Barça Y Boca Juniors will meet this Tuesday (6 pm / Barça TV) at the Mrsool Park stadium in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) to pay tribute to Diego Armando Maradona a year after the death of the Argentine star. If a month ago, when the friendly between the two teams closed, the occasion was seen as a great opportunity, not only to honor the one who honored the shirt of both teams, but also to obtain a good economic pinch -the Barça will receive close to three million euros-, the meeting has now turned into a real brown, especially for the FC Barcelona.
For Boca, the duel in Riyadh is the culmination of a discreet season in the second phase of the Argentine championship -he finished fourth, 13 points behind the champion River-, despite the fact that last week he won the Cup title in the penalty shoot-out, after drawing (0-0) against Talleres. With no further competition commitments ahead, the duel against him Barça It is for Argentines a party before the holidays. In fact, his coach took a total of 28 footballers. Quite the opposite for him Barça, which beyond the economic pinch, it will be difficult to find meaning in this friendly, with about seven hours of flight, for a team mired in a delicate situation, after being dismounted from the Champions and that he cannot come back in LaLiga, where he has only added one point from the last six.
In addition, to the difficult sporting situation -after the draw against Osasuna he has the Champions to six points but Madrid is already escaping to add the numerous casualties suffered by the team. In total, Xavi has seven injured: Memphis, Braithwaite, Pedri, Ansu Fati, Alba, Sergi Roberto and Agüero, in addition to Abde, which due to a bureaucratic issue has not been able to travel with the expedition. In the face of so many absences, Xavi he was forced to use the subsidiary. In total, in addition to the usual Gavi, Nico and Balde, the coach has included eight more homegrown players in the expedition: Peña, Jutglà, Ilias, Álvaro Sanz, Comas, Mika Mármol, Matheus and Guillem Jaime.
The positive note of this afternoon’s duel is the protagonist Dani Alves. The Brazilian, who was signed a month ago but will not be able to officially re-debut until next January 2, once the winter transfer market opens, he will wear a blaugrana today against Boca Juniors. 2,040 days after his last meeting with Barça -the one that played in Granada on May 14, 2016- Alves He will once again wear the shirt with which he has won the most titles in his career (23). “The most important challenge of my career has arrived, but the challenges are for those of us who do not fear them. We will try to do the best for this club and this shield,” said the Brazilian yesterday at the press conference prior to the game, where he again demonstrated his good humor when, after a blackout, he began to sing happy birthday.
Suffering from the team situation from outside, Alves he is convinced that they will be able to turn it around. “During my career I have learned that we have to accept the situation to be able to overcome it. We know the problems at home and everything that is happening. We are used to seeing Barça up, but we know there is a problem. We cannot hold on, but rather You have to find a solution as soon as possible. That is why it is one of the most difficult challenges, but we accept it. When I arrived the first time, I also had to make a transformation. You have to change the streak. In football there are streaks, good and bad , although this is lasting a little more, “admitted the side.
For his part, Xavi, beyond to honor the figure of Diego Armando Maradona, the meeting is taken.
Before Boca as a test bed. “We will take the opportunity to give minutes to the less usual and to test new positions in some players,” he said.
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