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Barça faces its demons

Day 34

Xavi’s team seeks against Mallorca to leave behind the crisis of results that lives in the Camp Nou

Barcelona is playing many things today. The team led by Xavi faces Mallorca with the aim of leaving behind the bad run of results that they are experiencing at the Camp Nou, reconciling with a crowd that has lived through a new collapse of their team in a heartbeat and taking a step forward to be in the Champions League next season and recover second place. All this will be in the atmosphere in a match that is a final for the Blaugrana, the umpteenth this season against a rival who is playing for permanence.

“We are not here to fire rockets. We have another revalidation. We need the three points, we have to make a tremendous effort to qualify for the Champions », said Xavi at the press conference prior to his team’s match against Mallorca. The Tarrasa coach is aware of the low spirits that his team have suffered in a month that has been a roller coaster and of the importance of lifting a group that has gone from the euphoria of winning by a landslide at the Santiago Bernabéu and throwing the bells flying to the driest of deserts. Barça was left without the objectives of the Europa League and the League at a stroke and now tries to wake up in time to secure a second place that is in danger after the punctures against Rayo and Cádiz. Motivating the squad for these new challenges, which have always been chaotic, is Xavi’s goal now and the first step is to beat Mallorca at home.

To do this, Xavi will have to face new casualties in a week of shocks in the infirmary. Mingueza and Martin Braithwaite have tested positive for coronavirus and join the injured Sergiño Dest, Nico, Pedri, Sergi Roberto and Samuel Umtiti. All these absences could be extended if Ousmane Dembélé fails to leave behind the tonsillitis that made him miss yesterday’s training session with the rest of his teammates. This scenario will condition an eleven in which Gerard Piqué and Ansu Fati could return after overcoming their physical problems and in which the Catalan coach will put all the meat on the grill in a key game for the remainder of the season. Frenkie de Jong will return to midfield alongside Busquets and Gavi, while Adama Traoré could be the great novelty in attack if the Mosquito finally fails to be in the game.

The match is a final for Barcelona, ​​but it is no less so for Mallorca. The vermilion team has traveled to Barcelona to play a new final for permanence, all of them are for a team that is only two points away from the relegation places. Javier Aguirre has revamped a group that in recent weeks has achieved two fundamental victories against Atlético de Madrid and Alavés and that will land at the Camp Nou with the memory of the recent blows against Cádiz and Rayo Vallecano in the retina. “If they could, why not us?”, A team that arrives urgently to a stage that is resurrecting its direct rivals will think.

For this, Javier Aguirre will have six casualties. Dominik Greif, Amath Ndiaye, Jaume Costa, Ruiz de Galarreta and Aleksandar Sedlar will not be part of a team due to injury in which Muriqi cannot be part of the game either due to suspension. All these absences could lead the Mexican coach to return to the 5-4-1 scheme that he used against Atlético de Madrid with three central defenders and four players in midfield, a drawing that has recently caused problems for the team led by Xavi .

-Probable alignments:

  • Barcelona:
    Ter Stegen, Alves, Araujo, Piqué, Alba, Frenkie de Jong, Busquets, Gavi, Dembélé, Aubameyang and Ferran Torres.

  • Mallorca:
    Rico, Maffeo, Russo, Valgent, Raíllo, Olivan, Dani Rodríguez, Antonio Sánchez, Battaglia, Kubo and Abdón Prats.

  • Referee:
    González Fuertes (Asturian Committee).

  • Estadio:
    Camp Nou.

  • Time and TV:
    21:00 h. Movistar LaLiga.

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