Barcelona vs. Racing Santander – La Liga Match Preview
Barcelona will be hosting Racing Santander at the Nou Camp on Saturday. The Spanish Champions are the favourites to win the game. However, Josep Guardiola has not really picked up extraordinary results after the international breaks.
Barcelona have won all five of the last fixtures between the two teams. However, this is going to be a tricky home game for the Spanish Champions. Josep Guardiola is famous for slipping points against unusual and easier teams. Last season it was Hercules
which managed to shock the Nou Camp by winning the fixture 0-2.
Racing Santander have only managed to pick 4 points from the 6 fixtures they have played in La Liga. On the other hand, Barcelona managed to take the first spot in the points table before the international break. The Catalans had to face a difficult task
away to Gijon and they managed to pick up all three points after Adriano scored the only goal of the game.
Barcelona are currently at the top of the table with 14 points. Real Betis lost their last La Liga fixture so Barcelona took advantage with their win against Sporting Gijon. Levante are also on 14 points but Barcelona’s goal difference keep them at the top
of the Spanish La Liga points table.
Team News: Barcelona
Josep Guardiola will have to be careful since most of the first team players are returning from international duty.
The Catalan coach will have a few tired internationals but Barcelona will witness the return of their first choice midfielder Andres Iniesta.
Before the international break, Barcelona had a lot of players out injured including Andres Iniesta, Eric Abidal and Cesc Fabregas. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Carles-Puyol-c8331 and Gerard Pique have performed for the Spanish national team so Josep Guardiola will have both the first choice
centre backs.
Eric Abidal and Cesc Fabregas will not be able to make it to the first team since they are both out injured with a hamstring injury. Abidal went with the French national side during the European Qualifiers while Cesc Fabregas stayed back in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Spain-c3011 in order
to recover from his injury.
The Chilean striker http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ibrahim-Afellay-c16547 is out for at least two more months since he had an operation.
Josep Guardiola will have to make sure that he plays the perfect first team so that the injury crises do not increase for the Spanish Champions. The Catalan coach is going to try and play a few second choice players in order to avoid any more injuries.
The expected line-up for the home fixture is:
Victor Valdes; http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Pedro-c29582 Rodriguez.
Team News: http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Racing-c40298 Santander
Hector Cuper has hailed Barcelona as a team which is closest to perfection. However, the visiting coach is going to try and defend in order to take at least one point in the league.
There are no injuries for Racing Santander and the expected line-up is:
Tono; Christian, Espinosa, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Pedro-Munitis-c29620 Alvarez, Ariel Osten.
Prediction:
Barcelona will be the favourites to win their home game against Santander. For the past two seasons the Catalans have been winning this home fixture with a good margin. This game is expected to finish 3-0 in favour of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604.
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