Part 2: Spanish La Liga; Real Zaragoza vs. Barcelona – Preview
The Brazilian and the former Inter Milan man Maxwell featured as a central midfielder while the newly signed Argentinean Javier Mascherano played in his favourite holding midfield position along with the young Spaniard Sergio Busquets.
In the match against Real Zaragoza, Guardiola does not have too many options in the midfield as his “best midfielder,” Xavi Hernandez is not going to be present; however, Seydou Keita and Pedro Rodriguez are the two players who are fighting for a spot in the first team. Even though these two are great choices, and can be played, but Guardiola looked to be really satisfied with the team that played in midweek. Mascherano finally looks to be in good shape and can feature for Barcelona as he has learned the Catalan style of play.
Real Zaragoza are going to be without their first choice goalkeeper, Leo Franco who got injured two weeks ago. Moreover, Adam Pinter is suspended and he is not going to feature for them as well. Kevin Lacruz is currently on international duty as the youngster is going to be busy while playing for his country’s under-19 football team. There is good news for Zaragoza as well; the defender from Czech Republic, Jiri Jarosik is going to be back from suspension and is going to feature as a first team player for the home side.
Real Zaragoza have not won a game throughout this season; the three points that they have are due to the three draws that they earned this year and they currently lie at the bottom of the table. The only team that has conceded more goals than Real Zaragoza so far this season is Malaga. Zaragoza have conceded eleven goals - out of them six were scored against them at home, while two of the five goals that they had scored, were scored by their leading goal scorer Sinama Pongolle.
The Barcelona coach, Josep Pep Guardiola has warned the team that Zaragoza is not a side that can be taken lightly and he has proven it by giving out a few facts. He told the press that the team managed to get a 2-2 draw against Sporting Santander, and even though they were two goals down and a man down as well, they bounced back and managed to draw the game.
They suffered a 3-5 loss against Malaga but they actually drew the game against the newly promoted side Hercules, who were actually able to defeat Barcelona at their home ground, the Nou Camp. Hercules’ away form this season has been out of this world as they have managed to bag wins against Racing Santander, Atletico Madrid and also Athletic Bilbao and during this amazing run they scored eight goals and conceded just one.
Last season, Real Zaragoza were promoted to the first tier as they returned to the Spanish La Liga; however, they are considered to be one of the best Spanish teams as they have won the Spanish Cup six times and also reached the final of the same competition on five occasions. They have also won the Super Cup, the UEFA Cup Winners Cup, and the Spanish side has also spent 54 seasons in the first tier of the Spanish La Liga.
The same mach that took place between the two teams last year was described by the Barcelona coach as one of the hardest matches of the season. Ironically, Xavi Hernandez was missing out from that game as well and Lionel Messi was doubtful too, because of a tooth abscess. Eventually, Messi did play for his team and gave a phenomenal performance as he scored a hat trick, and won a penalty that was later scored by Zlatan Ibrahimovic as the game ended 2-4 in favour of Barcelona.
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