A League cup is at stake today in Cadiz because the Barça already goes against the clock and chases a plenary session until January 3, when he will complete a match fair that will take him to Cádiz, Valladolid and Huesca, but which will also measure him at home against Levante, Valencia, Real and Eibar. Koeman wants 21 points and has reason to feel optimistic: Messi, Coutinho and Ter Stegen have rested, Griezmann and Dembélé have been plugged in; Braithwaite has emerged from nowhere and even Busquets He has recovered from his knee injury. Barça have regained a certain pride in recent games. That likes the fans.
But a bone awaits Barça (follow the game live on AS.com). The Cádiz de Álvaro, heroic winner in San Mamés or Valdebebas this season, is an example of Stakhanovism and Resource Optimization, from the directive that presides Manuel Vizcaino to the bench, passing by the sports department of Oscar. Even when you don't have them. Alvaro has stayed in the last games without Negredo, who showed in the first part of the season that he was not coming to Cádiz on vacation (two goals and three assists) and come back today; can also count with Choco Lozano, who entered the call almost at dawn after his last PCR test was negative. Augusto Fernandez or Jose Mari, key players in the core, have had problems. Exploits have already been seen in Carranza, such as that 4-0 that delayed the first momentum of Cruyff's Barça.
The Barça, whom Koeman is managing to isolate from the pre-election campaign and the eccentricities of the illiterate Carles tusquets , will have to play at a very high level from concentration. So he is going to ask Team A for the attitude and passion that Unit B has given him in Kiev and Budapest. Alba, De Jong, Messi and Coutinho they will return to an eleven more recognizable, but that can also have surprises. Koeman almost always rewards those who have deserved it and Dembélé, apparently more physically formed, he was everywhere in Budapest. A Cup of League is played today in the mythical and now embellished Carranza.