Guardiola looking to avoid FIFA virus as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604 squad jolted by injuries – La Liga News
La Liga champions have been marred by injury problems to their star personnel after the culmination of the international break. Barcelona take on Racing Santander on Saturday, October 15 at Camp Nou.
Guardiola’s men are expected to take all the points on offer, however, history suggests otherwise following the international break. The Catalan team fails to produce their best form after the break, famously proclaimed as the FIFA virus.
Evidence of the FIFA virus could be seen by checking the all-conquering team’s performance after returning to club action. A clearly jaded Barcelona drew against Real Sociedad, as players returned from international duty in September.
The manager has considerable selection problems before the league encounter, as many first team regulars picked up knocks.
Xavi Hernandez is the biggest causality of the break. The experienced campaigner limped off in Spain’s final Euro 2012 qualifier against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Scotland-c756.
La Masia academy product will be rested for the domestic tie, and will be joined by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Javier-Mascherano-c18071.
The Argentine international twisted his ankle in Argentina's 1-0 defeat in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Venezuela-c3039 on Wednesday.
Absence of the duo has added to the injury woes of the Catalan club. Cesc Fabregas, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alexis-Sánchez-c4979 are all ruled out of action, with the Dutch midfielder ruled out for six months.
However, there is good news for Guardiola, as he welcomes Andres Iniesta back to the first team fold after a month on the sidelines.
With a clutch of first team player’s missing league and European actions in the coming weeks, Barcelona can ill afford to lose any more players.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Pedro-c29582 Rodriguez warned of the difficulties arriving from the hectic playing schedule of La Blaugrana.
"It's always difficult to recover especially from top level matches with lots of travelling, but we're in good form and confident that we'll be 100 percent for the game against Racing," he said.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Racing-c40298 finds themselves occupying relegation slots but Barcelona are wary of the threat they posses. They have already held Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid to a goalless draw and writing off Hector Cuper’s team will be a big mistake.
The Catalonia based team can ill afford to lose points so early in the campaign. They have a slim one point advantage over title contenders Real Madrid, and this will become a big problem at the end of the season.
Barcelona has a hectic fixture schedule, which sees them in Copa del Rey action as early as 9th November. Participation in FIFA Club World Cup is another addition to their fixture woes.
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