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Barça, to avoid a “hecatomb” against Girona

day 19

Xavi thus describes a stumbling block for the Barça team in Montilivi, where the Barça players will not be able to count on Lewandowski yet

Barça does not stop. With hardly any time to digest qualifying for the Copa del Rey semifinals against Real Sociedad, the team led by Xavi Hernández has a new opportunity this Saturday to open a gap in the League. The culés face Girona in Montilivi, an outing for which they will still not be able to count on Robert Lewandowski and for which the Barça coach is preparing rotations before the crowd of matches and what comes ahead in the KO tournament.

«We are in a great moment, but we must not lower our guard because this is Barça. You have to beat Girona because here you only win peace of mind vouchers for two or three days. If we don’t win tomorrow, it will be a catastrophe,” Xavi warned this Friday. The Barcelona coach is aware of the good progress his team are taking in the league, but he also knows that at the slightest mishap everything can collapse, including the advantage of only three points that he has in the table against his eternal rival.

Despite this, Xavi was satisfied with the moment his team is going through and no wonder. The culés come to the meeting after having passed three rounds in the Cup, having won the Spanish Super Cup and having linked two capital victories in the League against Atlético and Getafe. Barça has found its modus operandi this month with two different schemes and has managed to become a team that has plenty of arguments in the offensive field and that has conceded very few goals, just six in the 17 games it has played.

That Barça is the one that will land in Montilivi this Saturday. There, Xavi prepares a mini-revolution to fight against the crowd of games and maintain the freshness that the team needs in this part of the season. Lewandowski will not be there and neither will Ferran Torres, the only absences after serving the last game of suspension for the reds they saw against Osasuna and Atlético, respectively. The place at the point of attack could be occupied by Ansu Fati, a substitute in the Cup and the main novelty in an eleven that could return to 4-3-3 and in which Xavi already warned at a press conference: «You will see how there are no eleven of gala”. The Catalan coach’s words suggest that props like Busquets, Pedri or Araujo could stay on the bench thinking about the Cup.

a complicated stadium

It will not be an easy game for Barcelona. Girona is a happy team, capable of the best and the worst, but this season they are knowing how to adapt perfectly to the category. Míchel has created a group that at times plays from memory and that in attack has many alternatives. His pupils already have 26 goals this season, a figure that is only surpassed by Real Madrid (38), Barça (36), Real Sociedad (28) and Atlético (27). As if this were not enough, Girona has created a fort in Montilivi in ​​recent months. They have not lost at home since October 2 and arrive at the event with the aim of “making history”, as Míchel stated, with the first victory against the culé team.

To achieve this, Míchel will have to overcome the absences due to injury to Reinier Jesús, Ibra Kebé and David López and that of Santi Bueno due to suspension after the double booking he saw against Villarreal at La Cerámica. These losses will condition an eleven in which the Madrid coach will repeat the usual 4-5-1 and in which he will try to discuss possession of the ball with Riquelme, Oriol Romeu, Aleix García and company.

Probable lineups:

  • Girona:
    Gazzaniga, Miguel, Bernardo, Juanpe, Arnau, Oriol Romeu, Aleix García, Martín, Riquelme, Villa and Castellanos.

  • Barcelona:
    Ter Stegen, Sergi Roberto, Kound, Christensen, Jordi Alba, Gavi, De Jong, Kessie, Raphinha, Dembele and Ansu Fati.

  • Referee:
    Muñiz Ruiz (Galician).

  • Stadium and schedule:
    Montilivi. 4:15 p.m. (Dazn).

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