Elche could be awarded win v Barca because of Gavi, youngster might not play again this season

Elche are studying a possible appeal over what they feel was an 'improper' selection of midfielder Gavi from FC Barcelona on Saturday, COPE has reported, with the Catalans possibly stripped of the points they earned in a 4-0 win.

Bottom of the league Elche were thrashed by the visiting Blaugrana, who extended their lead at the top of La Liga to 15 points through their exploits.

Gavi was pivotal in the routine win, providing an assist for Robert Lewandowski before being booed off by the home crowd at the Estadio Martinez Valero when he was substituted in the 68th minute.

This was most likely due to trouble that the 18-year-old has recently encountered on international duty, with Relevo reporting that there have been complaints of his behavior with the Spain national team after he allegedly refused to attend an autograph signing session and has complained about his position with La Roja.

On Sunday, however, the Tiempo de Juego program on COPE radio has reported that further problems might be ahead for the youngster.

According to the report, Elche are studying how to get a possible appeal off the ground against Barca for what they feel was an 'improper' selection of Gavi starting on the left hand side of midfield in Xavi Hernandez's first XI.

The appeal would be based on RFEF (the Royal Spanish Football Federation) article 141 which "prevents playing again in the same season with a canceled license."

This is because Gavi's new contract registration has already been annuled after Barca lost an appeal against La Liga earlier this month.

Shortly after Madrid-based publications such as MARCA relayed COPE's report, SPORT denounced it as "fake news".

The Catalan outlet reported that Barca "are very calm" about any potential appeal coming to nothing because they received approval from both the league and federation on Friday regarding the matter of selecting Gavi.

Though Gavi has been stripped of Xavi's iconic '6' jersey he was awarded at the turn of 2023, and given his old number '30', it doesn't look likely that Barca will face similar treatment as to the points earned this weekend.

MARCA also reports that Elche's argument would not be valid, as Gavi was originally registered with the number '30' at the start of the season and has returned to it as part of court-imposed precautionary measures making his selections valid moving forward.

Even by potentially losing the points earned in Elche, however, they are still well on course to lift the Spanish top flight crown for the first time in four years.