Barça looks for itself against Alavés
The Vitorians are the last obstacle before the ‘break’ for a Barça without direction
BARCELONA, 11 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
FC Barcelona receives Deportivo Alavés this Sunday (4:15 p.m.) at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, in a thirteenth matchday of LaLiga EA Sports, which is the last before a new national team break and in which Barça seeks to rediscover itself after losing the direction of play and style in the last matches, against an Alavés that arrives at a good moment.
An interesting duel that will take place in Montjuïc, with a Barça that, despite winning ‘in extremis’ at the Reale Arena against Real Sociedad (0-1) in the last league match, does not find the good game that it wants and that His coach, Xavi Hernández, talks so much. Furthermore, in the ‘Champions’, they lost to Shakhtar Donetsk (1-0) and missed the opportunity to seal their ticket to the round of 16.
In these two games, and in the second half of a Clásico in which they allowed themselves to come back at home (1-2), the ‘Barça DNA’ was nowhere to be seen. The Blaugrana team needs to find itself again, set a new course that will lead them to the association, to the offensive game, to bite again in the pressure and to recover the defensive solidity of last year.
Marc-André Ter Stegen has been the best ‘culer’ in recent games and this is doubly noticeable. It is good that the goalkeeper is back at his best level and is decisive, but it is not so good that he alone saves a team that does not see a goal, despite the return after injury in the Clásico of Robert Lewandowski, a ‘Pichichi’ who It is with a wet gunpowder at the start of the season.
Without Gavi, who must complete a sanction cycle, nor the already known casualties – with fewer and fewer members in the infirmary – of Sergi Roberto and Frenkie De Jong, there are several players who, playing at ‘home’, must take a step forward. Not due to lack of delivery or quality, but due to lack of rhythm, the ‘magician’ Pedri is one of those players who must gain weight in the creation of the game.
Furthermore, Ilkay Gündogan must be the first to set an example on the green before asking more from his teammates. The German must be a key player and, next to Pedri, both could shine more and give more to a team lacking light, which has been very dull recently and who were ‘lucky’ to get three golden points from Donostia to remain hooked on the fight for LaLiga EA Sports.
Barça is third, four points behind the leader Girona FC and two behind Real Madrid. But it is a difficult third place, since Atlético de Madrid, who has a game to recover, could snatch it away. The situation in the table is not bad for Barça who, yes, must beat Deportivo Alavés. There is no other possible scenario.
An Alavés that arrives at the Blaugrana’s temporary fiefdom after beating UD Almería at home (1-0) with a goal from defender Aleksandar Sedlar in the 79th minute, which allowed Romanian playmaker Ianis Hagi to breathe a little easier, who missed a penalty against edge of rest. In the end, the 3 points stayed in Mendizorroza.
The ‘Glorioso’, who passed the round with a thrashing of Deportivo Murcia (0-10) in the Copa del Rey, are fourteenth in the table with 12 points added in the first 12 rounds. Furthermore, except for the predictable and acceptable defeat against Atlético de Madrid (2-1) at the Civitas Metropolitano, they have had a good streak of results with only that defeat in the last five games.
Luis García’s men, who will try to fish in troubled waters in Barcelona, arrive with the losses of Sedlar and the long-term absence of Giuliano Simeone, while the main doubt for the Madrid coach will be Carlos Benavidez, since the presence of the Uruguayan midfielder in Montjuïc hangs by a thread.
DATASHEET.
–POSIBLE ALIGNMENTS.
FC BARCELONA: Ter Stegen; Cancelo, Kounde, Ignatius Martinez, Balde; Oriol Romeu, Pedri, Gündogan; Lamine Yamal, Lewandowski and John Felix.
DEPORTIVO ALAVÉS: Sivera; Gorosabel, Abqar, Rafa Marín, Javi López; Guevara, Guridi, Antonio Blanco; Hagi, Kike García and Rioja.
–REFEREE: Busquets Ferrer (Balearic Islands).
— STADIUM: Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium.
–TIME: 16.15/Movistar LaLiga TV.