After a narrow yet valuable 1-0 win at Granada in midweek and a 0-0 draw against Sevilla last weekend, Barcelona return to Camp Nou to face Mallorca in week 10 of La Liga. On paper, this matchup couldn’t possibly be any more one-sided; Barcelona are still undefeated in all competitions this season and are yet to concede a goal at home in the league while Mallorca have had a very negative start to the league and have only got two away points and nine in total. Michael Laudrup was fired but new manager Joaquin Caparros hasn’t managed to change the team’s fortunes and Mallorca seem destined to fight against relegation until the end of this season.


As for Barcelona, they haven’t been at their very best in the past few matches, but they remain unbeaten this season and very much capable of defending their title.  With Real Madrid playing better as compared to the past seasons, anything other than a home victory against a struggling Mallorca side might turn out to be a compromising result in the end. The pressure is fully on Pep Guardiola’s side to deliver.


FC Barcelona
Barcelona remain unbeaten in the 2011/2012 La Liga with six wins and three draws thus far, but last weekend’s draw has seen them lose their lead in the league and drop to third place behind the sensational Levante and eternal rivals Real Madrid. Barcelona did play a very good match against Sevilla but Javi Varas was a giant among men on that night. Three days later, Barcelona had a very lackluster performance at Granada, but a superb Xavi Hernandez free-kick gave them a very difficult 0-1 away win.  Lionel Messi has had a below par week, missing a last-minute penalty against Sevilla and having an overall poor performance at Granada.

But while the Catalans have suffered greatly, they haven’t fallen by any means and they’re still as likely to retain their title as they ever were. In order to keep the title challenge strong they will need to start by beating Mallorca this weekend. Last season, Barcelona tied 1-1 at home with Mallorca on matchday 6 and then embarked on a legendary 16-match winning streak, an all-time La Liga record unlikely to be beaten any time soon. Surely, Pep Guardiola wouldn’t mind a draw this weekend if it meant Barcelona would win their next 16 matches, but history is unlikely to repeat itself in such a way, so anything other than a win is a bad result for the Blaugrana.

However, this won’t be an easy match for Barcelona. Mallorca haven’t been very strong this season, but they traditionally make life very hard for the hosts at Camp Nou. Besides, with Pedro picking up an injury against Granada and Alexis Sanchez still sidelined, Lionel Messi and David Villa are the only natural forwards available for Pep Guardiola, who will have to fill the third attacking slot with a player adapted to position, presumably Adriano or Cesc Fabrgeas.

Some sections of Barcelona supporters claim that Messi needs to be rested in this match, but it’s unlikely that it will happen, as Barcelona need the Argentine’s magic to get some momentum back.  Pep Guardiola should field the strongest XI available, in an attacking 3-4-3 formation.

Probable Starting Lineup: Victor Valdés(GK); Eric Abidal, Javier Mascherano, Daniel Alves; Sergio Busquets, Xavi Hernandez, Andrés Iniesta, Thiago Alcantara; Francesc Fabregas, Lionel Messi, David Villa


Mallorca
Mallorca managed to avoid complete bankruptcy last season, but their days as a contender for European places in La Liga are numbered, as they no longer have the resources to do more than fighting to avoid relegation.  They’ve had a very poor start to the season, with only nine points from nine games so far and not a single away win (two draws and two defeats). In their last game, they lost 2-1 at home to Sporting Gijon, which is not a very healthy indication for this upcoming fixture at Camp Nou.

Michael Laudrup was sacked recently, but Joaquin Caparros hasn’t exactly changed the club’s fortunes much, at least not yet. Not long ago regarded as one of the most difficult teams in La Liga, Mallorca are now just another bottom team fighting for survival. Even if they do have a history of troubling Barcelona at Camp Nou, it’s very unlikely that it will continue.

The islanders will adopt a similar strategy to Sevilla, defending deep and in numbers, but their chances of succeeding are realistically slim here, even if Barcelona haven’t been at their best recently. Then again, a positive result at Camp Nou might just be the boost Joaquin Caparros needs to change his team’s fortunes. But in the current context, such result would be a minor miracle, comparable to the one Hercules pulled last season at the same venue.

Probable Lineup: Aouate(GK); Cendrós, Victor, Ramis, Bigas; Tejera, Pina; Víctor, Alfaro, Castro; Hemed
Match

Expecting a smashing win for Barca.

Barca line-up: Valdés; Alves, Mascherano, Abidal, Adriano; Keita, Sergio, Thiago; Villa, Messi, Cuenca

Golazo de Messiiiiiii
2-0. Messi is back!

ah! i tot those scores were reversed

messi, goal 3

wonder if he wont get 5 tonite.

. . . and Messi completes his hat-trick. Told y'all he was back.
This has got to be the fastest hat-trick this season - 30 minutes.
Barca 3-0

Weird game. Almost like a Messi exhibition match. Nobody dey play nada. Barca just dey score.

