the-lost-centre-back-at-barcelona\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Soccer","item":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/category\/soccer\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Former Chelsea star labelled &apos;the lost centre back&apos; at Barcelona"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/","name":"Sportstoft","description":"sportstoft.com","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609","name":"Jeanette","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jeanette"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295338"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}