Pedro González López, also know as Pedri, is an 18 year old Spanish midfield football player who has now played 66 football games for his Club, FC Barcelona, and Country for a total of around 4000 minutes on the football pitch. Since an average midfielder runs around 11km per 90 minute game, it can be calculated that Pedri has ran 489km, which is 304 miles or 11.5 marathons over the course of the season. Considering he was playing in the second division of Spanish football last season, the step up to La Liga games and to his national country must be a dream come true, but it doesn't mean people should be allowed to exploit his talent for their own gain.

He is just 18 years old and the look on his face at the start of the Olympics game against Japan, that looked fatigued and sad said it all. Although he is a brilliant emerging talent, he needs rest. Without it a number of issues can arise, the human body is not invincible and he could develop disorders of the lower limb such as shin splints, early onset arthritis and Is much more vulnerable to receiving injuries from heavy tackles. I will not stand by and watch such an amazing talent become overworked to the point of hating the sport or being forced to retire early due to some horrific injury caused by him being overworked.

Young players should be protected and although he may want to play, the club physios should be advising the coach against overusing a player for full games. The Spanish coach Luis de la Fuente, was asked not to use Pedri in the olympic games by FC Barcelona, but he refused despite having other talented and experienced players to use in the same position. This doesn't mean that FC Barcelona is innocent either, as they used Pedri for a total of 52 games, not including club friendlies, in the season and the youngster was already overworked midway through the season, despite the Club having other young talent like Riqui Puig and Illiax Moriba. 

An agreement must be reached to either limit Pedri's playing time, or help to give him rest until the start of the next season which is only a little over a month away and it seems at this point that only an injury will stop these coaches from playing Pedri and even that seems unlikely. Football is a beautiful sport and the players love it to the point that they risk their own health to play, help us protect Pedri and his love of the sport. #ProtectPedri