Barça welcome their bogey side looking for a win to keep their comfortable lead at the top of the table
FC Barcelona (1st, 56pts) vs Cádiz CF (16th, 22pts)*
*Points and positions at the time of writing on Saturday
Competition/Round: 2022-23 La Liga, Matchday 22
Barcelona Outs & Doubts: Pedri, Ousmane Dembélé, Ronald Araujo (out)
Cádiz Outs & Doubts: Joseba Zaldúa, Jon Ander Garrido, José Mari, Alfonso Espino, Víctor Churst, Juan Cala, Álvaro Negredo, David Gil, Sergi Guardiola (out)
Date/Time: Sunday, February 19, 2023, 9pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 8pm GMT (UK), 3pm ET, 12pm PT (USA), 1.30am IST (India, Monday)
Venue: Spotify Camp Nou, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Referee: Pablo González Fuertes
VAR: José Luís González González
How to watch on TV: ESPN Deportes (USA), Not Available (Canada), Viaplay Sports 1 (UK), Sports18 (India), SuperSport (Nigeria), Movistar LaLiga (Spain), others
How to watch online: ESPN+ (USA), LaLigaTV (UK), Movistar+ (Spain), others
Following a thrilling draw in their Europa League clash against Manchester United, Barcelona return to action as they welcome relegation-threatened Cádiz to the Greatest Stadium on Earth for some La Liga fun on Sunday Night Fútbol.
Barça have legitimate reasons to think they should have won on Thursday, and despite the result they are still very much alive going into the second leg at Old Trafford. But the night was costly as the Blaugrana lost their most creative player, Pedri, to a hamstring injury that will sideline him through the March international break.
It’s a big blow during a crucial period of the season with massive matches in three different competitions, but huge investment was made last summer and plenty of trust was placed on Xavi Hernández to deal with this exact scenario and still make the team competitive even with injuries to key players.
It’s a big stretch for the boss, who had a tough night against United and needs to prove he can be part of the solution and not the problem when it matters most, something he has yet to do as Barça manager. The season so far has been overwhelmingly successful, but it all could come apart if the coach can’t maximize his team’s chances of winning the biggest matches that are yet to come.
But the run in La Liga has been exceptional, and Barça will remain eight points clear at the top if they can win against Cádiz. On paper, it’s the leaders against a relegation candidate, but the reality shows that Cádiz are Barça’s bogey side, one that kept two clean sheets and won at Camp Nou in their two league meetings last season.
Barça did dominate their first matchup this season, however, winning 4-0 with a great second half performance back in September. But Cádiz made things very tough in the first period, and they’ll execute the same strategy as they always do against the Catalans: sit back deep, concede all of the possession, slow down the pace as much as possible with tough, physical defending, and hope for a miracle on the counter and/or set pieces.
It’s worked wonders for them before, and they’ll hope that Barça are distracted just enough by the upcoming trip to England to open the door for another upset. The Blaugrana can’t afford any lapses in concentration and have to kill the game as soon as they have the chance if they want to avoid any drama in this one.
Cádiz are missing several of their best players through injury and suspension, but they’ll still be tough to beat and can absolutely pull off a shocking result in the Catalan capital. But if Barça are serious and focused, even without Pedri and Dembélé, they can absolutely win and not suffer at all.
Let’s dance.
POSSIBLE LINEUPS
Barcelona (4-3-3): Ter Stegen; Roberto, Kounde, Christensen, Balde; Kessie, De Jong, Gavi; Raphinha, Lewandowski, Fati
Cádiz (4-4-2): Ledesma; Carcelén, Hernández, Fali, Arzamendia; Bongonda, Escalante, Alcaraz, Ocampo; Roger, Lozano
PREDICTION
Despite all their absences and position on the table Cádiz just know how to make Barça’s life hell, and they’ll do exactly that for 90 minutes. But I still expect the home team to find a way: 2-0 to the good guys.
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