La liga,Fc Barcelona-Mallorca: Lionel Messi against Rafael Nadal

The post today was supposed to continue the topic discussed yesterday. Yet, an urgent trip to Stockholm forced me to pack fast and write a light match preview before rushing to catch my train. The other post need to wait till I am back from the Swedish capital on Wednesday. Till then, let’s survive on snacks.

This week, FC Barcelona hosts Mallorca who already won 2 games, lost two and drew one collecting 7 points and settling in the eleventh drawer in the table.

The club owned by Rafael Nadal the tennis master after an acquisition campaign led by no one but Serra Ferrer, faced the first blow when the intelligent coach Gregorio Manzano decided to move on after an extremely successful spell which led the club to the Champions’ league before their hefty debt that exceeded 80 Million Euros gave the chance for the UEFA to practice the law on this humble team, now that they don’t dare to show their authority facing the giants. Platini had lot of pleasure punching the kid hoping that this will scare the beasts.

Our own (or not?) Micheal Laudrup is the current coach. He is a coach who can do decent work where the expectations are not high. That’s exactly the case at Mallorca. He can count on the strong defense Manzano structured last season. They signed De Guzman (free transfer) to strengthen the midfield and Cavenaghi as a striker adding to the existing options Víctor,Webó, Sergi Enrich, Martí, without forgeting Aouate, one of many keepers in the Liga who perform at their best against Barcelona.

Barcelona

If Pep will keep counting on the same system discussed in the previous post, then why don’t we go for a 3-5-2 instead. With Xavi being out, all options are on the table for the selection.

Predicted Lineup:

Valdes, Alves, Puyol, Pique, Abidal, Mascherano, Busquets, Keita, Pedro, Messi, Iniesta

No one like it. I can live with that. Though I think it will be good to use Messi as a nine for this one after coming back from injury. That’s a position that doesn’t demand the Physical readiness his initial position does.

Nothing much to say that we didn’t point out in previous post. Beside that I will almost mess my train if I don’t start running!

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