Barcelona will face Athletic Club tonight at San Mamés, for matchday 27 of LaLiga. The culer side comes into the fixture as the sole leader of the championship with 64 points… one more than Real Madrid, which won on Friday at Celta de Vigo’s ground.
For that reason, Barça needs to take all three points to regain its four-point advantage over its eternal rival.
The clash against Athletic Club also comes at a very demanding moment in the schedule… it falls between the Copa del Rey semifinal against Atleti and the Champions League round-of-16 match against Newcastle.
That is to say, the blaugrana team faces the trip to Bilbao in the middle of a run of fixtures of maximum demand.
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Barça have key absences
As if that were not enough, the German coach will not have several key players available for this stretch of the season. We are talking about Frenkie de Jong, Alejandro Balde, and Jules Koundé.
These are three very important footballers who are usually starters for Barcelona.
In addition, several players finished exhausted after the demanding match against Atlético de Madrid… so Hansi Flick had to work to find a balanced and competitive starting eleven for the next fixture.
Flick’s starting eleven for Barça-Athletic
Fully aware of what is at stake, the German will field the best he has at his disposal.
Joan García will be in goal, while Eric García and João Cancelo will be the replacements for Jules Koundé and Alejandro Balde. Pau Cubarsí and Gerard Martín will once again be in the heart of the defense.
The novelty is that Marc Casadó will be in midfield instead of Pedri. The Canary Islander once again played 90 minutes after the injury he suffered against Slavia Prague… and Flick considered that the most appropriate thing was to manage his energy with a view to the match against Newcastle.
There are also several changes in attack. Lamine Yamal will remain the right winger, but he will be accompanied by Dani Olmo (attacking midfielder) and Marcus Rashford (left winger). The Spain international replaces Fermín López, while the former United player replaces the Brazilian.
Finally, Lewandowski will be on the bench and the team’s center forward will be Ferran Torres.
This way, Barça will line up with: Joan; Eric García, Cubarsí, Gerard Martín, and Cancelo; Casadó and Bernal; Lamine, Olmo, and Rashford; and Ferran.
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