Quick thread opener . No time for “fancy” stuff. It ain’t over till .... we bottle it a couple more times
1 ter Stegen 2 Dest 3 Piqué 4 R Araujo 5 Sergio 7 Griezmann 8 Pjanic 9 Braithwaite 10 Messi 11 O Dembélé 12 Riqui Puig 13 Neto 15 Lenglet 16 Pedri 17 Trincão 18 Jordi Alba 20 S Roberto 21 F de Jong 23 Umtiti 24 Junior 27 Ilaix Moriba 28 O Mingueza 36 Arnau Tenas
wrt the motivation level for Levante, mathematically they could still be relegated although it would require an insane sequence of results: Valladolid and Huesca winning their last 3 matches, plus either Elche or Alaves winning their last 3 or Alaves gets 7 points and makes up a 14 goal differential. Plus of course, Levante would have to lose every match. So unfortunately they will still need 1 point tonight to have that glass of champagne.
I assume we are going to miss the resurgent Sergio Busquets in these last 3 games, due to his broken jaw, thanks Savic, and depth will really take a hit. No rest for de Jong or Pedri, and de Jong likely playing the Busquets DM role (and he's great there but it takes him further from the box where he's done so well offensively). So either Ilaix, Roberto, Puig plays right attacking mid. Love to see Puig get a start but as much as Koeman has played many young players this season he still avoids Puig like the plague (at least for more than 10 minutes of mop up duty). Of course Koeman avoids Pjanic even more religiously, and Pjanic (or even Roberto) could plug in as DM, allowing de Jong to be more forward (but not sure we fans trust Pjanic or even Roberto at DM anymore than Koeman does). So likely we see Roberto start as midfielder if Dest starts at RB/RW, or Ilaix gets a start. I'm very excited for Barca B being in the semifinals of getting promoted, and want them to make it to Segunda. So I respect that Barca B is getting to keep Inaki Pena (we have Tenas as 3rd keeper instead) and Konrad (we are not so short of wingers, esp. with our fullbacks playing up in the new formation). But with Sergio out I would dearly love to see Nico, Jandro, or Oriol Busquets fill in for Sergio Busquets. All are huge parts of Barca B's success, and one of them may prove to be Sergio's back up and heir apparent in the next year or two, but none have played with the first team much this year (the oldest, Oriol, has had chances in the past).
MATS-Alba-Pique-Araujo-Lenglet-Busquets-de jong-Pedri-Dembele-Messi-Greizmann Dest and Mingueza on the bench I have no idea who is going to play as our RB in this formation , seems like Koeman really wants to screw us up in the last few games of the season , Bartomeu must be proud.
Araujo in the Mingueza role to the right of Pique, should be OK there. Dembele in the Dest role as right wing, with more defensive duties, more worrisome but he fast enough, just needs to track back at the right times. Had no idea Busquets could still play, I read broken jaw. MAtS Araujo-Pique-Lenglet Busquets Dembele-de Jong-Pedri-Alba Griezmann-Messi
Amazing how similar the second goal was to the big Pedri miss. Same type of off-balance, cutback pass by Fdj/Dembele to Pedri for a tap in to an open net (unfortunately, just 1 for 2 on the tap-ins).
Am pretty much expecting Levante to get the next goal. Low-stress games are just not a thing anymore...
Looks like Koeman just noticed this. Brought in Roberto for Araujo. Admittedly, I missed a good chunk of the first half but given that we are up 2-0 this substitution seems to scream "oops, I forgot to put in a right back in the starting XI." Or did Araujo pick up an injury?