FC Barcelona will make their La Liga debut at the Camp no today, when they host Malaga CF hoping to extend
their winning start to this La Liga title defense. Of course,
the Blaugrana emerged victorious, somewhat against the
odds, last weekend at San Mames against Athletic Bilbao
with a 1-0 victory courtesy of Luis Suarez’ second-half
volley and a second win in as many matches would serve as
a fine statement of intent to the rest of the division.
In particular, it would also heap more pressure on Real
Madrid and their new head coach, Rafa Benitez whose
decisions have already been called into question by the
media and fans alike. Los Blancos’ surprising goalless draw
with Sporting Gijon hardly represented a good start to their
campaign and if they fall five points behind the Blaugrana
ahead of their evening kick-off at the Santiago Bernabeu,
well, who knows what could happen there.
The good news for Barcelona head coach Luis Enrique is
that his squad is slowly but surely getting into shape. The
players are one week closer to finding the edge that saw
them gloriously claim a second treble in six years, while we
have a couple of key players back from injury in Sergio
Busquets and Neymar. There are question marks as to
whether they will feature, but they are available if necessary
and that can only be viewed as a positive.
In short, everything is rosy, isn’t it?
Enter Malaga CF, and enter Javi Gracia. The former
Osasuna manager has something of a penchant for
frustrating the Blaugrana and will be hoping that his magic
formula will work wonders once again tomorrow. Rewind to
last season, and Barça lost this very fixture by a solitary
goal, while in the return at La Rosaleda they were also shut-
out.
It could almost be a pub quiz question over in Catalunya in a
few years time: who was the only club to shut-out
Barcelona in their 2015 treble-winning season...surely we’ll
be able to find a way through this time, right?
TEAM NEWS
BARCELONA
As mentioned earlier, Neymar is back and so is Sergio
Busquets as it turns out that his ankle injury was not as bad
as once feared. Dani Alves remains sidelined, although
given Sergi Roberto ’s impressive performance against
Athletic Bilbao, that might not be a bad thing at all. Aside
from that, there’s no real change from last match: Gerard
Piqué remains suspended after his appeal was turned down,
while Douglas is also set to miss out through injury.
I know, devastating news.
And given how things turned out last weekend against
Athletic Bilbao, it’s prudent to expect that Luis Enrique will
opt for a similar approach tomorrow – at least in terms of
his initial team selection.
Claudio Bravo will take the number one spot for La Liga
again this season, so the Chilean will start in goal tomorrow
and he is likely to be protected by a similar backline to the
match against Athletic. Sergi Roberto is my candidate to
replace Dani Alves at right-back; although leaving that
change aside, I would like to see the rest of the group from
that clean sheet against Athletic.
Jordi Alba of course provided the all-important cross for
Suarez’ winner and generally added an extra dimension to
our attack – a dimension that we were previously lacking in
the Supercopa – so he’s a lock. Javier Mascherano doesn’t
need to fill in at pivote if Sergio Busquets is fit, so his
leadership and experience is needed in the backline.
Meanwhile, Thomas Vermaelen looked good against the
Basques, so he should be rewarded with another start – as
much as it pains me to say it.
Sergio Busquets can anchor the midfield provided that he
has indeed shaken off that knock in time for kick-off, and
the midfield partnership of Ivan Rakitić and Andrés Iniesta
pretty much selects itself. The return of Neymar does open
up the opportunity for Rafinha Alcântara to return to a more
withdrawn role in the centre of the field, although I wouldn’t
expect him to displace our captain, or dear Ivan just yet.
On that note, did someone say..."MSN"?
The hour we got to witness against AS Roma in the Joan
Gamper Trophy was enough to whet my appetite, but now I
need my fix – and if last season is anything to go by, the
Blaugrana need the triumvirate fit and firing if we are to
have any hope of breaking down this stubborn defense.
MALAGA
Los Boquerones frustrated us with a disciplined defensive
performance (or two) last season; and for the most part, the
spine of their team remains unchanged. And then further
forward, they have added one of the better forwards outside
of the top six in La Liga: Brazilian forward Charles was
snapped up from Celta Vigo for the paltry fee of €500,000
and looks set to provide Malaga with some of the firepower
they were lacking last year, and indeed have lost with the
sale of Juanmi.
Last week, he didn’t get on the scoresheet thanks to an
offside call – but be that as it may, Malaga’s defense didn’t
concede either so Javi Gracia’s side picked up a point and a
clean sheet against Sevilla. That’s the same Sevilla who
scored four against us in Tbilisi, just in case you were
wondering.
This could be tough.
FORM GUIDE
Barcelona: WLDW
Malaga: D
LAST MEETING
FC Barcelona 0-1 Malaga CF – 21st February 2015 – La
Liga
An early goal from Juanmi was enough to decide this close
encounter at the Camp Nou, as Javi Gracia’s tactical
masterclass earned Malaga a deserved victory.
LIKELY LINE-UPS
Barcelona (4-3-3): Bravo; Roberto, Mascherano, Vermaelen,
Alba; Busquets, Rakitić, Iniesta; Messi, Suarez, Neymar
Malaga (4-4-1-1): Kameni; Rosales, Albentosa, Angelieri,
Torres; Horta, Tissone, Darder, Amrabat; Cop; Charles
MATCH PREDICTION
Another close match; I think we could see another 1-0 win,
but the home advantage makes me think that a 2-0 is more
likely.