Barcelona – Mallorca

Barcelona can cope with Mallorca even amid injuries

The 28th round unexpectedly opens with a match involving Barcelona. The game of the Catalans was taken out because of the upcoming Champions League meeting with Napoli. Xavi's team has the last chance to join the championship race. Mallorca after several successful matches distanced themselves from the relegation zone, but still need points. Barcelona at some point got back into the championship race. In order to escalate the intrigue, they needed to win against Athletic in Bilbao. Unfortunately, the match proved fatal for the favorite. Not only did Xavi's wards let the leader go eight points behind and did not achieve a victory, but also lost two main performers. The team will not be able to count on Pedri and De Jong for a long time, and these are two key elements in Barcelona's structure. Add to this that Xavi only rebuilt the game without Sergio Busquets. He managed to partially mask the weaknesses. Now there are simply no real alternatives to replace him. The club simply has no options left even in the rotation. It is expected that now the main player will be junior Fermin. Inviting a few more young performers from the youth team is not ruled out. On top of that, the situation is wildly complicated by the calendar. In the championship there are almost no chances for the title. So we need to save our energy and players for the meeting with Napoli. Otherwise, in the key match of the season, there will simply be no one to take the field. Mallorca are having a historic season. This is how it turns out because of the King's Cup. Modest team under the leadership of Javier Aguirre broke into the final of the tournament. The historic achievement managed to formalise in the confrontation with Real Sociedad. It is clear that the main thoughts of the players and coaching staff are now associated with the cup tournament, but in the championship, the islanders, on the contrary, decline. That is quietly finish in the middle of the table is not possible. Last round Mallorca won a very important victory over the formidable Girona. Before that, Rayo Vallecano was defeated at home. At the moment there is no direct threat of departure. Mallorca in recent matches returned to the standard tactics of their coach. Most of the meetings turn out to be goalless. At the moment the modest club has two losses in the squad. Midfielder Mascarelli and defender Maffeo will not play. On the bookmakers' side, the odds look curious. In a normal situation, Barcelona would be given no more than 1.30, but here the quote goes up to 1.50. After all, the Catalans play at home and are far superior to their opponents in class. It is doubtful that this match is important for Mallorca, as the club needs to properly deploy its forces and approach the Cup final and several meetings in the fight for survival in optimal form.