Barcelona
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The questionable sports planning Barcelona for this season, which only has the Champions League dispute pending, postponed to August due to the Covid-19 pandemic, puts a challenge to Quique Setién, who will have a hard time completing the calls and will have to trust the branch’s players in their attempt to succeed in Europe. Ansu Fati, Riqui Puig and Ronald Araujo will have an important weight in the first team during the dispute of the maximum European competition, especially during the first match, which will be held on August 8 at Camp Nou. The azulgranas must complete before the Naples the round of 16 that started in San Paolo with a draw to one.
Precisely for this meeting, Setién will have confirmed casualties of Arturo Vidal and Sergio Busquets, sanctioned when they saw a yellow that completed the cycle in the first leg. They are joined by the incognito of Arthur Melo, who presumably will be recovered from his discomfort in the foot but from whom there are doubts about his motivation and commitment after his transfer to Juventus. The photograph of the Brazilian lying on the bench and yawning while Barcelona played the League against Osasuna has seriously damaged his image.
Riqui Puig is the footballer to reinforce a midfield in the box. Rakitic, Sergi Roberto and Frenkie de Jong, already fully recovered from the overload on his right leg that led to an injury in the soleo and that made him miss eight games of the eleven that have been played after the confinement, are the only troops left to the Cantabrian coach in the medullary facing the match against Napoli.
The front, in box
In a similar situation lives the Barça forward, in which Ansu Fati can sign an exceptional season for a newcomer. With Messi and Luis Suárez As immovable attackers (the Argentine has played every minute since the league competition resumed despite the condensation of games on a very compressed schedule), third place is in the air. Neither Braithwaite nor Ousmane Dembélé may participate. The Danish is not registered in the international competition having arrived at Barça outside the winter window protected by a rule of the League that allowed a club to reinforce itself if it suffered a long-term loss. As for the Frenchman, who suffered a complete rupture of the proximal tendon of the femoral biceps of his right leg on February 4, he is not meeting the deadlines established for his recovery. Dembélé is having a slower rehabilitation than expected and, although he has started a continuous career with the physical therapist Xavier Linde, he will not be discharged in the next few weeks. The most optimistic estimates are that he could play a hypothetical Champions League final, something unthinkable after almost seven months without competing. GriezmannWith a quadriceps injury to his right leg, he should have no problem reappearing against Napoli.
Setien will have no less defense problems. Especially in the event that there is a setback during a game. Semedo, Piqué, Lenglet (who currently suffers from discomfort in the right groin) and Jordi Alba It is the starting quartet but without replacements, except for Junior Firpo on the left side and Sergi Roberto returning to the right side. With the uncertain injury of Umtiti, who suffers from discomfort in his right knee due to chronic joint degeneration, the possibility that Ronald Araujo have minutes in europe. The club’s medical services are not optimistic with the possibility that Umtiti, who has missed the last four league games, can play again this season and they do not rule out the option that he should undergo surgery, something the Frenchman refuses due to his bad experience when he was a teenager. This shortage of troops and the risk of injury are the arguments of Quique Setién to veto the participation of Riqui Puig and Fati with the subsidiary, who today play the second round of the playoff promotion to Second.
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