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Manuel Queimadelos Alonso
A comprehensive preview of FC Barcelona's Jornada 5 clash with Malaga CF in Andalusia, as Luis Enrique's side travel to La Rosaleda with the hope of extending their 100% record and maintaining their lead at the top of La Liga
Barcelona will be hoping to extend their winning run to six games and maintain their 100% record under Luis Enrique tomorrow when they travel to Andalusia to take on Malaga CF at La Rosaleda. We are just two seasons removed from Malaga’s historic and shock run to the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals where Manuel Pellegrini’s side were just a few minutes away from a place in the final four, yet in that year and a half Los Boquerones’ decline has been equally sudden and devastating.
Manuel Pellegrini is long gone, as are the star players: the Iscos, the Santi Cazorlas, even the Jeremy Toulalans and the Nacho Monreals have left. The money dried up a long time ago and with it went Malaga’s slim chances of sustaining a presence in La Liga’s top four. Under the guidance of Bernd Schuster, Malaga dropped to a mid-table finish and if the early signs of Javi Gracia’s reign as head coach are anything to go by, the Andalusians look destined for a repeat this campaign.
It all started so promisingly. The ex-Osasuna boss guided Malaga to a narrow opening day victory over Athletic Bilbao, but crumbled defensively in the next match against Nuno Espirito Santo’s exciting yet youthful Valencia side and they are yet to recover. A goalless draw at home to strugglers Levante UD was followed this weekend by a 2-2 draw with Barça’s city rivals, RCD Espanyol.
Twice Espanyol took the lead, and yes, twice Malaga fought back, but their late equaliser wasn’t particularly merited; they were wasteful throughout and can count themselves somewhat fortunate to have stolen a point. Up against Luis Enrique’s new-look, ruthless FC Barcelona, Malaga cannot afford a repeat. We’ve seen already this season that goals come at an absolute premium against the Blaugrana; if Malaga creates chances, they will need to convert them.
And let’s be honest, Malaga are ill-equipped to do just that. In 360 minutes of football this season, their collective front-line is yet to score a single goal. Roque Santa Cruz, Juanmi, Samu Garcia and more; all without a goal to their name. Instead that burden has been carried by the midfield and given that they will likely be preoccupied with neutralising the Barça threat tomorrow, the out-of-form strikeforce simply has to step up.
So, while this may be the Blaugrana’s second successive away fixture in a short space of time, and while talismanic stars Ivan Rakitić and Neymar may be at less than 100%, or may even miss the game altogether, there’s every reason to be optimistic that Barça can pick up their sixth successive victory, possibly keeping another clean sheet in the process.
Right now, FC Barcelona are feeling confident and from a Malaga perspective, that might just be the scariest thought of all...
TEAM NEWS
BARCELONA
The good news is that previous injury doubts Neymar and Ivan Rakitić rejoined training today and therefore are in line to feature tomorrow in what is traditionally one of the trickier trips on the La Liga calendar. However, Rafinha Alcântara continues to train independently as he recovers from a muscle injury while summer signing Thomas Vermaelen does not yet have medical clearance to return to action.
Consequently, B team players Sandro and Munir continue to train with the senior squad; not that they are making up the numbers – we established long ago that both Sandro and Munir have a lot to offer the first team. Indeed, the weekend’s win over Levante provided us with the latest proof of that, as Sandro came off the bench to great effect, scoring a goal and playing a pivotal part in the build-up to another.
With so many players in form, Luis Enrique truly is spoilt for choice as he prepares to select his latest starting XI for this trip to Malaga; from his goalkeeper right down to the final attacker, Enrique has a plethora of options at his disposal and there really is no right or wrong answer.
Therein lies the magic of Enrique thus far: no matter what decision he takes, he can do no wrong and long may it continue.
Claudio Bravo will start in goal searching for his fifth successive clean sheet, a record that if matched would surely be amongst the longest such streaks of his career to date. In four previous La Liga appearances for the Blaugrana, Bravo is yet to put a single foot wrong, recovering from a somewhat shaky preseason to firmly establish himself as Barça’s undisputed domestic number one.
With a pass completion rate of around 70%, Bravo has, in that respect at least, improved upon Victor Valdés’ record over the final two seasons of his stint in Catalunya and if these early signs are anything to go by, he could well eclipse the Catalan from a goals conceded perspective as well. At the moment, Marc-André ter Stegen can barely get a look in, such has been the Chilean’s confidence between the sticks.
However, it’s not just down to the goalkeeper; as usual, the defense played a major role in securing those clean sheets and their improvement relative to last season has been one of the most marked positives of Enrique’s reign. The depth will only improve with Vermaelen’s return to fitness, but even at present, the foursome of Javier Mascherano, Jeremy Mathieu, Gerard Piqué and Marc Bartra can collectively do no wrong at the back.
Even when one makes a misstep, as they have all done at times this young season, another has moved swiftly in to cover – and all four have in general, looked sharp when called upon this campaign. As such, there really is no wrong answer to tomorrow’s selection. Gerard Piqué could and perhaps should be recalled, especially if Roque Santa Cruz leads the Malaga attack as expected – while either Javier Mascherano or Jeremy Mathieu could quite ably partner the Catalan.
That of course discounts young Marc Bartra; after an impressive end to the previous campaign under Gerardo Martino, many Culés tipped Bartra for stardom and an immediate ascension to the starting line-up – particularly after Barça failed in their bid to bring in a "marquee" defensive signing. He certainly has the talent, but for whatever reason, Lucho has yet to give him a chance.
