Dembele endured the feeling that no player wanted him to have - being booed by fans themselves when stepping onto the pitch. In Barca's 1-1 draw at Nou Camp against Napoli in the play-off for a ticket to the round of 16 of the Europa League, the French striker came off the bench.
There are too many reasons for Dembele to be abandoned and spoken bitterly by fans of his home team. Most recently, the case of demanding Barca if they want to extend their contract must increase their salary. Everyone knows that the French striker is currently in the second half of his contract and will leave for free this summer. For the reason that no team has joined, Dembele is only interested in staying at Barca, but the way he raises the issue is really angry with everyone.
Dembele is a player who has been teased that every time he recovers from an injury, Barca changes a new coach (there are too many days off). However, when he had a small chance to leave Nou Camp in the last winter transfer window, this striker refused. Barca fans are even more angry with Dembele because he is "poor at" staying. If it has not worked, go as fast as possible so that Barca can recover some capital after spending 105 million Euros to welcome Dembele from Dortmund.
On Barca's fan forums, there are many statuses opposing Dembele. The striker's situation is even worse than Bale at Real Madrid, having contributed too much to Los Blancos at least in the last decade, but what Dembele did for Barca was considered a negative number. Remember in the first leg of the 2018-19 Champions League semi-final, if Dembele had not given up a shot in the match against Liverpool at the end of the match, Barca would have led Liverpool 4-0 and the Kop's thanic comeback could not have happened.
As head coach, Xavi of course has to protect Dembele. He said that he did not want fans to act like that towards his student. Xavi has previously affirmed that Dembele will be one of the options he will use from now until the end of the season.
"The crowd didn't listen to me (not opposing Dembele)" - Xavi shared about his player protection actions.
The draw at home will leave many difficulties for Barca. The last time Barca played in the Europa League, Gavi was not born. If they lose in the play-off round before the round of 16, the disappointment will be pushed to the top.
At that time, whether Dembele played or not, he was still criticized as usual.
