Barça has a teeth-gritting game this Sunday. The Barça team returns after the break due to international commitments with the need to get three points that will allow them to continue in the wake of the leadership. They will have to do so with up to six important players missing, at home and against an Athletic that has become in its own right one of the rivals to beat at this start of the season. Winning is a coup; lose a hard blow in this league start.
«It is a difficult match. Athletic is making a great start, physically it is a well-endowed block. Valverde is brave, he uses very high pressure and is in a good moment, except for the derby. We have casualties, but it is not an excuse. We need our people,” Xavi Hernández claimed on Friday. The Barcelona coach is aware of the complicated task that he will have this Sunday if he wants to recover the good trajectory that his team have had in recent days until the puncture in Granada.
And Barça comes to the duel against Athletic after a national team break that suited them like a glove. In Los Cármenes, the Blaugranas began to complain about the wear and tear of the crowding of matches and the absence of players in a match in which they had a disastrous start to the clash and in which they ended up resorting once again to the epic and tying in the last moments with a goal from Sergi Roberto, improvised hero of the Nasrid night. The tie left a bittersweet taste in the mouth and the feeling that there is no trace of that solid team that won games by the minimum, but that there is a group with the necessary attitude to recover from adversity.
It is precisely this resistance to blows that Barça relies on, having arrived at the weekend before the classic with the team in the draw. Xavi will not be able to count on Jules Koundé, Pedri, Frenkie de Jong, Sergi Roberto, Robert Lewandowski or Raphinha due to injury, six important casualties among which finally are not Balde and Lamine Yamal, already recovered from the physical problems that have dragged on in the last two weeks. They could be the big news in an eleven in which Xavi will have to use everything he has. Athletic does not allow experiments and the Barça coach will put into play an eleven with Araujo and Christensen at the back, Balde in the left wing, midfield for Oriol Romeu, Gavi and Gündogan and spearhead for Joao Félix, Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres , false 9 once again. There is no more fabric to cut.
A rival at the raise
In front will be a team that is going through a sweet moment. Athletic has found, with the help of Ernesto Valverde, a game model to follow faithfully and day after day more players appear who increase their performance within that model. The Williams brothers, Sancet and company have made a great start to the League, they already have 17 points and they will play in Montjuic with the idea in mind of getting closer to the Champions League positions, a privileged place that perhaps this year they will be able to, who You know, choose.
To strike a blow against the champion, Valverde will be able to count on all his players with the exception of Yeray Álvarez, who underwent surgery on his right adductor on Wednesday. He is the only certain loss for an Athletic team that arrives with Nico Williams and Vesga in pain due to different physical problems.
Probable lineups:
Barcelona: Ter Stegen, Cancelo, Araujo, Christensen, Balde, Oriol Romeu, Gavi, Gündogan, Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres and Joao Félix.
Athletic: Unai Simon, De Marcos, Paredes, Vivian, Yuri, Dani Garcia, Vesga, Sancet, Iñaki Williams, Guruzeta and Berenguer.
Referee: Martínez Munuera (Madrileño).
Stadium and schedule: Lluis Companys. 9:00 p.m. (Dazn).
2023-10-22 15:49:12
#Barça #coup #Athletic
