As the big day approaches, Xavi García Pimienta is clearer about the UD Las Palmas eleven that will have to compete against one of the greats of the Spanish league and try to make history with the first victory at the Gran Canaria Stadium . The rival is FC Barcelona (8:30 p.m., Movistar +), for whom the break, a priori, will have been good after a turbulent end to the year – they are fourth, seven points behind the leader, Real Madrid – in which their game has not been as expected, which placed the other Xavi, Hernández, in the target of criticism. In this wound the yellow team will try to delve, which aims to have a trident of ex-Azulgranas in the starting team: Sandro, Munir and Marc Cardona.
The latter would be the big news, since the presence of the other two was more or less planned. In the shortlist of players who could occupy the third place on the UD attack front, the Ilerdense would have emerged as the winner, or at least that is García Pimienta’s thought a few hours before the match. Marc Cardona is the favorite. The motivational factor could be one of the main reasons for the coach to bet on the man from Ilerda rather than on Pejiño, who scored in the last home game, against Cádiz, on Marvin, a starter in San Mamés, but who counts more as a catalyst , or by Sory Kaba, the attacker in whom the strategist least believes.
Munir, for his part, is indisputable for the Barcelona player, as was demonstrated in the previous 18 matchdays – he was only a substitute in the first match. As for Sandro, after his return in last game of the year, in San Mamés, he is in tune again and will be in the game again. If he is well, without injuries or mishaps like the last one he had with his kidney, he is also a regular, so his presence in the eleven is practically certain.
One more
Thus, if García Pimienta fulfills what he has thought and worked on in the last week, the attacking front to try to knock down Barça would be made up of three ex-Azulgranas who watch the game with an extra stimulus, perhaps not as great as the one the player has. coach, fired by Joan Laporta three months after the president won the elections, but important enough to offer a plus.
The yellow vanguard would start with Munir on the right, Sandro on the left and Marc Cardona in the center, although the three would be free to move and exchange positions; After all, in the Catalan coach’s teams the forwards are never still nor are they usually a scoring reference, Well, they provide other types of things such as play between the lines, falls to the wings or pressure on the rivals’ play creation.
In fact, between the three players they only have three goals so far in the championship. Two are from Marc – against Celta and Villarreal, from a penalty – and one from Munir – against Almería, although he also scored in the Copa del Rey, in Tudela. But Sory Kaba has only scored one – plus one in the Cup – and Pejiño another, which shows the team’s lack of scoring experience, even though Kirian helps with three and Jonathan Viera, who is no longer here, with two. The data is revealing: only Cádiz has scored fewer goals, with 14, compared to 15 for Las Palmas.
In any case, García Pimienta intends to play with the motivation that the three former Barça players may have, whom he trained in the club’s youth ranks. The one who had the longest career was Munir, who accumulated a total of 55 games in all competitions and scored 12 goals between 2014 and 2018, although in between he played on loan at Alavés for one season.
Sandro, for his part, appeared in the first team the same year, also with Luis Enrique, but he was only there until 2016, because the competition, with Messi, Luis Suárez and Neymar, was tremendous and they blocked his way. He left Barça with a record of 31 games and seven goals in all competitions.
As for Marc Cardona, his participation in the Barça first team is reduced to two games at the end of 2016, one in the League, against Hércules, and another in the Champions League, against the German Borussia Monchengladbach. In both games he played for about a quarter of an hour and did not score. In the reserve team, however, between 2014 and 2016 he left a record of 22 goals that earned him to play in the First Division, first for Eibar and then for Osasuna, until he finally left on loan to go first to the Netherlands and then to Gran Canaria, where he is after extending his contract last summer until 2026.
The players that García Pimienta has in mind to form the line of three in attack are not the only ones in the squad with a Barça past, since Mika Mármol, another of the Barcelona coach’s regulars, will play alongside Coco in the center of defense . His case is even more special if possible because the Catalan, although he belongs to UD Las Palmas after signing in August until 2026, also has accounts with Barça, since in the event of a sale the yellow entity will have to give half to the blaugrana. Somehow, UD only owns half of the center.
In this way, four footballers trained in the culé youth team are aiming for ownership tomorrow. There would have been a fifth if it had not been for the fact that Julián Araujo is not exactly past of Barça, but present, because he is on loan, so he is affected by the fear clause, endorsed by Xavi Hernández – the club applied it to all its players on loan, except for Eric García, at Girona – and that will prevent one of the fittest members of the yellow squad from participating. The Mexican, who had a few more days of vacation, is already training in Barranco Seco.
The eleven comes out almost alone, with Valles in goal; Álex Suárez, Coco, Mika Mármol and Sergi Cardona in defense; Kirian, Perrone and Javi Muñoz in the midfield; and Munir, Marc Cardona and Sandro in the attack. The doubt is Loiodice or Perrone, but the bet above is Marc. Moleiro, for the second half.
2024-01-02 23:57:07
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