Barcelona will host Real Betis, who are aiming for first place in the Spanish league. /AFP
Barcelona will host Real Betis this Saturday, on the fifth day of La Liga EA Sports, at the Estadi Olympique Ruiz Companies, facing a Betis team that coach Xavi Hernández respects and who arrived despite the defeat. It will be a complicated match. Ready to break the spell of Montjuic in 7th place.
Manuel Pellegrini’s Real Betis likes Xavi Hernández’s colorful play and ability with the ball. The coach of Terrassa expressed this in the preview, but this time it will be difficult to win against the green and white in a match that will be held under the influence of the less feared “FIFA virus” and where both sides are hoping to score. I warned you.
Barça are two points behind Real Madrid, who count four games as wins, with wins against Cadiz (2-0), Villarreal (3-4) and Osasuna (1-2). And now that he’s back in his rented home, he must continue on that path and defend his league title, even if there’s a world ahead of him.
Betico also lost, but like Barça they got off to a good start with a win against La Cerámica (1-2), a draw against Atlético Madrid (0-0) and a loss against “La Catedral”. They took second place and made up for it at home against Rayo Vallecano (1-0). No doubt, scoring at Barcelona will be a good boost for them.
There’s only one ball on the Olympic green, and it’s going to be a great battle between the two teams who need to control that ball. Both Barça and Betis are attacking based on coordinated play, and whoever loses this duel will have to suffer even more to reach their goal of winning and getting three points.
Xavi, his team-mates and Claes will continue to be without Pedri, who is still suffering from an anterior rectal injury and whose magic cannot be added to Barcelona’s ‘Muntaña Magica’. And as for Ronald Araujo, barring a miraculous recovery, it’s highly doubtful he’ll be back next week.
The rest of the Blaugrana team, if Egarense so decides, will face Betis, including Ilkay Gundogan, who returned from international break with an injury. A fall in a friendly match against France resulted in a severe blow to his back, but nothing more remained.
If he can play alongside Frenkie de Jong and Oriol Romeu in that midfield, Barça will wait for Pedri in the starting midfield, and perhaps again as Gabi was already without a protective helmet due to an ear injury. It will move to the false left. end. Meanwhile, the explosive Lamine Yamal is already the youngest scorer on the Spanish national team at 16 years old.
Real Betis will try to fight with what they have up front. If Xavi claimed he was happy with his short team, featuring a reserve team that produced stars like Ramal and the suspended Fermin López, Manuel Pellegrini said he could do the same, or worse. When he woke up, he complained. He has 22 chips and the only defenders in the box are Pezzella, Bartra and the centre-back on loan from Barça Shady Riyadh.
In addition to the short team, coach Pellegrini also lost important players in this match: Claudio Bravo, Yusuf Sabari, William Carvalho, Nabil Fekir and Andres Guardado. And Borja Iglesias has been in the news more for his idyllic debacle at Roja than for his good moments at Betis. Still, Willian Jose, Luis Enrique and Isco are ready to storm Montjuic like pandas.
It will be a duel, in which there is undoubtedly the most important thing, a certain morbidity, even more than what happens on the playing field. Despite Claudio Bravo’s absence, former Blaugranas Marc Bartra, Chadi Riyad (still owned by the Catalan club), Juan Miranda, Hector Bellerin, Sergi Altimira and Abdé could play. be. A number of former players are willing to give their all, but Abdeh in particular will try to convince Xavi that he has a place at Barça if he starts.
Source: Diario.Elmundo
