Matchday 16
Xavi’s team seeks this week to turn around its situation in the League and certify its pass to the second round of the Champions League
The moment of truth has come for Barcelona. The team led by Xavi Hernández has a decisive week ahead in which they will face Betis, Bayern Munich and Osasuna. Three vital games to know when the new culé project is at and turn the team’s situation around. The first obstacle will be the verdiblancos, a rival of substance that can serve as a springboard or slide to start a downhill before traveling to Germany.
«It is an important week, as will be the next. January will be the same and February will be the same. Barça is a daily requirement and in every game. Every week at Barça is vital. We cannot give anything away, “said Xavi at the press conference prior to the game against Betis at the Camp Nou. The Egarense coach knows the current moment of his team and the little margin of error that his team have if they want to arrive with the possibility of lifting a title at the end of the course.
The duel against Betis is one of those games that can serve as a turning point. Xavi has started on the right foot his new career as a Blaugrana in terms of results, with two wins in the League and a draw in the Champions League, but the sensations, those that are always so important in Can Barça, have not yet convinced the culé parish. Against Betis there is a possibility of redeeming themselves against a rival who is calling to the highest positions of the table and before a public eager to get excited again.
For this game Xavi will have to make bobbin lace once more. In addition to the usual casualties of Sergio Agüero, Pedri, Martin Braithwaite or Ansu Fati, Sergi Roberto has also joined, who will finally have to be operated on for the injury to the rectus femoris in his right leg and will be on the dam for four months dried. With all this, the Tarrrasa coach could bet on the classic 4-3-3 with Dest and Alba on the wings, Busquets, Nico and Frenkie de Jong in the center of the field and a forward made up of Gavi, Memphis and an Abde that aims to be the main novelty to be measured at Betis.
It will not be an easy game for Barcelona. Betis lands at the Camp Nou converted into a serious contender for that fourth place in the Champions League that aims to be closer than ever this season. The team led by Manuel Pellegrini is an established team that has more than enough weapons in attack to be fearsome and that this season is finally knowing how to make the most of a squad that has players of stature such as Nabil Fekir, Sergio Canales, Borja Iglesias or Juanmi, a footballer who has taken a step forward in the project.
The feat of Setién
The Verdiblancos come to the duel at a great moment after the victories against Elche (0-3) and Levante (3-1) but they have important losses. Fekir will not be able to be at the Camp Nou due to the accumulation of warnings and not due to injury Claudio Bravo, Montoya, Sabaly and Víctor Camarasa. These absences will force Pellegrini to rehearse an eleven similar to the one that prevailed against Levante, with a 4-4-2 in which Willian José and Juanmi will be the main threats and in which Tello could be the great novelty to replace Fekir .
If there is a game that they keep with special memory in Betis in recent seasons against the greats, that is the one that was played on November 11, 2018 at the Camp Nou. That day the Betis arrived like now, in a great moment, and they planted themselves in the fiefdom of Barcelona without any kind of complex. The result was a 3-4 peak in the career of Quique Setién as Betis coach. That match is the one that a Verdiblanco team hopes to repeat which, with 25 goals, is the third highest scorer in the championship.
– Probable lineups:
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Barcelona:
Ter Stegen, Dest, Araujo, Piqué, Jordi Alba, Busquets, Nico González, Frenkie de Jong, Gavi, Memphis and Abde. -
Betis:
Rui Silva, Bellerín, Bartra, Víctor Ruíz, Álex Moreno, Guido Rodríguez, Canales, Tello, Fekir, Juanmi, Willian José. -
Referee:
González Fuertes (Asturian Committee). -
Stadium and schedule:
Camp Nou. 16:15 hours (Movistar LaLiga).
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