FC Barcelona will be hoping to extend their club record unbeaten streak tomorrow afternoon, when they travel to the Canary Islands to take on UD Las Palmas at Estadio Gran Canaria. With an important UEFA Champions League Round of 16 first-leg clash with Arsenal FC to look forward to in midweek, there is a suggestion that Luis Enrique will utilise this opportunity to rotate his squad, perhaps handing Las Palmas with a small glimmer of hope ahead of this difficult home match.
Indeed, the Blaugrana have been playing a lot of football recently; from their progression through the rounds in the Copa del Rey to their midweek La Liga catch-up game against Sporting Gijon, Barcelona have already played 14 matches this year and there is a chance that the hectic schedule could catch up to them. Playing in an early afternoon kick-off in the humidity of the Canary Islands could take its toll, with thunderstorms and heavy rain forecast for kick-off tomorrow.
On the other hand, Las Palmas simply aren’t that good; they did well to get promoted from the Segunda Division last season but we haven’t seen an awful lot to suggest that they will be sticking around for the long-haul here in the Primera Division. After 24 matches, Las Palmas sit in 18th place having managed just one win in their last seven matches in all competitions, although there has been one bright point to their season: their home form.
When teams take the flight to the Canary Islands, things generally go downhill rather quickly. For comparison, their record at home is the same as Celta Vigo, and we all know how Barcelona’s trip to Balaidos went earlier in the campaign. They generally don’t concede many goals at home either, meaning that we can expect a disciplined, tough performance – and perhaps indicating that we might need a few moments of magic from our star-studded frontline to get the win.
Fortunately, they tend to deliver...
TEAM NEWS
BARCELONA
Where to begin? I guess the best place is to outline who won’t be playing tomorrow; some changes have been forced, like Sergio Busquets’ suspension but others have been tactical decisions by Luis Enrique, like how Gerard Piqué has been left in Catalunya for this one. In their place we can welcome back Jordi Alba and Sergi Roberto, neither of whom were included in the squad for the win over Sporting Gijon on Wednesday evening.
Truthfully, I’m almost glad that Busquets is suspended, and I’m certainly glad that Piqué is being rested with a trip to London in midweek. We’ll need them at their best on Tuesday at the Emirates, and hopefully this should help ensure that. Elsewhere, there’s a chance that some of the starts will be rested, even though they have made the trip – like it wouldn’t surprise me to see one of the MSN trident drop to the bench to allow either Munir El Haddadi, Arda Turan or Aleix Vidal a start, but more on that later.
What we do know is that Claudio Bravo will start in goal, and it’s odds-on that Jordi Alba will immediately return at left-back. I suspect that Aleix Vidal will replace Dani Alves at right-back, while Javier Mascherano and Thomas Vermaelen partner up at centre-half. Jeremy Mathieu and Marc Bartra will also be angling for a starting berth, perhaps hoping that Mascherano is required in midfield with Busquets suspended, but I have an alternative at pivote.
Spoiler: it’s Sergi Roberto, who has actually performed quite adequately in that holding midfield role. Obviously he isn’t Sergio Busquets, but he isn’t Alex Song either – and that’s good enough for me. Plus, his work-rate complements our offensive full-backs and also helps out a centre-half pairing who might be quite prone to a mistake or two over the 90 minutes. Ahead of Roberto I would suspect that Arda Turan and Andrés Iniesta will start together, with Rakitić ready to provide some fresh legs off the bench.
In attack, Lionel Messi will start – and surely is the key man ahead of kick-off. Of course, he usually is – but sometimes this season we’ve leaned on Luis Suarez more than the Argentine, and I think tomorrow won’t be one of those days. I still think that Suarez will start (and be subbed off in the second half), which leaves Neymar as the one who gets a rest – and leaves Munir with a natural spot to slot into the attack.
LAS PALMAS
There are two words that inspire fear into Culés: Javi Varas. Every Barcelona fan remembers that performance at the Camp Nou for Sevilla – and for the rest of his career, I’m going to have my fingers crossed that he doesn’t manage to replicate that again whenever I see his name on the teamsheet. Aside from Varas, Las Palmas to me are a side devoid of any real talent.
With the exception of the 40 year old, Juan Carlos Valeron, all of their squad are generally cast-aways who failed to make it at a bigger club. Look at Willian Jose and Sergio Araujo, their strikeforce literally consists of players who failed to make the step up from Real Madrid Castilla and Barcelona B respectively. Which is to say, if they do manage to pull off an upset tomorrow, it’ll be because they’ve held us to one goal or fewer.
FORM GUIDE
Barcelona: WWWDWW
Las Palmas: DLLWLL
LAST MEETING
FC Barcelona 2-1 UD Las Palmas – 26th September 2015 – La Liga
I was there for this one; an early injury to Lionel Messi overshadowed the remainder of the game – which turned out to be quite a comfortable win courtesy of Luis Suarez, in spite of what Jonathan Viera’s late consolation might suggest.
LIKELY LINE-UPS
Barcelona (4-3-3): Bravo; Vidal, Mascherano, Vermaelen, Alba; Roberto, Arda, Iniesta; Messi, Suarez, Munir
Las Palmas (4-5-1): Varas; Garcia, Bigas, Aythami, Garrido; El Zhar, Wakaso, Mesa, Tana, Viera; Willian
MATCH PREDICTION
Expect a difficult first-half, with the bulk of the goals to follow after the hour mark. 3-0 Barça.
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