Cuenca
4-0

.

Gerard Deulofeu on for Villa for his Barca debut. One kid to watch out for.

I can't believe people still watch La Liga. The entire league is a f[i]u[/i]cking joke.

On Supersport Select, Inter Milan vs Juventus is going on. A much more competitive and exciting game with Juve leading 2-1. God forbid that I will watch La Liga, especially with Barca playing. God forbid bad thing.

Nonsense!

stagger:

I can't believe people still watch La Liga. The entire league is a f[i]u[/i]cking joke.

On Supersport Select, Inter Milan vs Juventus is going on. A much more competitive and exciting game with Juve leading 2-1. God forbid that I will watch La Liga, especially with Barca playing. God forbid bad thing.

Nonsense!

I don't know why i am laughing at this comment . . . . . . but there are some truths in it which i talked about in the la liga thread.

stagger:

I can't believe people still watch La Liga. The entire league is a f[i]u[/i]cking joke.

On Supersport Select, Inter Milan vs Juventus is going on. A much more competitive and exciting game with Juve leading 2-1. God forbid that I will watch La Liga, especially with Barca playing. God forbid bad thing.

Nonsense!

You clearly don't have anything to say, huh?

5 - 0

Pharoh:

I don't know why i am laughing at this comment . . . . . . but there are some truths in it which i talked about in the la liga thread.

Yep. I even fell asleep during the game.

stagger:

I can't believe people still watch La Liga. The entire league is a f[i]u[/i]cking joke.

On Supersport Select, Inter Milan vs Juventus is going on. A much more competitive and exciting game with Juve leading 2-1. God forbid that I will watch La Liga, especially with Barca playing. God forbid bad thing.

Nonsense!

take barca and madrid to the EPL. barca will win the league with 94 points, madrid will be second with 91 points, man u will be third with 74 points, chelsea fourth with 73 points, city fifth with 70 points. this will be the league results season after season.

Nigel De Jong would break Messi's leg + Fabregas

amblors:

Nigel De Jong would break Messi's leg + Fabregas

and thats the reason he had his mouth open and watched iniesta and fabregas lift his world cup and gold medals right in front of him in south africa. he was there to break legs and chests while iniesta and fab were there to play football.

ddippset:

take barca and madrid to the EPL. barca will win the league with 94 points, madrid will be second with 91 points, man u will be third with 74 points, chelsea fourth with 73 points, city fifth with 70 points. this will be the league results season after season.

You done come with your bad mouth and sharp tongue lol . . ,    

AjanleKoko:

Yep. I even fell asleep during the game.

I don't even watch some of madrid matches these days . . just check the goals or live scores. Though i prefer watching madrid more than barca because atleast it is not one sided in play ( not talking about goals ).

Barca all the way,

mukina2:

5 - 0

Sup Mukina. Sent you a mail now, please check.

The sweetness of football is in watching the competitiveness of the game. When you have only one or two sides rolling over all opposition with the kind of scorelines we see in La Liga, then something is wrong.

The lopsided nature of the TV rights which gives a chunk of money to Barca and Real madrid and leaves the rest for the other teams to fight over is killing that league. La Liga was much more interesting in the 90s with Valencia, Betis and Sevilla real contenders.

Not the kind of baseball scorelines we see now. The EPL is regarded as the best league not because the football quality is so fantastic, but because it is competitive; you never know what you will get week in week out.

I am done watching La Liga, except the el classico matches (which in itself is getting more predictable too). For me it is the EPL, Bundesliga and Calcio Serie A.

...pls delete

wooohoo[img]http://2.s07.flagcounter.com/count/DymW/bg=E6E6E5/txt=E6E6E5/border=E6E6E5/columns=1/maxflags=1/viewers=3/labels=0/[/img]
[img]http://s07.flagcounter.com/count/DymW/bg=E6E6E5/txt=E6E6E5/border=E6E6E5/columns=1/maxflags=1/viewers=3/labels=0/[/img]

Moodie, go jump inside a lake instead of falling asleep b/c that is what u deserve.
Hypocrite!

there is always a touch of messi in each windfall

Aladinn:

U must be a joker by making dat comment Messi always scores against EPL top teams why will the lower teams be a problem 4 him

van nistelrooy scored 25 goals in his 1st season in laliga, while fernando torres scored 33 goals in his 1st season in England. Hv u wondered why d likes of former laliga players like David Silva, Juan Mata, Arteta, Jose Enrique, etc are doing great in ur over-rated premier league? Laliga teams perform better against premier league teams in crucial stages of d champions league nd europa league. Barca, Madrid, Athletico Madrid, Sevilla are examples. If Barca nd Madrid play in d premier league, it will still be a 2-horse race. No team in England can score 3 goals in a match against these 2 spanish teams.