On Friday, 8th March as part of the 28th round of the Spanish Primera, "Barcelona" will host "Mallorca" on home turf. The Catalonians occupy the third spot on the tournament table, lagging eight points behind league-leading "Real Madrid", whilst "Mallorca" sits in the 15th position, having managed to pull eight points clear of the relegation zone.
"Barcelona": Ter Stegen; Kounde, Cubarsi, I Martinez, Cancelo; Gundogan, Christensen, F Lopez; Yamal, Lewandowski, Raphinha.
"Mallorca": Rajkovic; Gonzalez, Valjent, Raillo, Copete, Lato; A Sanchez, S Costa, D Rodriguez; Muriqi, Larin.
The clash will take place in Barcelona, at the Olimpico Stadium.
Over the past weekend, "Barcelona" had the opportunity to reclaim the 2nd place in the tournament table, squaring off with "Athletic Bilbao" at San Mamés, but they failed to break through the dense defence of the Basques and ultimately ended up drawing blank (0:0). As a result, the Catalonians remained in the 3rd position in Spain's championship, trailing by 8 points to Real Madrid, who stumbled the day before in Valencia (2:2). It's worth noting, though, that Blaugrana continues to show an impressive unbeaten streak of six rounds in La Liga, clinching 4 victories, including triumphs over "Getafe" (4:0) and "Alavés" (1:3) in late February.
Let's not forget about the 1:1 draw with "Napoli" in the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16, as Javier's charges are anticipating a return match next week. Having started against "The Lions", Pedri was again forced off the field due to an injury, and the midfielder will be out for just over a month. Dutch pivot Frenkie de Jong also sustained an injury and will head to the infirmary with his team-mate.
Despite not having the most successful season, "Mallorca" reached the Copa del Rey final and will face "Athletic Bilbao" there. "Mallorca" had a hard time overcoming "Girona" in the quarterfinals (3:2), and then knocked out "Real Sociedad", a Champions League play-off participant, in the semifinals. Over the past weekend, still riding high off the win over the Basques, the islanders once again got the better of "Girona", not letting in a single goal (1:0), - victory was claimed following a 1:1 draw with "Alavés" a week earlier.
Kopete's efforts in the first half were enough for Agirre's side to secure their 27th point after 27 rounds and climb to the 15th spot on the tournament table. The yellow-oranges are eight points clear of the relegation zone and trail "Alavés", which sits 13th, by only two points. It's important to note that the team struggles away, having managed to glean just eight points in 13 matches on the road, placing them fourth bottom in the division for this metric.
"Mallorca" held "Barcelona" to a 2:2 draw at the start of this season, and Javier Aguirre's side will aim for the first time in a long while not to succumb twice in a row to the Catalonians.
"Mallorca" is more than capable of causing trouble for "Barcelona", however, it is unlikely the "islanders" should bank on any points on Friday. The Catalonians are motivated by the fight for the second spot and have a far superior roster, while the visitors have been performing unsatisfactorily away from home, racking up just 0.6 points per away clash. My prediction - a win for the hosts.
What you should not expect from this match is a surfeit of goals: the "islanders" will park the bus, whereas personnel losses at "Barça" won't allow maintaining a very high attacking tempo for the full 90 minutes. I am betting on total goals under 3.
"Barça" will have the backing of the home stands and will grab the ball from the first minutes. I am betting on the hosts winning the corner kick count with a handicap of -1.5.
"Mallorca" will play second fiddle and will try to slow down opponents' attacks with fouls - I am betting on the visitors winning the yellow card count.
I am betting on a precise score of 2:0 in favour of "Barcelona".
# | Team | P | W | D | L | GD | G | PTS | |
1 | Barcelona | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 13:3 | 12 | |
2 | Real Madrid | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 7:2 | 8 | |
3 | Atl. Madrid | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6:2 | 8 | |
4 | Villarreal | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9:7 | 8 | |
5 | Girona | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7:4 | 7 | |
6 | Alaves | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5:3 | 7 | |
7 | Osasuna | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | -2 | 5:7 | 7 | |
8 | Celta Vigo | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 10:9 | 6 | |
9 | Leganes | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3:3 | 5 | |
10 | Mallorca | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2:2 | 5 | |
11 | Rayo Vallecano | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 4:5 | 4 | |
12 | Real Sociedad | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 3:4 | 4 | |
13 | Ath Bilbao | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 3:4 | 4 | |
14 | Espanyol | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 2:3 | 4 | |
15 | Valladolid | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -9 | 1:10 | 4 | |
16 | Getafe | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1:1 | 3 | |
17 | Betis | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | -2 | 1:3 | 2 | |
18 | Las Palmas | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -3 | 4:7 | 2 | |
19 | Sevilla | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -3 | 3:6 | 2 | |
20 | Valencia | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | -4 | 3:7 | 1 | |
1 | Osasuna | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5:3 | 7 | |
2 | Barcelona | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9:1 | 6 | |
3 | Real Madrid | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5:0 | 6 | |
4 | Celta Vigo | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5:2 | 6 | |
5 | Atl. Madrid | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3:0 | 4 | |
6 | Villarreal | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6:5 | 4 | |
7 | Alaves | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2:0 | 4 | |
8 | Ath Bilbao | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2:2 | 4 | |
9 | Valladolid | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1:0 | 4 | |
10 | Girona | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4:0 | 3 | |
11 | Leganes | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2:2 | 3 | |
12 | Espanyol | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2:2 | 3 | |
13 | Mallorca | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1:1 | 2 | |
14 | Getafe | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0:0 | 2 | |
15 | Las Palmas | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3:3 | 2 | |
16 | Betis | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1:1 | 1 | |
17 | Valencia | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2:3 | 1 | |
18 | Rayo Vallecano | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1:2 | 0 | |
19 | Real Sociedad | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2:4 | 0 | |
20 | Sevilla | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1:4 | 0 | |
1 | Barcelona | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4:2 | 6 | |
2 | Atl. Madrid | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3:2 | 4 | |
3 | Villarreal | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3:2 | 4 | |
4 | Girona | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3:4 | 4 | |
5 | Rayo Vallecano | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3:3 | 4 | |
6 | Real Sociedad | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1:0 | 4 | |
7 | Alaves | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3:3 | 3 | |
8 | Mallorca | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1:1 | 3 | |
9 | Real Madrid | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2:2 | 2 | |
10 | Leganes | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1:1 | 2 | |
11 | Sevilla | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2:2 | 2 | |
12 | Espanyol | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0:1 | 1 | |
13 | Getafe | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1:1 | 1 | |
14 | Betis | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0:2 | 1 | |
15 | Osasuna | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0:4 | 0 | |
16 | Celta Vigo | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5:7 | 0 | |
17 | Ath Bilbao | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1:2 | 0 | |
18 | Valladolid | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0:10 | 0 | |
19 | Las Palmas | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1:4 | 0 | |
20 | Valencia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1:4 | 0 |
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