Barça, with Lewandowski, for the Catalan derby

Barcelona will seek this Saturday to put an end to a year plagued by shocks in the best possible way. The team led by Xavi Hernández faces Espanyol in the Catalan derby with the aim of ending with good feelings and with the excellent news that Robert Lewandowski will finally be able to be part of the game. The Pole will be the great threat culé after the Central Contentious Court of Madrid granted this Friday a precautionary measure to the sanction imposed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

“It is a derby and we are motivated. We are leaders and we want to win the competition. We have all the players available, including Lewandowski and Araujo. We have trained differently because we didn’t have Robert, but I’m happy to have him,” Xavi assured at the press conference prior to his team’s match against Espanyol. The Tarrasa coach did not hide the joy of being able to have at his command the footballer who has participated in 17 of the 33 goals that his team have scored in the League, the top scorer in the competition and the reference on which the entire Blaugrana attack revolves .

Lewandowski will start at the Camp Nou in an eleven in which Xavi will finally be able to count on all the players in the squad. There is no trace of the dreaded ‘FIFA Virus’ after the World Cup and the culés will put everything on the grill to beat a “difficult opponent” and “well worked”. Bellerín and Balde could act as wingers, Eric García will return to the rear instead of Koundé, with less rest after reaching the final in Qatar, De Jong could resume his place in the midfield and in attack is where there are more doubts after the unexpected availability of the Polish striker, the only indisputable footballer in the offensive trident.

It will not be an easy game for Barcelona, ​​the Catalan derby never is. Espanyol will also arrive at the Camp Nou with the aim of ringing the bell on New Year’s Eve and with the need to do so so as not to end the year immersed in a sporting crisis. The parrots have barely added three of the last fifteen points at stake, they have not won since October 16 and a defeat could see them end the day in relegation with just 12 points. «We want a forceful game in the areas, where the rival is not comfortable. When we have the ball we must be vertical and deep, “said Diego Martínez in the preview, knowing that he will have an opponent in front of him who will once again bet on winning possession of the ball.

To try to achieve this, the coach from Vigo will not be able to count on Dani Gómez, who will have to serve the first of the four game bans for his push against referee Pizarro Gómez in the Copa del Rey. Neither, due to an injury with Pedrosa, Keidi Baré, Gori and Pol Lozano, did he drop at the last minute due to a knee strain. These absences will condition an eleven in which Diego Martínez will once again bet on the 4-4-2 and in which Braithwaite and Joselu will be the threats for Barça on the counterattack.

Dembélé, punctual for the appointment

Who has seen him and who sees him. Barely a year after having a foot and a half outside the club, Ousmane Dembélé has become an exemplary footballer within the culé squad on his own merits. The continuous delays when it comes to training, the lack of attitude in the matches and even the problems with food have given way to the opposite. El Mosquito ends 2022 plugged in and more committed than ever to the Barcelona project. The latest example of this has been the return two days before to the discipline of the team after the World Cup in Qatar. The Frenchman knows that he is a fundamental piece and that his participation at a good level in the derby seems key, despite the fact that Lewandowski can finally play.