FC Barcelona Versus Mallorca Preview, Team News And Line Up

An injury hit FC Barcelona travel to Mallorca on Saturday looking to top La Liga with a win in their first game since catching a ravenous case of the ‘FIFA virus’.

The September international break couldn’t have gone worse for Xavi Hernandez, who lost now fewer than six key players including a Ronald Araujo that will miss the World Cup and need to undergo surgery, plus his defensive partner Jules Kounde and midfielder Frenkie de Jong.

Due to this, Xavi is expected to put out a strange looking 3-4-3 formation due to a lack of right backs after Hector Bellerin also picked up a knock in training in recent days.

Protecting Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s goal should be a flat back three of Eric Garcia, Gerard Pique and Andreas Christensen from left to right.

In midfield, Gavi will play on the right wing as a central Sergio Busquets is joined by Pedri and Alejandro Balde offers width on the opposite flank as a wing back offering support to Eric.

Up front, Ansu Fati is expected to be afforded his first start of the season in La Liga and should be joined by number ‘9’ Robert Lewandowski and Ousmane Dembele.

Reacting to the impact that injuries have had on his team after a “very controlled start” to the season which has been Barca’s best in five years, Xavi admitted that he has been left with a “difficult” situation to manage.

“I think FIFA have a plan to have a World Cup every two years, which has been controversial, but there is a calendar where national teams are together for one-and-a-half months,” he revealed.

“Then, the clubs get the players for the rest of the year. It’s just one block with their countries. I think that would be a good solution, but it is not up to me.”

Providing they win in the late kick off in Spain, Barca can rise to the top of the table for at least 24 hours.

On Sunday evening, a perfect Real Madrid who have won every game thus far in 2022/2023 should carve out a routine home win against Osasuna and return to the summit two points clear of the Catalans.