PBP: PBP: FC Barcelona v CD Leganes | J29 - La Liga 19/20 | 16 June 2020 [R]

I'm happy if Visca posts a "real thread starter" and this gets deleted, but with the match 2.5 hours away here goes nothing:

Squad is the same as last game except Alba is suspended instead of Lenglet:
1 Ter Stegen 2 N. Semedo 3 Piqué 4 I. Rakitic 5 Sergio 8 Arthur 9 Suárez 10 Messi 13 Neto 15 Lenglet 17 Griezmann 19 Braithwaite 20 S. Roberto 21 F. De Jong 22 Vidal 23 Umtiti 24 Junior 26 Iñaki Peña 28 Riqui Puig 30 Collado 31 Ansu Fati 33 R. Araujo 42 Monchu
Time:

Place:

Form:
Barca: WWLDW 61 points from 28 games, +36 goal differential, First place
Leganes: WDLDL 23 points from 28 games, -19 goal differential, 19th place

Sport's prediction, which they predicate in part on keeping Arturo and Luis and to a lesser extent Umtiti free of a yellow which would keep them out of the Sevilla match which follows. All 3 are one booking away from suspension. Alba is suspended. Dembele is both injured and ineligible for Liga play. Braithwaite should be happy to play his former team, and gives added defensive steel to a lineup which misses Alba's defense.


Rotated/rested would be the suspended Alba, plus Roberto and Arturo from last game, as well as Araujo who filled in for suspended Lenglet. Remaining the same would be MAtS, only Pique on the backline, Busquets and De Jong in midfield, and the entire forward line. One of the biggest questions might be whether Rakitic starts ahead of Arthur?

More from Sport: If facing the reigning champions wasn't enough, Leganes must do it without out of their best players in Oscar Rodriguez. The player, on loan from Real Madrid, is the top scorer at Leganes but misses out due to suspension. Centre back Siovas will also sit out the match at the Camp Nou. This means Guido Carrillo, who only has one goal in LaLiga, will be tasked with breaking down Barça's rotated defence.

I think it makes sense to rotate about as much as predicted by Sport and to also avoid suspensions ahead of the Sevilla match, which looks to be our toughest on paper of the last 10.

I'll sign off on the Sport prediction save for Arthur starting instead of Rakitic.

I'd like to see us get a nice 2 goal or more lead and do more rotation at half time and second half, resting Busi, FDJ, Pique, even Messi, and getting minutes for Suarez, whoever doesn't start of Arthur or Rakitic, plus a couple Barca B players like Fati, Puig, or Araujo.

 

MAtS
Roberto-Pique-Lenglet-Junior Firpo
Rakitic-Busquets-Arthur
Messi-Griezmann-Fati​

So both de Jong and Arturo rested in midfield, so both of Rakitic and Arthur start. Suarez still not starting but Fati gets the call instead of Braithwaite. And Roberto still starts in place of Semedo (at least that means 2 of our 4 defenders are the same as from the last game).

 

Wow, well their leading scorer is suspended. They then voluntarily sold one of their other forwards in January, but kept Braithwaite on 6 goals with them, 7 total now, and Rodriguez now on 9 goals but suspended for this match. But Liga allowed us to make an emergency buy from within Liga and we took Braithwaite, but it gave them no ability to replace him outside the transfer window. So all of a sudden they are trying to avoid relegation with only 1 of their 3 leading scorers, who happens to be suspended.

 

Ansu with the nutmeg goal, finally.