The Copa del Rey winners welcome El Grana to the Camp Nou following their hard fought victory over Spartak Moscow in the UEFA Champions League.
With http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296 leading Barcelona with two goals against his name, Tito Vilanova’s charges managed to take all three points on offer against Russian Premier League outfit, Spartak Moscow. After staving off the challenge from Unai Emery’s men, the Spanish
titans welcome La Liga strugglers, Granada, to the Camp Nou. While Barcelona lead Spanish top flight football’s points table with a perfect winning record in 2012/13 season, their rivals currently occupy relegation slots thanks to their two points from 4 fixtures.
Barcelona
Apart from their imperfect outing against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu during the Spanish Super Cup’s second leg, La Blaugrana have been close to perfect with Lionel Messi leading the scoring the charts. The Camp Nou based outfit have won all five
of their meetings in front of Les Cules and have yet to drop points in the league.
Nevertheless, there is a c***k in Barcelona’s armour as they suffer from injury problems. The Catalan club were affected by the FIFA virus and continue to reel in the aftermath of two week international break at the start of September.
Andres Iniesta, Isaac Cuenca, Eric Abidal, Marc Muniesa, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gerard-c14664 Pique are out with injuries, leaving Tito Vilanova looking at the subsidiary for reinforcements.
Granada
While Barcelona have enjoyed a magnanimous run of form, El Grana have yet to show any semblance of form whatsoever. The Primera Division strugglers are staying true to the tags awarded them at the start of season with two points to show from their 4 La Liga
outings.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Juan-Antonio-c19650 Anquela has been resigned to watch from the sidelines as his players give away their good starts. Los Carmenes faithful have yet to see their favourite side show good form and will be grievous following their 1-1 draw against Deportivo La Coruna
last weekend.
Additionally, Granada are missing a lot of first team personnel for their away trip. Fran http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Dani-c9867 Benitez missing out because of suspension.
Key Players
Lionel Messi-http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604
The pint-sized attacker has continued in the same form he finished last season, amongst the goals. Messi was Barcelona’s saviour in the fixtures against Osasuna and Spartak Moscow, leading from the front as his teammates stuttered against their rivals. Despite
the meagre opposition La Blaugrana will face from Granada, Messi will be relied to hit the back of the net as he builds on his case for Ballon d’Or award.
Tono- Granada
El Grana goalkeeper will be immense against their much fancied rivals. Tono will have to brace for a field day at the Camp Nou as the glittering talents of Barcelona will take the game to his commanding area. The shot-stopper will have to be on his toes
and make sure that his blunder against Deportivo last weekend at Los Carmenes is not repeated in Catalonia.
Prediction
A pretty much straight forward result to predict as Barcelona are heavily favoured to take the match with ease, irrespective of their injury problems. The Catalan club have enough depth to defeat their fellow La Liga outfit, with the question remaining on
the margin of victory.
Final Score: Barcelona 4-0 Granada
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