PBP: La Liga Santander - Jornada 35 | FC Barcelona v 3rd Place Team | 6 May 2018 [R]

Probably one of the least important games against LPB this season or ever!

 

Absolutely! If LPB is knocked out tonight then I think it's safe to rest most important players for WC... knowing LPB would perhaps do alot to injure likes of Messi! Who cares about unbeaten run! It's not even gonna be 100p like Tito.

 

Santiago Bernabéu & General Francisco Franco at the opening of the Real Madrid's Ciudad Deportiva (18/05/1963) pic.twitter.com/RrjR6uUQQR

— Estadios de España (@estadios_Spain) January 7, 2018

"Would you be OK with LPB ending our unbeaten Liga run..."
Nope! Losing to the club that was supported by a vicious dictator and is now 'loved' by the biggest bunch of plastics ever assembled is NEVER acceptable no matter the circumstance.
If LPB were to win this fixture it would only put them 12 points out of top spot. Nothing more, nothing less.

"... if it meant they went on to lose in the UCL?"
Irrelevant. Barca's season should NEVER be dictated by how well/bad LPB performs..
Barca have juggled the season successfully enough to capture two of three competitions including the consistency of Liga play. A great achievement by any club in any campaign.

 

Weird that this match is meaningless, yet I don't think either team will play it like it is a meaningless match. I think we put out our best and most trusted lineup.

ter Stegen
Pique-Umtiti
Roberto-Raki-Busi-Alba
Coutinho-Messi-Iniesta
Suarez​

 

Unbeaten > 100 points.

Also, Valverde isn't managing Argentina this summer so not sure why he would even take the WC in-to account(?).

 

Zidane asked why Madrid win more CLs than Liga titles recently "I can't explain it. Personally I prefer to win La Liga, as the day to day is the most difficult, and I believe that is also what the players want."

— Dermot Corrigan (@dermotmcorrigan) April 10, 2018

 

I think that after this game, if we are still unbeaten, we will try to finish out the season unbeaten while still doing some limited rotation. There are only 3 games after this one, one midweek, and 2 of the remaining 3 are at home.

All the teams will be motivated to break the streak, yet none have much of anything to play for beyond pride. Villarreal are in 6th place and pretty comfortably qualifying for Europa (5 ahead of Betis in 7th which is final Europa spot since we won Copa, and 6 points ahead of Sevilla and Girona who are in 8th). Levante are 17th but 12 points ahead of 18th and thus avoided relegation. Real Sociedad are 10th, too far from European places.

If we lose to Real Madrid then I would expect major rotations with an eye towards better deciding some player's futures. But barring a loss to Real I think the unbeaten season is a powerful motivator to finish out the season strong.

 

Valdés; Belletti, Puyol, Oleguer, Van Bronckhorst; Deco, Márquez, Xavi; Larsson, Eto’o y Ronaldinho.

Este @FCBarcelona_es goleó 3-0 al Real Madrid en el Camp Nou en #ElClásico de 2004... pic.twitter.com/xj83j1XXui

— LALIGA (@LaLiga) May 2, 2018

 

Fully expecting LPB to field a sub par line up this Saturday.

If they lose: "Hey, we're focused on 'important' trophies!"

If they nick a result: ""

That being said, can't wait to see Iniesta play his last Clasico on Saturday. After his masterclass at the CDR final, I'm fully expecting a vintage Andres performance! And personally, there's nothing I enjoy more in football.

 

Their best team for sure. Maybe Kovacic will start and any injury concerns won’t be risked (Carvahal, Isco), but other than that the team that gives them the best chance to win would start.
Wouldn’t make sense to rest the first team players now and play them right before the CL final. Also, not a good idea to shut them down for three weeks and enter the CL final cold.

 

^^^
I agree. I see LPB fielding their strongest lineup possible. Zeezoo has already admitted that he would rather win La Liga than the UCL because of the difficulty of week-to-week consistency. He no doubt sees the value of an unbeaten league campaign and will desperately want to put an end to it.
Likewise, F£or€ntino loves doing damage to Barca's psyche.
I'm sure the Plastidistas will demand the strongest lineup, as well.

 

Well, Pep said Aguero should be rested for remaining of the season because WC would be his priority. Not sure whether Valverde has the similar attitude...

 

Yes, it would a great swansong for Andres, to beat LPB for the last time.

 

Aguero is struggling to recover from injuries so its a bit different.

How much evidence is there that Messi is even tired right now?

 

I think Zidane will put out a strong line up on Sunday!! Especially with the chance to beat us at home, whether we have won La Liga and the Copa Del Rey or not!!
I'm predicting a 2-2 draw

 

Iniesta trained separately from the team today, apparently he may have a calf injury. I'm sure he will want to play if he can, doesn't sound too serious.

 

I believe he will play even if he comes on as a sub!! It is El Classico and he can sit out the rest of the games since we have already won La Liga and the CDR!! Plus WC squad announcements are around the corner and I know he doesn't want to miss his last WC playing for Spain!!

 

Ernesto Valverde has chosen his Barcelona squad for the Clasico and left out four first-team players; Andre Gomes, Lucas Digne, Aleix Vidal and Yerry Mina missing out. The same as the men who were left out of the squad who faced Sevilla in the Copa del Rey final, with Gomes' fall from grace continuing despite having seemingly had the faith of the coach earlier on in the campaign.

Andres Iniesta is included for what will be his last ever Clasico as a Barcelona player.

Barcelona matchday squad to face Real Madrid:
Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, Jasper Cillessen; Nelson Semedo, Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba, Sergi Roberto, Samuel Umtiti, Thomas Vermaelen; Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Busquets, Denis Suarez, Andres Iniesta, Ousmane Dembele, Paulinho; Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi, Paco Alcacer.

Sticking with my original lineup prediction, but if Iniesta is not quite full health I'd predict Dembele starts instead, or even Semedo and Roberto moves up (and Iniesta is brought on as a sub to big applause). But I think Iniesta will be fine to start so sticking with the original prediction:

ter Stegen
Pique-Umtiti
Roberto-Raki-Busi-Alba
Coutinho-Messi-Iniesta
Suarez​