Without all the facts, we can only but speculate as to his reasoning; but based on the cornerstones of Enrique’s coaching style, one must assume that Bartra is not training as well as he could be, or at least not as well as model professional, Javier Mascherano and summer signing, Jeremy Mathieu. Given time, Bartra will surely get and earn his chance in the starting line-up, but for now it’s important he remains patient and gives it his all when he is gifted a rare chance as a starter.
At full-back, Martin Montoya may rotate back into the line-up in place of Dani Alves; certainly most Culés would agree with that decision – although I’m not entirely sure why, as Alves didn’t play badly against Levante. I remain adamant that his crossing is a by-product of a lack of movement in the attacking third, not to mention good defending by the opposing backlines.
During the Manita victory over Levante, I counted two or three occasions where Alves tried to pick out his usual partner in crime, Lionel Messi, with an aerial ball or a cut-back, only for his passes to be intercepted and cleared by the Levante defense. It’s not that Dani didn’t or perhaps more pertinently would not have found his target, it’s just that Levante were reading the danger well. At least that’s my opinion, although I know that the public opinion of the outspoken Brazilian isn’t going to change any time soon.
Jordi Alba will likely retain his place at left-back after a dominant display against Levante; over the course of the 90 minutes, Alba scurried up and down the line to great effect, providing an assist for Pedro’s tap-in and Barça’s fourth of the evening. That being said, he did take a knock towards the end of the match and while I haven’t seen anything to suggest that he is a doubt for tomorrow’s game, don’t be too surprised if we see Montoya or Adriano fill in to allow Alba a chance to rest ahead of another busy week of matches.
In midfield, Sergio Busquets will start at pivote as he looks to continue his red-hot streak in which he too can seemingly do no wrong. Yes, he picked up a booking for a poor challenge at the weekend, but that’s about it in four matches – and let’s face it, the positives (i.e. his pressing and subsequent passes to Lionel Messi) more than make up for that.
With a hard-working midfield "partner" in Ivan Rakitić, some pundits, such as Barcelona-based Graham Hunter argue that Busquets has been liberated this season by the Croat’s arrival, as his reduced defensive workload has enabled him to focus energy and attention on breaking down defenses at the other end of the field. That too goes some way to explaining Luis Enrique’s hesitance to deploy Xavi in midfield; in this system at least, Rakitić is simply the better option.
And that is no disrespect to Xavi; rather it’s the highest praise we can reserve for Rakitić, who is undoubtedly the fulcrum, the metronome, the focal point of Barça 2.0. An all-action display against Levante saw Rakitić compete for his first Man of the Match award since his arrival from Sevilla, but in truth, there’s not been a single match this season where Rakitić has not been one of the best performers.
Certainly, I wouldn’t be the only one who has forgotten all about Cesc Fàbregas...
Andrés Iniesta will occupy the other midfield berth, assuming Rakitić has shaken off his knock. Indeed, Iniesta will start irrespective of that, but of course Xavi will be his partner if Ivan isn’t fully fit and his role will change accordingly. In their brief spell together against Levante, the Xavi-Iniesta combo looked as good as ever, but it is tough to read much into that given the calibre of the opposition, the scoreline at the time and the aforementioned brevity of the stint.
In attack, Pedro and Lionel Messi should continue together after each grabbing a goal against Levante in that emphatic away victory, but there are question marks surrounding Neymar’s fitness after he took a knock in the win. On the night, the Brazilian seemed anxious to return to the game after spending a long period down and receiving treatment. The former would indicate that he is fine to play tomorrow, the latter and indeed his omission from training after the game would suggest that he is not.
Luis Enrique has a couple of options: first, he could play it conservative and rest Neymar. If necessary, we know that the talented forward can make an impact off the bench, and it’s not like Sandro or Munir are incapable of contributing as starters. The second option is to play Neymar as usual; he’s in great form and his presence in the frontline could be the difference-maker against this Malaga defense.
What would you do?
MALAGA
Despite his heroics at the FIFA World Cup this summer, Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa is yet to start for Los Boquerones as Javi Gracia continues to count upon former Espanyol shot-stopper, Carlos Kameni. Indeed, Gracia hasn’t really made any major decisions of note since his arrival this summer, at least from a tactical or selection standpoint; it’s largely the same squad and team we faced last year.
Indeed, from game-to-game, Gracia isn’t a big fan of making many changes at all; he’s selected the same squad for tomorrow’s match against the league leaders and it would be a surprise if he made more than a couple of changes to his starting line-up from the 2-2 draw with Espanyol.
FORM GUIDE
Barcelona: WWWWWW
Malaga: WLWLDD
LAST MEETING
FC Barcelona 3-0 Malaga CF – 26th January 2014 – La Liga
Gerard Piqué, Pedro Rodriguez and Alexis Sánchez were the scorers as Barça cruised to victory at the Camp Nou against Bernd Schuster’s men, who lost Roque Santa Cruz to injury early in the first-half.
LIKELY LINE-UPS
Barcelona (4-3-3): Bravo; Montoya, Piqué, Mascherano, Alba; Busquets, Rakitić, Iniesta; Pedro, Messi, Neymar
Malaga (4-2-3-1): Kameni; Rosales, Sánchez, Weligton, Antunes; Darder, Camacho; Horta, Alberto, Juanmi; Santa Cruz
MATCH PREDICTION
This is one of those trips that looks tougher on paper, but has typically been easy for the Blaugrana with Barça picking up seven straight wins at La Rosaleda. Look for Enrique’s side to make that eight tomorrow; I’m going for a 4-0 Barça win.
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