Oscar Hernandez & Sergio Alegre: The assistant managers at Barcelona who will face Valencia without Xavi

Barcelona's match against Valencia on Sunday afternoon is going to look a bit unusual. Along with a host of players who will be missing through injury and suspension, the Blaugrana are also without Xavi Hernandez on the touchline.

He was given his fifth yellow card of the season when Barcelona lost 1-0 against Almeria in the league. Gavi was also booked and both will be suspended for the match against Valencia. Chuck into the mix that Pedri, Robert Lewandowski and Ousmane Dembele are all injured and it is looking bleak for Barcelona.

With Xavi watching from the stands, fans are left wondering- who will be leading the team on Sunday? Two of Xavi's assistants, Oscar Hernandez and Sergio Alegre, will be taking charge. Here is all you need to know about Xavi's replacements.

Oscar Hernandez playing and coaching career

46-year-old Spanish coach Oscar Hernandez has been working with Xavi for a long time and is very heavily linked to Qatar. He did have a career as a player, representing lower-league Spanish sides such as Terrassa FC, CF Balaguer, CF Gava and others.

Arguably the most interesting angle of him temporarily taking Xavi's job is that he is Xavi's brother. It must be a pretty unusual time in the Hernandez family WhatsApp group.

Between 2015 and 2019, Hernandez was the manager at the ASPIRE Academy which is an academy in Qatar designed to bring through young Qatari athletes, further boosting the country's image in the sporting world.

He then began working as his brother's assistant at Al Sadd between 2019 and 2021 until Xavi was handed the Barcelona job in November 2021 and Oscar went with him as one of his assistants.

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Sergio Alegre playing and coaching career

Sergio Alegre's background is instantly less interesting given he is of no relation to Xavi. He was never actually a professional player and has spent his career doing a range of different roles at a handful of clubs.

The 45-year-old started as the coach of Terassa FC Youth before becoming a Barcelona youth coach in the early 2000s. He then coached Terrassa's Under-19s before a short spell as a scout for UE Olot. He was very briefly the coach of UE Rubi before he too made a move to Qatar.

He spent almost six years working as an assistant coach for the Qatar U23 team as well as the senior team at the same time under a variety of coaches who all chose to keep him on. Thanks to his time at Barcelona and in Qatar, he had a relationship with the two Hernandez brothers and he then became one of Xavi's assistants at Al Sadd before heading to Barcelona when the time came.

It seems pretty clear there are probably no two people better suited to leading Xavi's team in his absence as they have all been working together for so long. The pair will certainly wish they had more of the first-choice players available on Sunday, but will enjoy being on the touchline in Xavi's absence.

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