Park the ‘Negreira case’ and focus solely and exclusively on what happens on the pitch. That is the objective that Barça has this Sunday in one of the most complicated visits of the league championship. The culés play against Athletic in San Mamés with the idea of continuing to strengthen their leadership and to show that all the media noise around the entity does not affect a group that does not want distractions and has set cruising speed towards the qualification.
“It is an issue that worries and occupies, but it is a question for the president. He says that we are for football and that’s what I’m doing. Only what happens at the sporting level will destabilize us. Winning or losing does not depend on what happens in the stands, but on the pitch”, Xavi stated when asked this Saturday about the ‘Negreira case’. The Barça coach wanted to move the spotlight away from the controversy and focus it on the pitch, where his team can hit another blow on the table in an always complicated fiefdom like San Mamés.
Barça arrives at the appointment under pressure from the champion and after a week off after the premature goodbye against Manchester United in the Europa League, but with stormy winds due to the ‘Negreira case’. Xavi has chosen in this situation to create a bubble with the team to try to get out of a matter that could affect the future of the club and thus work with the challenge of maintaining the good dynamics that the team has shown in the League since the beginning of 2023. The culés have achieved 24 of the first 27 points at stake this year, they are in a great moment and they know that they have an unbeatable situation to be able to win the League, the great goal that the entity has proposed in the first year of reconstruction .
To do this, the first step is to win in one of the most difficult fiefdoms in the League. San Mamés measures a Barça that arrives with three capital casualties in the culé gear. Pedri and Dembélé will not be there due to injury and neither will Araujo due to suspension. These setbacks will force Xavi to change the plan. The leader’s coach could go back to 4-4-2 with Busquets and Frenkie de Jong in contention and with Gavi and Kessié as links with a lead in which the great novelty could be the return of Lewandowski, already fully recovered from the overload in the femoral biceps of the left thigh that he suffered two weeks ago. The Polish striker could start after completing two training sessions with the rest of his teammates or wait from the bench to avoid a possible relapse. His participation would not change Xavi’s new tactical drawing, a guarantee to shield himself from the attacks of an Athletic that ensures arreones before his public.
a rival in need
It will not be an easy match for Barcelona due to the atmosphere at San Mamés and neither will it be due to the situation Athletic is going through. Ernesto Valverde’s pupils arrive at the appointment after three straight games without knowing the victory against Atlético, Girona and Rayo, three punctures that have deflated the team’s European balloon and that force an immediate reaction if they do not want to see how that train is escapes them. Winning against the leader would be a breath of fresh air and an injection of morale for the final stretch of the season.
To do this, Valverde will have to overcome the loss of important players. Unai Simón, Ander Herrera, Lekue and Morcillo will not be there due to injury and Sancet, one of the most fit footballers on the team, will not be able to play either due to suspension. All these absences will condition an eleven in which the Txingurri will trust all their attack to the speed and dynamism of the Williams brothers and the talent of Muniain, a guarantee in this type of appointments.
-Probable alignments:
Athletic: Agirrezabala, De Marcos, Yeray, Iñigo Martínez, Berchiche, Dani García, Vesga, Muniain, Nico Williams, Berenguer and Iñaki Williams.
Barcelona: Ter Stegen, Kound, Eric Garcia, Christensen, Balde, Busquets, De Jong, Kessie, Gavi, Raphinha and Lewandowski.
Referee: Gil Manzano (Extremadura).
Stadium and schedule: San Mamés. 9:00 p.m. (Dazn).