Barça return to action against a desperate opponent needing three points to stay in the Top 4
FC Barcelona (3rd, 63pts) vs RCD Mallorca (16th, 32pts)*
*Points and positions at the time of writing on Saturday
Competition/Round: 2021-22 La Liga, Matchday 34
Barcelona Outs & Doubts: Pedri, Nico González, Sergiño Dest, Óscar Mingueza, Martin Braithwaite, Sergi Roberto, Samuel Umtiti (out), Gerard Piqué, Ousmane Dembélé (doubt)
Mallorca Outs & Doubts: Aleksander Sedlar, Dominik Greif, Jaume Costa, Iñigo Ruiz de Galarreta, Vedat Muriqi (out)
Date/Time: Sunday, May 1, 2022, 9pm CET (Barcelona), 8pm BST/WAT (UK & Nigeria), 3pm ET, 12pm PT (USA), 12.30am IST (India, Sunday)
Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Referee: Pablo González Fuertes
VAR: Ignacio Iglesias Villanueva
How to watch on TV: Not Available (USA, Canada), LaLigaTV (UK), SuperSport (Nigeria), MTV (India), Movistar LaLiga (Spain), others
How to watch online: ESPN+ (USA), LaLigaTV (UK), others
Following a defeat at home to Rayo Vallecano and a rare full week of training and rest, Barcelona are back in La Liga action for the first of five games to finish the season as they welcome relegation candidates Mallorca to the Greatest Stadium on Earth on Sunday Night Fútbol.
This has been a tough few weeks for the team and the fans, with bad losses to inferior teams at home, a whole lot of injuries again and their biggest rivals winning the title this weekend. After experiencing paradise in February and March it is tough to be a Barça fan again, and we are all in desperate need of some good news.
This Sunday is a big opportunity to get some: Barça are just two wins away from confirming a place in next season’s Champions League, their priority for the season and something that didn’t seem too realistic just six months ago. If they do end up in the Top 4 in Xavi’s debut half-season this will absolutely be a success, but they need to finish the job first.
Mallorca come into this one in desperation mode in the thick of a relegation fight and running out of time to escape the drop. They’re also dealing with important injuries of their own and have lost seven in a row in the league away from home. They did win two of their last three, however, so this is a team in recent form hoping for a major upset to potentially save their season.
Barça could have up to nine absentees for this one, including Gerard Piqué and Ousmane Dembélé, but there is a major boost in the return of Ansu Fati who will be part of the squad and play a few minutes in the second half. The Prince is back at the right time, and don’t be surprised if he scores on his return. It’s kind of his thing.
Mallorca are fighting for their lives, Barça need to get back to winning ways and finish the season strong. This should be good.
Let’s dance.
POSSIBLE LINEUPS
Barcelona (4-3-3): Ter Stegen; Alves, Araujo, Eric, Alba; F. De Jong, Busquets, Gavi; Adama, Aubameyang, Ferran
Mallorca (5-2-1-2): Rico; Maffeo, Raíllo, Valjent, Russo, Oliván; Baba, Sánchez; Rodríguez; Prats, Kubo
PREDICTION
Despite the absences and the poor recent run of results, the week off has done very well to this team and they’ll be back to what we saw until a month ago: 3-0 to the good guys.
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