The Barça is tested before the ‘euro Betis’
BARCELONA, 3 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
FC Barcelona hosts Real Betis this Saturday at the Camp Nou, on matchday 16 of LaLiga Santander, in a direct duel between two teams in good shape and on a winning streak and who want to look even higher from their respective European positions.
With Real Betis in fifth position and Barça in seventh, four points behind the Betis but with a game to recover, it is a pulse in a new “final” for the Blaugranas, as Xavi Hernández faces each game as such knowingly of the emergencies and the ballast of points that was found.
Many in Barcelona think of Bayern Munich and that match on Wednesday in which the future is played in this Champions League. But being in the next ‘Champions’ can go through games like this against a Betis that is winning based on good football and results being that direct rival in the European race.
Since Xavi’s arrival on the bench, Barça have won their two games in LaLiga Santander, and drawn against Benfica in the continental competition. The victory against Villarreal on the last day, at the Estadio de La Cerámica (1-3), was also the first victory of the year away from home.
A triumph that the coaching staff and the Blaugrana dressing room celebrated “like a title”, as Xavi himself revealed this Friday. And is that if they want to continue with the comeback they must win at the Camp Nou, yes, but also away from their fiefdom. In a calendar that, due to the need to score, will be complicated now comes a tough test.
It is called Real Betis Balompié and there are old acquaintances of the Terrassa coach, such as central defender Marc Bartra. A Betis that, like the Catalan team, breathes a pure air of happiness after linking four consecutive victories, two of them in LaLiga plus another in the Europa League and another in its debut in the Copa del Rey.
Manuel Pellegrini does not look superior to the Blaugrana team, no matter how much they are in that good moment and above in the table. But without fear they will arrive in Barcelona ready to add and, if possible, win to stay ahead of the Blaugranas and point to Barça on the list of Elche and Levante, their latest victims.
The Betic coach has good news because Germán Pezzella has recovered from his muscular discomfort and is back in the team, as are Sergio Canales and Guido Rodríguez, who rested in the Cup. Claudio Bravo, Martín Montoya, Víctor Camarasa and Youssouf Sabaly and, in the most negative part, Nabil Fekir by suspension.
In Barça they are not to shoot rockets in terms of casualties, but it is already a situation that lasts over time and that is long known by Xavi. Without Ansu Fati, who is recovering quickly but would not be there for the following week, nor Sergi Roberto – who will undergo surgery – nor Pedri, Braithwaite or Agüero.
Yes he would be and even in the starting eleven Ousmane Dembélé. The Frenchman is in the media spotlight in Barcelona because he wants to be renewed, Xavi sees him as the leader of his project and it seems that the negotiations continue but are not materialized. In the green, a daring Dembélé should be seen knowing that he has the confidence of the coach.
DATASHEET.
–POSSIBLE ALIGNMENTS.
FC BARCELONA: Ter Stegen; Dest, Piqué, Araujo, Jordi Alba; Busquets, Nico, F. De Jong; Dembélé, Memphis and Gavi.
REAL BETIS: Rui Silva; Bellerín, Bartra, Víctor Ruiz, Álex Moreno; Guido Rodríguez, William Carvalho; Canales, Rodri, Juanmi; and Willian José.
– REFEREE: González Fuertes (C. Asturiano).
–STADIO: Camp Nou.
–TIME: 16.15 / Movistar LaLiga.