Dani Barrio and Juan Soriano: an almost unprecedented binary rotation

It is not often that a coach changes goalkeepers every other game. Not even each one. Sergio Pellicer has decided to make a kind of rotation between his two goalkeepers, Dani Barrio and Juan Soriano every other game. It is not something that the blue and white coach has announced but the sequence of meetings in which each one occupies the starting position. The debates in the goal are not new. To give you an example, we could remember that media discussion at Real Madrid by Carlo Ancelotti when he lined up Casillas in the League and Keylor in Europe. “The possibility of a goalkeeper playing outside and another at home is not considered,” he said.

It is not the case of Malaga. Dani Barrio has 900 minutes spread over 10 games and Juan Soriano, 630 ’in seven games. The first has received 12 goals for 10 of the Sevillian. Considering Pellicer's criteria, it is normal for Dani Barrio to play in Almería.

Throughout history this type of alternation between goalkeepers has created photos of passionate discussions. Some coaches looked for solomonic solutions when they had goalkeepers of a similar level in their squads or had to deal with the vehemence of public opinion. That happened to english Vic buckingham in 1970-71 when he decided to put at home to Sadurní and Reina away from the Camp Nou. The reason was that the latter was not very popular among the culé fans because of his way of stopping.

Likewise, Alfredo Relaño recalls in his ‘Memories in Black and White’ Pablo Hernández Coronado alienated a team at home and a different one outside of Real Madrid… until Santiago Bernabéu told him to stop “weird things.” These ‘strange things’ are today called ‘rotations’.

Beyond the alternation between goalkeepers, the tightness of a demanding calendar and the coronavirus pandemic have changed the way of raising an alignment titler. “There are no more teams that are recited from memory. The circumstances are different ”commented Pellicer. And he is not without reason.

A proof can be found in Almería, Málaga's next rival whose coach, José Gomes, makes radical alternations of up to ten players between games and with a similar sequence between Fernando and Makaridze observed in the last games. The first plays more at home and the second, away. Seen the seen: Will we have the Makaridze-Dani Barrio duel on Sunday? Everything will be seen.