FC Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez has a ‘mole’ in his Camp Nou locker room who has leaked confidential information to the press, according to a report.

The legendary midfielder’s predecessor Ronald Koeman had the same problem, as his brother Erwin revealed.

“During the first months, someone from the locker room leaked the line-ups, but Ronald solved it,” Erwin told Voetbal International.

El Pais went one further and said that Koeman publicly outed Riqui Puig as the ‘mole’ and screamed at him “You’re a leak!” during a half-time team talk.

Koeman was replaced by Xavi in November 2021, while Puig has since left for the Los Angeles Galaxy while surrendering Xavi’s old iconic ‘6’ shirt to Gavi once the youngster’s new contract was registered.

Fast forward to March 2023, however, and Catalan digital newspaper El Nacional has suggested that Xavi also has a ‘mole’ due to the way that winger Raphinha talked about a penalty-taking mix-up between Ferran Torres and Ansu Fati last weekend.

When Barca hosted Valencia in La Liga on Sunday, a spot kick was awarded early in the second half because of a handball in the area.

The two Spain internationals clearly tussled over who should step up, with Torres winning the row but scuffing his effort.

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This set Barca up for a tense 35 minutes on the backfoot with a mere 1-0 lead while down to 10 men thanks to Ronald Araujo’s dismissal. Yet thankfully the Blaugrana prevailed and stretched their lead at the top of the table to an eventual nine points once title race rivals Real Madrid drew at Real Betis.

Xavi attempted to defuse the row, but Raphinha has been accused of leaking confidential information in a Catalunya Radio interview on Thursday.

To Tot Costa, the Brazilian referred to a pecking order Xavi also mentioned in his post-match press conference by saying: “There is a list and I was second.”

From this, it has been deduced that Frank Kessie – a penalty taker at AC Milan who replaced Frenkie de Jong at half time – should have been first up and Raphinha next, with Torres having jumped the queue.

The same outlet, El Nacional, claimed that “jealousy” has been aroused in Raphinha over the coach’s decision to hook him before 90 minutes and leave Torres, who had underperformed, to complete the Valencia match.

There is also said to be a growing feeling in the locker room that Torres receives “preferential treatment”, but any fuss over Raphinha being a “mole” seems a bit overblown.

Even after Raphinha’s tantrum against Manchester United where he reportedly kicked a drinks refrigerator once substituted following a goal and assist, Xavi defended his charge and has also downplayed his involvement in the Torres-Fati tug of war where he appeared to encourage Fati to shoot from 12 yards out.

On Sunday, Fati and Raphinha are set to man the left and right wings away at Athletic Club in Bilbao as Torres is dropped in favor of returning striker Robert Lewandowski.