Still without you Neymar for this last game out of 3 post red card. Timing: 7:30 CET, 10:30 a.m. West Coast of North America, 1:30 East Coast, we kick off two hours before Real plays at Deportivo. At home: We play Osasuna which is at the very bottom of the entire table, not even a chance to avoid relegation, on the road they have 2 wins, 3 draws, and 11 losses. We won at their place in December 0-3: Suarez, Messi, Messi This is our very LAST midweek game of the season. So I think that we may see a little rotation since it is our last one, at home, against the cellar dweller. I know we want to win out, keep pressure on Real Madrid, so it is popular to say no more rotations, but I think that this is the one game where we should spell a few players. After this no need to rest anyone as we will only play once a week. MAtS Roberto-Pique-Masch-Digne Raki-Busi-Denis M-S-Arda 3-0 again, Suarez, Messi, Turan Card Count: 4: Sergi Roberto, Alba, Umtiti 3:/8. Gomes, Busquets (8), Suarez (8) I'm leaving for a little vacation in New Mexico in a couple days so I will try to start the next match thread as well in a bare bones fashion.
Because their home (red) and away (navy blue) shirts clash with Barca's Blaugrana kit, Osasuna have been forced to design a new shirt which they will debut for this match. The orange shirts will also have hashtag slogans in Spanish ("Osasuna nunca se rinde") and Basque ("Osasunak amorerik ez") that translate to the club's idiosyncrasy, "Osasuna Never Surrenders".
Right, I mean we cannot possibly f this up, but if we manage to, then all was wasted. From today's training session report from Sport, Suarez had a bad knock in rondos but then continued after a few minutes on the sideline. Rakitic had a long talk with Unzue seemingly about tactics, perhaps how to combine with Roberto (or Masch) and Messi on the right flank? Jeremy Mathieu did not take part in the training session due to an Achilles tendon problem. The Frenchman will miss the Osasuna game, as will Neymar, who is serving the final game of a three-match ban, and injured duo Rafinha and Aleix Vidal. Carles Aleña, as is normal, and Borja López completed the numbers in the session. So presumably the 18 man squad will again include Alena as the 18th man, since Masip will join Neymar, Mathieu, Rafinha and Vidal as missing first teamers. "Tickets from 59Euros at FCBarcelona.com" in the image below suggests (1) it is not sold out at all, (2) damn that's a bunch of money ($65) still for the cheapest seats in a country which is reeling economically.
I dunno about "reeling economically". They don't seem to be suffering. In any case, that's still about one-third the price of a cheap seat for a certain meaningless friendly in Miami this summer, no?
Lets hope this isnt another downer. We've seen that pattern before this season.. great performance followed by a very bad one.
This would be extreme, last place team playing at the Camp Nou. RM are resting Ronaldo and Kroos in what probably is not a so simple game.
And if Isco fills in for Kroos/Bale they might gain something. For us, looks like Arda is back to fill-in for Neymar. Paco in for Suarez.
Barça XI:Ter Stegen, Piqué, Rakitic, Sergio, Denis, Arda, Messi, Mascherano, Alcácer, Digne, A.Gomes If this isn't proof that Lucho is deliberately trying to compromise the team then i don't know what else is there to it , and i'll say it again , all of the players are cowards , not a single one of them complained and they just get on with it without any protest , as for the president he might be on it as well. let's hope Messi saves us again ..
Hmm Lucho still doesn't respect smaller teams, this guy will never learn. Counting on coach Messi to save us.
OMG!! Lucho!! I dont know what to say really.. Not only making five changes but the formation is wack! What is his problem? Experimenting with 6 games left in the league, his last games!? What's the point?
Maybe Granada home? Anyway, can't see any of the remaining 5 jornadas left as automatically in the bag. We're playing 5 finals.
This is the kind of game we made all those summer signings for. Can't play the same XI every match. The starters need a break after the Clásico and with a huge derbi catalan waiting. That's why we're seeing Digne, Denis, Paco, and Gomes out there. Arda too. These are players who know they're on the bubble and are motivated (1) because this is maybe their last chance to show they can contribute to this campaign, and (2) because they're probably playing for their own Barça futures.
Yes, clearly Lucho is deranged and couldn't have checked the upcoming fixtures and figured this lineup should be plenty enough to win vs. the Liga bottom-dwellers AND gives our starters a better chance to steel themselves for the bloodbath Espanyol has planned this weekend. Nope, he's just an idiot.