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Barcelona return to motion on Saturday afternoon for his or her second away sport in a row. After beating Mallorca at Son Moix, they now tackle Actual Betis at Benito Villamarin in what can be an equally difficult conflict.
Manuel Pellegrini’s males have had a rocky marketing campaign in La Liga to date, successful drawing and dropping 5 video games apiece. They’re at present in tenth place within the standings however are simply 4 factors away from the European qualification spots.
Los Verdiblancos suffered three consecutive defeats final month and stopped the bleeding with a 2-0 win over Segunda Federacion facet UE Sant Andreu within the Copa del Rey earlier this week.
Barcelona additionally discover themselves in an analogous scenario from a outcomes standpoint, though they stopped their rut with a win over Mallorca in additional emphatic trend midweek.
Barça Common brings you three speaking factors forward of Actual Betis vs Barcelona.
Momentum for a difficult month
Barcelona’s 5-1 win over Mallorca was a liberating consequence from the crew’s perspective and was a curse-breaking win of kinds given their current rut.
After three successive winless video games within the league, together with two defeats, Barcelona desperately wanted the three factors to get again into the appropriate spirits they usually did so in some type.
As Hansi Flick hoped earlier than the sport, his facet bought off to a nice begin to December after a horrific November and the objective now’s to keep up that steam for the tough schedule forward.
Tomorrow at Benito Villamarin, the crew face an uphill problem which is just one of a number of to return. In spite of everything, they journey to Borussia Dortmund subsequent week earlier than returning dwelling to host Leganes and Atletico Madrid all in round 15 days.
The Blaugrana would require as a lot momentum as they’ll collect to get previous Atletico Madrid and Dortmund, and with the UCL conflict coming instantly subsequent, it’s vital that they maintain a successful run.
It should thus be Flick’s precedence to make sure that Barcelona not solely win in opposition to Los Verdiblancos however management the sport from begin to end and stay comfy by way of the sport as they did within the second half in opposition to Mallorca.
Again with the 9
Set to begin after a relaxation. (Photograph by Alex Caparros/Getty Photographs)
The large shock from Barcelona’s beginning lineup in opposition to Mallorca was the absence of Robert Lewandowski who Hansi Flick determined to relaxation on the night time.
His determination was effectively warranted for the Polish striker has not had any relaxation for the reason that starting of the season and the crew requires him to be at his greatest for the video games developing.
What made the night time even higher for Lewandowski was that he was not known as off the bench at any level within the sport, not even when the crew have been beneath strain and on the lookout for the lead within the second half.
Ultimately, Flick’s confidence within the crew paid off and Barcelona scored 4 occasions within the second interval with out the Polish striker, giving him a whole relaxation. Tomorrow, he’ll return to the lineup and he’ll look to return to the limelight.
Lewandowski is the chief within the Pichichi race and has been in nice kind this season. He regarded barely fatigued in opposition to Las Palmas, and the week of relaxation will do him a world of fine.
All eyes, thus, can be on the celebrity who will return to the lineup and look to increase his lead as the highest scorer.
No room to slide up
Barcelona’s poor run final month noticed the crew painfully drop eight factors and their complete lead over Actual Madrid in La Liga. In consequence, the Merengues climbed inside one level of the Blaugrana with even a sport in hand.
Carlo Ancelotti’s facet, nonetheless, fell brief in opposition to Athletic Membership midweek and suffered a 2-1 defeat and Barcelona’s win helped them climb 4 factors clear. Notably, the defending champions nonetheless have a match in hand.
Hansi Flick and Co. should thus think about themselves to be only one level above their arch-rivals and look to push for a bigger lead in La Liga. In spite of everything, they need to be sitting on a way more sizeable distinction given their kind.
Given the mere indisputable fact that Actual Madrid are pulling off wins regardless of their poor kind, Barcelona should combat the laborious method to make sure that they keep forward. There isn’t a room for error and even a single slip-up at this level can see them forfeit their lead.
