Even in his worst nightmares, Xavi did not believe that his task would be so difficult: if not enough the financial difficulties, the sparse staff and the inability to register even the already signed Torres Torres, the Corona hit Barcelona quite hard and tonight’s game (Sunday, 22:00, Live in ONE) against Mallorca she will arrive without 16 players.
“To the End,” reads the headline of Mundo Deportivo, “Eight of Barça’s absences will be due to Corona. In the whole league there are 85 cases of positive players for the virus.” Also in‘sport’, Naturally, dealt with Corona who did not miss the Spanish league as well and will complicate tonight’s game not only Barça but also Mallorca, who will be missing eight players – due to Corona and injuries.
Barça will have to make do without Danny Elbas, Serginio Dest, Jordi Alba, Gabi, Filipe Coutinho, Abda, Osman Dembele and Alejandro Balde (reserve team) because of Corona. Both Samuel Omititi and Kalman Langela have been positive about the virus recently, but a negative test allowed them to be included in the squad. In addition, Anso Patti, Pedry, Memphis DePay, Martin Braithwaite and Sergi Roberto are injured and Sergio Busquets will want a suspension.
They are joined by Yusuf Demir, who is due to leave soon for financial reasons, as another of his games will force Barça to buy him for 10 million euros, and Torres, who is recovering from an injury and in the meantime it is still impossible to register him. The Catalans have built on extending Dembele’s contract at a reduced salary from his current one for Torres’ listing, but now the Frenchman is closer to leaving at the end of his contract in the summer and another final meeting will definitely take place between the parties tomorrow.
And back to the game. The wave of absences left Xavi with only 11 players from the first team, including two goalkeepers, six brakes, two ties and a striker (Luc de Jong). As a result, no less than 10 players from the reserve team were added to the squad: Nico Gonzalez, Fran Jotgala and goalkeeper Iniyaki. ) And Lucas de Vega, and the extremists Astanis Federola and Ilyas Ahumash.
In addition to all this, Xavi has to take into account the law that requires him that at any given moment there will be at least seven players on the pitch on the first roster when he always brings up eight such so as not to risk a dismissal that means automatic technical loss. This means of course that only three of those listed at Barça B (including Nico, Elias and Jotgla who have already played this season with the first team) can be parallel on the grass.
According to the apparent line-up, Mark Andre Ter Stegen will of course be the goalkeeper and in front of him will be a back-to-back quartet of brakes: Ronald Araujo, Gerard Pique, Eric Garcia and Oscar Mingsa. In the link Nico or Frankie de Jong will play in the back link instead of Busquets and the third player who should join them is Ricky Pouch who will get a chance in the squad. Kadima Jotgala, who recently played as the central striker, will move to his original position on the wing, Elias will be on the other side and Luc de Jong will serve as a striker.
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