La Liga Preview: Barcelona – Racing Santander

Beatable

Defeats for Barcelona are rare, particularly in La Primera Division, but Pep Guardiola’s side would suffer their first loss of a record breaking season against Atletico Madrid last weekend. The entertaining 2-1 reverse signalled the end of a record breaking 21-match unbeaten sequence for la Blaugrana.

Tormented by injury and suspension problems in their defence, Barca would have been aware that a trip to the Vicente Calderon was fraught with danger. When they went two goals behind relatively early in the first half, Guardiola cut almost a resigned figure on the bench.

“We were not quite right and Atletico played well, although I do not have too much criticism for my team,” the coach said of his side’s strangely flat performance after the game. “We're always prepared for a defeat. It's the first of the season but we can take positives from it."

Of course, defeat cut the Blaugrana’s lead at the summit of La Liga to just two points, with Real Madrid having continued their fine winning streak 24 hours earlier. Now Barca can take the initiative once more, pushing five points clear if they can overcome the obstacle placed in front of them this Saturday against Racing Santander.

Injury problems continue to hamper the Camp Nou outfit’s efforts, with Xavi and Seydou Keita both picking up problems over the course of the last seven days, simply heightening the level of difficulty this game possesses.

Backs To The Wall

Miguel Angel Portugal took over struggling Racing Santander in mid-November when the club was starting to struggle to tread water in La Primer. After a couple of defeats initially, the coach led los Racinguistas on a strong run of four wins from five, though there are signs that the honeymoon period of the 54-year-old is starting to end.

A run of one win in five in league play was marginally disappointing, though the team could certainly be mitigated by their strong Copa del Rey run. However, the club’s cup exploits were brought to an abrupt halt away to Atletico Madrid, where they were hammered 4-0. That effectively nullified their second leg tie, which ended in favour of the Cantabrians but not nearly emphatically enough to threaten progress to the final.

Back in the league, the hangover from the Copa defeat seemed to be evident last weekend. Though Malaga are an improving side, there was little to suggest that they would hammer los Verdiblancos 3-0 in northern Spain.

One venue that Portugal wouldn’t want his side to be travelling to after such a defeat would be Camp Nou, even with Barca badly depleted. The Catalans have already smashed Racing 4-1 this term, with three goals in the first half hour totally killing the tie.

The northerners will aim to at least be more competitive this time around, though recent form suggests they may well toil.

FORM GUIDE

Barcelona

LOST 2-1 (a) Atletico Madrid (Liga, February 14)

WON 2-1 (h) Getafe (Liga, February 6)

WON 1-0 (a) Sporting de Gijon (Liga, January 30)

WON 3-0 (a) Valladolid (Liga, January 23)

WON 4-0 (h) Sevilla (Liga, January 16)

Racing

LOST 3-0 (h) Malaga (Liga, February 14)

WON 3-2 (h) Atletico Madrid (Copa del Rey, February 11)

DREW 1-1 (h) Atletico Madrid (Liga, February 7)

LOST 4-0 (a) Atletico Madrid (Copa del Rey, February 4)

DREW 0-0 (a) Getafe (Liga, January 31)

TEAM NEWS

Barcelona

There has been mixed news on the injury front for la Blaugrana over the course of the last week. Xavi is set to be sidelined for a couple of weeks due to injury and Seydou Keita faces a month in the stands due to a hamstring issue that was sustained early in last weekend’s defeat.

Dani Alves has been training but won’t be ready to play, while Yaya Toure and Dmytro Chygrynskiy have been training normally. Eric Abidal will be sidelined for another week.

Gerard Pique and Rafael Marques missed out last weekend due to suspensions. They are both involved.

Probable Starting XI: Valdes; Jeffren, Puyol, Pique, Maxwell; Busquets, Toure, Iniesta; Messi, Ibrahimovic, Henry

Racing

Controversy has surrounded the suspension of three Racinguistas, though it seems inevitable that Pedro Munitis, Colsa and Tchite are all banned. The Santander club are trying to get the latter’s red card reduced to a yellow, but even at that he will still be suspended.

Henrique will be back after sitting out last weekend because of personal issues, while Tono and Arana are making progress with their injury problems.

Long-term problems Edu Bedia and Bolado are both training with the main group for the first time after long-term injury.

Probable Starting XI: Coltorti; Pinillos, Moraton, Torrejon, Oriol; Diop, Lacen; Moral, Canales, Serrano; Xisco

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Barcelona

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been criticised in recent weeks for his lack of production in front of goal. Last weekend the Swede took his first steps to redemption, smashing in a fine close range volley. That was not enough to earn his side any points, but he will be asked to lead the line once more. The former Inter man’s remit is simple: score the goals to give depleted Barca three points.

Racing

Swiss goalkeeper Fabio Coltorti may not be Racing’s first choice goalkeeper, but he has been in good form as the stand-in for the injured Tono of late. He should maintain his spot between the sticks and is sure to be given an immensely stern examination at Camp Nou. His only previous experience of the ground is a 1-0 defeat in January 2008. If he was to limit Barca to one on Saturday, that would be considered a decent effort.

PREDICTION

Despite all their injury worries, and their defeat against Atleti, Barcelona will fancy themselves to bounce back against a Racing side who have struggled in recent weeks. La Blaugrana’s squad is in a marginally stronger state than it was last weekend, and they should also enjoy a marginally better result.

Barcelona 2-1 Racing Santander